Bill Kirchen, What Was the First Album You Ever Bought?

” ‘Midnight in Moscow’ by Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. English trad jazz, 1962, with prominent trombone, which was my instrument at the time.

Before ‘Midnight In Moscow,’ I owned two 45s, ‘Big Bad John’ by Jimmy Dean and ‘Bristol Stomp’ by the Dovells. I still love all three of these songs.

Right after that, I caught the folk bug and got Dylan’s second album, ‘Freewheelin’,’ when it came out in 1963.

That Christmas I opened a present from my dad, a classical album which I feigned interest in. He urged me to play it after dinner, when I put it on I found he had got me the first Dylan album and stuck it an old Wagner album cover. I remember that every Christmas.”

Twangmaster Bill Kirchen teams up with guitarist-vocalist John Tichy – his old bandmate in the original Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen line-up – for a special “Honky Tonk Holiday” concert at The Linda in Albany on Saturday (December 5).