Bill Kirchen has become widely known for the trademark big-rig guitar riffs that powered the Commander Cody hit "Hot Rod Lincoln" into the Top 10 in 1972. Since 1993, he has recorded seven critically acclaimed albums of his own that have made him one of the musical elder statesmen of today"s Americana music, which in truth was pioneered by acts like Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen back in the `70s. For his new album, Hammer of the Honky-Tonk Gods on Proper Records, Kirchen puts the accent on songwriting, a talent that is sometimes overshadowed by his dazzling instrumental virtuosity. "I felt it was time to write some songs that cut closer to the bone," he says. And on such moving numbers as "Rocks Into Sand" and "One More Day," he succeeds admirably. All told, Hammer of the Honky-Tonk Gods is the culmination of one very rich American musical life. On Hammer, the man known as "The King of Dieselbilly" and "A Titan of the Telecaster" visits most every sonic landmark along the proverbial Route 66 of American music that he"s traveled for decades now as a player, songwriter and singer, and serves up a blue-plate special of such tasty and nourishing stylistic flavors as rock `n" roll, honky-tonk, soul, rockabilly, Western swing, country, blues, boogie-woogie and more. The set captures the essence of Kirchen as "a devastating culmination of the elegant and funky," as he"s described by his longtime friend and compatriot Nick Lowe, one of the noted musicians who plays on Hammer of the Honky-Tonk Gods. All it takes is a spin of Hammer of the Honky-Tonk Gods or a night with Bill Kirchen as he tears the roof off any place he appears to agree with what the Austin American-Statesman says: "Bill Kirchen rules. It"s just that simple."