Bill Kirchen has released 11 CDs under his own name, and recorded and/or played guitar live with a who's who of Americana and Rock 'N' Roll, among them, Gene Vincent, Link Wray, Bo Diddley, Hazel Dickens, Doug Sahm, Hoyt Axton, Emmylou Harris, Maria Muldaur, Dan Hicks, Steve Earle, Redd Volkaert, Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello. In 1969, during his student days at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor he started a country band that formed the basis for Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen and moved to California. There they developed a reputation as musical "outlaws" and drew praise from musicians like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings. Kirchen was named "The Titan of The Telecaster" by Guitar Player magazine & his sound has be en dubbed "dieselbilly" and incorporates elements of country, blues, rockabilly, Western swing and boogie-woogie, laced with themes of American truck driving music