Bill Kirchen and Too Much Fun and featuring Thunder Road

We had so much fun with last season’s first Southern Drive-In Movie Night, we’ve decided to take her for another spin. This year’s event welcomes the “Titan of the Telecaster” and “The King of Dieselbilly,” Bill Kirchen, to perform before the screening of the iconic southern drive-in staple Thunder Road. Kirchen is the roots-rock guitar hero whose big-rig guitar riffs propelled the Commander Cody hit “Hot Rod Lincoln” into the top ten. Sought after by Nick Lowe, Emmylou Harris, and Elvis Costello, Kirchen is a revered master of American guitar styles from blues, rockabilly, and rock-and-roll to honky-tonk and country.

“Thunder was his engine and white lightnin’ was his load!” So sang the late great Robert Mitchum in the hit song he recorded for his tale of moonshine running in the Appalachian Mountains. Mitchum wrote, produced, and starred in the cult class Thunder Road, much of which was filmed near Asheville. The movie was released in 1958, but was so popular in the Southeast, it continued to be featured at drive-in theaters well into the 1980s.

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