This has been a good year for Mill Valley keyboard ace Austin de Lone.
First, Yep Roc Records released a double CD set celebrating the songs of his 1970s trio, Eggs Over Easy, the American Band that pioneered pub rock in England. And now he has equal billing with Telecaster master Bill Kirchen on “Transatlanticana,” a blast from the rock ‘n’ roll past on Red House Records.
De Lone’s shows his love of the roots rock of the ’50s and early ’60s with the original keyboard bangers “Let’s Rock,” “All Tore Up” and “No Need for Knocking.” He co-wrote the heartfelt lament for passed on friends, “Already Walkin,” with his daughter, Caroline, who sings backup vocals.
Kirchen, an original member of Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen and the Marin spinoff band the Moonlighters, pays homage to Merle Haggard and the Bakersfield sound on the twangy “Hounds of the Bakersfield,” cleverly co-written with former Cody bandmate Blackie Farrell. And he continues the Cody connection with the barroom weeper “Wine, Wine, Wine,” written by Cody stalwarts Billy Farlow and the Commander himself, George Frayne. Bobby Black’s pedal steel guitar is enough to bring you to tears.
“Back in the Day,” a reminiscence about the idealism of the flower children, written by Kirchen’s wife, Louise, adds to the sweet nostalgia of this masterful album.
In keeping with this remembrance of things past theme, Kirchen reprises Bob Dylan’s 1964 classic “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” an icon of his generation given a contemporary power by the rat-a-tat drumming of Rick Richards.
Recorded in Austin, London and in Sausalito’s Studio D, this album showcases two seasoned musicians and songwriters and old friends who came on the scene in the golden era of rock and are still at the top of their game.
