Best-known for gracing the pedal steel chair in Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, Asleep at the Wheel, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Bobby Black is one of the greats at his chosen instrument and one of the last members of the first generation of players to introduce it to American music. And he is definitely the only member of that club who spent most of his life in Northern California, San Mateo to be specific.

Bill Kirchen’s forthcoming album Seeds and Stems contains a truckload of songs that capture the singular sound and high-energy vibe of Kirchen’s live shows, the songs he started out with that are still perpetual crowd-pleasers. As Bill describes it, “We went to London and cut it pretty fast with the band that I tour with. We did it all at once. Something happens when you do that.