Tichy Boys Bio
BIO by Erik Hage
For John and Graham Tichy, rock and roll is simply in the blood line. And after years of separate musical adventures (and the more-than-occasional collaboration) the father and son are now closing ranks to front a ringer band and unleash some of the most genuine roots music, rock and roll, classic country, and rockabilly.
The senior Tichy, John, is of course a founding member of the legendary Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, the pioneering group that swept out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and lit up the early 1970s musical scene in San Francisco with its brand of barroom country, western swing, rockabilly, and rhythm and blues. The world soon took notice, and Tichy and his bandmates helped change the face of popular music with their diverse Americana blend. The group’s albums would go down in history as some of the most noteworthy of the era.
Guitarist-singer Tichy was a key player, offering up memorably soulful vocal performances on songs such as the classic country tearjerkers “Cryin’ Time” and “Family Bible.” After confusing the heck out of the hippie generation while nonetheless ensuring their place in the annals of rock-and-roll history, the original group parted ways in 1976. John Tichy, Ph.D. in hand, embarked on a whole different path, becoming a professor in the department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, where he would eventually serve as department chair—a seemingly long way from the days of packed arenas and sharing stages with the likes of the Byrds and the Grateful Dead.
But while this could have been the end of one story and the beginning of another, the music simply lived on. In 1978, Tichy’s son Graham arrived, with the genetic rock-and-roll code already locked in. Reared in a house in Rensselaer County, NY, where blues, country, rockabilly, and other such raw and genuine forms of music were omnipresent, Graham sponged it up. As he grew older, he evolved into a formidable guitarist in his own right, first with his youthful rockabilly group Rocky Velvet and then with a host of other nationally notable rock-and-roll and rockabilly groups.
From his beginnings as a local sensation—consistently winning “best-guitarist” nods in his native region—he soon broke out into wider arenas, touring Europe, playing guitar for Wanda Jackson (the legendary 1950s “Queen of Rockabilly”), and even assuming the lead guitar spot (subbing for Bill Kirchen) during the long-awaited San Francisco reunion shows of Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen in 2004. The Commander himself, George Frayne, was moved to tell the San Francisco Chronicle, “[John’s] got a genius son, Graham Tichy. . . . He’s become the new rockabilly whiz-kid guitar player. He’s out on the road with Wanda Jackson as we speak. [He’s] just off the road with Robert Gordon. He’s Tichy’s kid and he plays like James Burton used to play with Elvis in the ’60s.”
And now these two musical stories from different generations merge again, as father and son blend their collective musical histories into one entity, the Tichy Boys. They may refer to themselves as the “finest father and son rockabilly duo in all of Rensselaer County,” but it’s also much more than that. It is time for a much wider audience to take note. Again.
For John and Graham Tichy, rock and roll is simply in the blood line. And after years of separate musical adventures (and the more-than-occasional collaboration) the father and son are now closing ranks to front a ringer band and unleash some of the most genuine roots music, rock and roll, classic country, and rockabilly.
The senior Tichy, John, is of course a founding member of the legendary Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, the pioneering group that swept out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and lit up the early 1970s musical scene in San Francisco with its brand of barroom country, western swing, rockabilly, and rhythm and blues. The world soon took notice, and Tichy and his bandmates helped change the face of popular music with their diverse Americana blend. The group’s albums would go down in history as some of the most noteworthy of the era.
Guitarist-singer Tichy was a key player, offering up memorably soulful vocal performances on songs such as the classic country tearjerkers “Cryin’ Time” and “Family Bible.” After confusing the heck out of the hippie generation while nonetheless ensuring their place in the annals of rock-and-roll history, the original group parted ways in 1976. John Tichy, Ph.D. in hand, embarked on a whole different path, becoming a professor in the department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, where he would eventually serve as department chair—a seemingly long way from the days of packed arenas and sharing stages with the likes of the Byrds and the Grateful Dead.
But while this could have been the end of one story and the beginning of another, the music simply lived on. In 1978, Tichy’s son Graham arrived, with the genetic rock-and-roll code already locked in. Reared in a house in Rensselaer County, NY, where blues, country, rockabilly, and other such raw and genuine forms of music were omnipresent, Graham sponged it up. As he grew older, he evolved into a formidable guitarist in his own right, first with his youthful rockabilly group Rocky Velvet and then with a host of other nationally notable rock-and-roll and rockabilly groups.
From his beginnings as a local sensation—consistently winning “best-guitarist” nods in his native region—he soon broke out into wider arenas, touring Europe, playing guitar for Wanda Jackson (the legendary 1950s “Queen of Rockabilly”), and even assuming the lead guitar spot (subbing for Bill Kirchen) during the long-awaited San Francisco reunion shows of Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen in 2004. The Commander himself, George Frayne, was moved to tell the San Francisco Chronicle, “[John’s] got a genius son, Graham Tichy. . . . He’s become the new rockabilly whiz-kid guitar player. He’s out on the road with Wanda Jackson as we speak. [He’s] just off the road with Robert Gordon. He’s Tichy’s kid and he plays like James Burton used to play with Elvis in the ’60s.”
And now these two musical stories from different generations merge again, as father and son blend their collective musical histories into one entity, the Tichy Boys. They may refer to themselves as the “finest father and son rockabilly duo in all of Rensselaer County,” but it’s also much more than that. It is time for a much wider audience to take note. Again.