Chinnock to play in support of new album

It will be a revitalized Bill Chinnock coming to Bangor later this week.

The Legend of the North Country will be playing a 7:30 p.m. concert Friday at the Bangor Opera House. With him will be Tony “Thunder” Smith on drums, John Kumnick on bass, Harry King on keyboards, Dave Wakefield on sax and maybe his 30-year-old son, John Chinnock, on acoustic guitar. Anni Clark will be the opening act.

The Bangor stop is one of a handful of gigs that Chinnock is playing this year, after 31/2 years of battling Lyme disease. The illness is still plaguing his wife, Terry. During the time he was sick, Chinnock focused on The Artist Group, his Web design, film and video production company. (A project that he’s now in the middle of is a documentary about legendary country singer Dick Curless, his late father-in-law.)

Chinnock, 55, now is playing in support of his new album, “Livin’ in the Promised Land,” the cover of which features a photo of 2-year-old Bill with his first guitar. The title song of the album is Chinnock’s response to the aftermath of 9-11.

“There’s never been a sense of closure,” Chinnock said from his Yarmouth home. “It’s an ongoing undercurrent in all our lives. We all need to pull together, to be kinder and closer to each other. We also need to be aware of the price of freedom.”

The album, which features eight songs written by Chinnock and covers of “Mystery Train” and “Motherless Child,” is an encapsulation of his musical journey.

“I’ve always wanted to make a synthesis, to pull together all the styles of American music,” he said. “This is my most focused musical statement, a better definition of who I am than any of my other records.”

A turning point in Chinnock’s return came last New Year’s Eve at Merrill Auditorium in Portland. Headliners Asleep at the Wheel couldn’t get there because of a snowstorm, so Chinnock and his band played for two hours for the 2,000 in attendance.

“It was an incredible night,” he said. “It gave us the encouragement to make a new record and to get back out there and rock the house.”

The Chinnocks also have been kept busy at home with 5-year-old son William Richard, who’s already performing with his dad at concerts.

Chinnock said becoming parents in middle age isn’t that unusual among his peers.

“They were so busy in the early days with careers,” he explained. “So most of my musician friends in their 50s have babies. It’s a time that we can enjoy it a little more, can savor things more.”

Chinnock got his start in his native New Jersey. He played with Danny Federici, Garry Tallent and Vini Lopez in the burgeoning Asbury Park rock scene. When Chinnock left for Maine in the early ’70s, they became the foundation of the E Street Band, replacing him with a guitarist named Bruce Springsteen.

Chinnock also was a blues man, touring with Albert King and James Cotton and playing with Sonny Terry, John Lee Hooker and Brownie McGhee.

After moving to Maine, he came out with such critically acclaimed albums as “Dimestore Heroes,” “Badlands” and “Out on the Borderline.” He won an Emmy Award for best musical composition for “Somewhere in the Night,” the theme song for the Fox television show “21 Jump Street.” He also worked with the Doobie Brothers for a time.

Chinnock has pockets of fan support throughout the country, especially in Maine, New Jersey and the southeast. But like many independent artists, he’s had a hard time breaking into radio.

“I’ve got program directors telling me that they love my album, it’s playing in their cars,” he said. “But when I ask them if it’s playing on their station, they say no.”

He’s holding out hope for those with Americana and adult alternative radio formats, stations that have been giving airtime to older rockers.

Chinnock has been pleased with the support he has received from some local music stores and independent stations such as WKIT, but said there needs to be a sense of ownership among such outlets for local artists.

“I run into people who say we don’t carry [or play] local artists, and those should be the first artists you do carry,” he said. “There needs to be a real nurturing of the local artist community in Maine.”

After a time away, Chinnock is glad to be getting back on track.

“I’m able to do shows and perform again,” he said. “I feel like I’m getting back into the flow of my life.”

Concert tickets are available at Bull Moose Music, Grasshopper Shop in Bangor and at the Opera House box office. “Livin’ in the Promised Land” is available at Bull Moose Music and the Grasshopper Shop in Bangor and at www.artistgroup.com/billchinnock.