11/16/2025
THE ‘BORO SESSIONS PRESENTS REVEREND BILLY C. WIRTZ IN CONCERT TODAY!
And believe me, you don’t want to miss him.
If you have reverence for explosive old-school boogie-woogie, rhythm & blues and rockabilly-style piano, served alongside a heaping helping of sanctified Southern-fried humor, then make your way to 816 South Elm Street(The Back Table) in Greensboro, NC, where the Reverend Billy C. Wirtz will perform songs and save souls from 2-4 p.m. And on a Sunday, no less! How perfect is that?
Billy has no lack of glowing accolades from music critics and fellow musicians that I could quote at length, but the truth is that he’s his own best press release. Over the years he has styled himself as Master of the 88 Key Disaster, King of the Atomic Boogie, Minister of the First House of Polyester Worship and Throbbing Teenage Desire, and the Fashion Plate of Public Radio.
I mean, what can I add to that? Well, for starters, he has released thirteen albums, a goodly number of them for the esteemed HighTone and Blind Pig labels. You want a clue about the sensibility of those long players? Billy’s debut album, released on the No Big Deal label in 1982, was titled Salvation Through Polyester. His 1996 release for HighTone bore the inspirational name Songs of Faith and Inflammation. On his most recent album, Full Circle, he was accompanied by the Nighthawks, the beloved veteran blues band from the Washington D.C. area. He will soon be entering the studio with them for his next recording project.
Beyond his lifetime’s work as a performing musician and road warrior, he has serious journalistic credentials, having written myriad music articles for such periodicals as Living Blues, Musician and Keyboard Magazine and more. Oh, and he’s published a couple of books, including one entitled Red Headed Geek, about his experience as a manager in the world of professional wrestling. For many years he has hosted a weekly radio show, The Rhythm Revival, on WMNF (88.5 FM, Tampa, Fl.), for which he spins classic gospel, soul, R&B and rock and roll. He actually started out on radio as a college student at the University of Georgia. But wait! There’s more. He’s been a headliner and guest lecturer a dozen times on the legendary Blues Cruise. He’s just finished working on a documentary about the Florida chitlin’ circuit and has given presentations on the chitlin’ circuit and the birth of rock and roll. The man knows the history of American roots music and through tireless performing, researching and writing has become part of that history himself.
I caught up with Billy as he was racing up I-95 from Florida to North Carolina, and he had this to say about his conversion to the church of rhythm & blues and rock and roll back in his wild and crazy youth: “The thing I liked about music was that it made me physically feel good. And it was like a drug. I felt better when I listened to it. It was a portal into another universe. One that I never stepped back from. I’m still stuck in that other world. That was the light switch that got thrown.”
All these years later, Reverend Billy C. Wirtz is still playing and preaching the musical gospel that saved his soul – and, presumably, yours too.
So drop whatever it is you’re doing and boogie on over to 816 South Elm Street, (The Back Table) Greensboro, NCto catch Reverend Billy C. Wirtz perform today from 2-4 pm as part of The ‘Boro Sessions concert series, which is staged at varying locations. For more information go to theborosessions.com.
