While he was the main voice for BIC Radio (featuring Momo the monkey), Charlie was a blues-rock frontman. He founded and led The Charlie Brechtel Band, sharing stages and studio time with legends like Gregg Allman, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, and Deacon Jones. Their biker blues sound was featured in Sons of Anarchy, Dead in 5 Heartbeats, and Charlie's own movies.

Charlie played Sturgis every year for at least 100 years, or so it felt like. He was a resident there, gracing the main stage and then providing daily and nightly performances at his own stage in the party zone of the Buffalo Chip. He showed up from Copperopolis along with Hank and Big G and the rest of the crew, year after year and rocked the shit out of Sturgis and the chip. Thousands maybe millions of riders heard him over 20+ years. That was Charlie, that was his thing, and we all still miss him today.

Charlie made two biker films: Rebel on the Highway came out in 2018 — voodoo, motorcycle races, all the big names in the industry, good versus evil. And a soundtrack with Gregg Allman, Charlie Musselwhite, Deacon Jones and Eddie Money. Then his second film, Rough Boys, was almost done when he died in 2020. (If you want to see it, reach out.)