Christopher Hillman
(born December 4, 1944, Los Angeles, California) was one of the original members of The Byrds in 1965 with Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke.
Along with frequent collaborator Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock, virtually defining the genre through his seminal work in The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, and later became the leader of the country act Desert Rose Band.
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CHRIS HILLMAN TICKETS
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Early years
Chris Hillman, the youngest of four children, spent his early years on his family's ranch home in rural North
San Diego County, approximately 110 miles from Los Angeles. He has credited his older sister with exciting his interest in
country and
folk music when she returned from college in the late 1950s with folk music records by
The New Lost City Ramblers and others. Hillman soon began watching many of the country music shows broadcast on local
television in southern California at the time, such as Town Hall Party,
Spade Cooley and Cal's Corral. Hillman's mother encouraged his musical interests, and bought him his first guitar, but shortly after he developed an interest in
bluegrass, and fell in love with the
mandolin. When he was barely 15, Hillman went to
Los Angeles to see legendary bluegrass band the
Kentucky Colonels at the
Ash Grove, and later convinced his family to allow him to take the train by himself up to
Berkeley, California to take lessons from mandolinist Scott Hambly. It was around this time that Hillman's father committed
suicide.
Hillman became well known in San Diego's folk music community as a solid player, which garnered him an invitation to join his first band, the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The band lasted barely two years and only recorded one album,
Bluegrass Favorites
, which was distributed in
supermarkets, but has earned a legendary, albeit
posthumous, reputation as the spawning ground for a number of musicians who went on to play in
the Eagles,
the Flying Burrito Brothers,
the Byrds, Hearts and Flowers, and the
Country Gazette. When the band broke up at the end of 1963, Hillman received an invitation to join the Golden State Boys, then regarded as the top bluegrass band in
Southern California, featuring future country star
Vern Gosdin, his brother Rex, and banjoist
Don Parmley (later of the
Bluegrass Cardinals). Shortly thereafter the band changed its name to
The Hillmen, and soon Chris was appearing regularly on television and using a fictitious ID, "Chris Hardin," to allow the underage musician into the country bars where many of his gigs were held. When the Hillmen folded, he briefly joined a spinoff of Randy Sparks'
New Christy Minstrels known as the Green Grass Revival.
The Byrds
At this point a frustrated Hillman considered quitting music and enrolling at
UCLA, but he received an offer from The Hillmen's former manager and producer Jim Dickson to join
Jim (later Roger) McGuinn,
David Crosby,
Gene Clark and
Michael Clarke in a new band,
The Byrds. Hillman was recruited to play
electric bass guitar, although he had never picked up the instrument before. Thanks to his bluegrass background he was able to quickly develop his own unique, melodic playing style on the instrument. The Byrds' first single, a jangly cover of
Bob Dylan's "
Mr. Tambourine Man", was a huge international hit and marked the birth of the musical genre "
folk rock". During the mid-'60s, the Byrds ranked as one of the most successful and influential American pop groups, recording a string of hits including "
Turn! Turn! Turn!," "
Eight Miles High," and "
So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star".
Hillman kept a low profile on the band's first two albums, on which McGuinn and Clark sang lead vocals with Crosby adding a high harmony. However, the departure of Gene Clark in 1966 and the growing restlessness of David Crosby allowed Hillman the opportunity to develop as a singer and songwriter within the group. He came into his own on the Byrds' 1967 album
Younger Than Yesterday
, co-writing and sharing lead vocals (with McGuinn) on the hit "
So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star." Hillman also wrote and sang the minor hit "
Have You Seen Her Face", as well as "Thoughts and Words", "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name", with the latter two songs showing his bluegrass and country roots. Hillman's prominence continued with the Byrds' next album,
The Notorious Byrd Brothers
, on which he shared songwriting credit on seven of the album's eleven songs.
As a bonus, the compact disc version of
Notorious
contains snippets of bitter conversation among the band members over Clarke's lack of effort on the drums during numerous takes of Crosby's "Dolphin's Smile." When Clarke glibly stated he was only in the band for the money, Hillman observed that his petulance was costing the band money and suggested finding session drummer Jim Gordon to finish the job. Hillman's role as quality control manager continued with all of the groups he played in, a role he relished.
Pioneering Country Rock
Internal strife dogged the Byrds, and by the beginning of 1968 the Byrds were down to two original members, Hillman and McGuinn, along with Hillman's cousin Kevin Kelley on drums. They then hired
Gram Parsons to replace Crosby. Together with Hillman, Parsons changed the Byrds' musical direction, helping to usher in a new era of music known as "
country rock," when they recorded the album
"Sweetheart of the Rodeo"
. Once again, Hillman receded into the background, leaving most of the vocals to Parsons and McGuinn while he concentrated on bass and mandolin. Parsons left the band shortly thereafter, and Hillman brought in former Kentucky Colonels guitarist
Clarence White as a replacement, but this lineup was short-lived when Hillman himself left a few weeks later.
The Flying Burrito Brothers
Hillman joined up with Parsons again in the
Flying Burrito Brothers, this time as a vocalist and guitarist. Further honing their pioneering
Country rock hybrid sound by combining the energy, instrumentation and attitude of
rock and roll with some of the issues and themes of
country music, the Burritos recorded the landmark
The Gilded Palace of Sin
, followed in 1970 by
Burrito Deluxe
. Again, Parsons left Hillman and the group behind in 1971 and Hillman stayed on for two less successful records, bringing in the Byrds' Michael Clarke, future
Eagles guitarist
Bernie Leadon and future
Firefall singer
Rick Roberts. This lineup was also short-lived.
1970s
Before FBB disbanded, Hillman joined
Stephen Stills' band
Manassas, where he remained until 1973, when he briefly rejoined the original lineup of the Byrds for a reunion album on
Asylum Records.
In 1974, Hillman teamed with singer-songwriter
Richie Furay who had co-founded both
Buffalo Springfield and
Poco, and songwriter
J. D. Souther, who had co-written much of the
Eagles' early repertoire, in the
Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. The three never quite gelled and finally went their separate ways in 1975 after two albums and internal squabbles.
Hillman released two solo albums,
Slippin' Away
and ''Clear Sailin
, which included several songs co-written with
Crawdaddy'' magazine editor Peter Knobler. One of their songs, "Step on Out," was recorded by
The Oak Ridge Boys on their 1985 album and became the title cut. He was also an in-demand studio musician, playing and singing on sessions for
Gene Clark,
Dillard & Clark,
Poco,
Dan Fogelberg and others. After an early 1977 British tour reunited him with
Roger McGuinn and
Gene Clark, the trio stayed together for two McGuinn-Clark-Hillman albums and one under the McGuinn-Hillman
moniker, experiencing one hit single with "Don't You Write Her Off" in 1979.
Desert Rose Band
By the beginning of the 1980s, Hillman returned to his bluegrass and country roots, recording two acclaimed, mostly-acoustic albums for
Sugar Hill Records with singer-guitarist-banjo player
Herb Pedersen, a former member of
The Dillards. Soon after, Hillman and Pedersen formed the
Desert Rose Band, which proved to be Hillman's most commercially-successful post-Byrds project. Their first LP, an eponymously titled 1987 outing, generated two
Top Ten country hits in "Love Reunited" that he wrote with Steve Hill and "One Step Forward" and a number one single with "He's Back and I'm Blue." From 1987 till the end of 1993 they recorded seven albums and had a string of 16 country music
hits, the majority of which were in the country Top Ten, as well as garnering a number of
Academy of Country Music awards, before calling it quits in 1994.
1990s and beyond
At the peak of the
Desert Rose Band's success, Hillman also began appearing infrequently with McGuinn. A duet recorded by the pair for the
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's
Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol. II album, "You Ain't Going Nowhere", reached the country top 10 in 1989. Soon, the pair joined Crosby in a reformed Byrds, playing a handful of club dates. In 1990, they appeared at a tribute to
Roy Orbison, performing "Mr. Tambourine Man" along with the song's composer,
Bob Dylan. The same year, the Byrds cut four new songs for inclusion in a career-spanning box set, and in 1991 were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1996, Hillman reunited with
Desert Rose Band alumnus Herb Pederson for the CD
Bakersfield Bound
.
Like a Hurricane
followed in 1998, as well as three bluegrass-flavored releases on
Rounder Records with Pedersen, Larry Rice and
Tony Rice. He appeared on the 1999 album,
Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons
in a duet with
Steve Earle on "High Fashion Queen", which Hillman co-wrote with Parsons. After a short hiatus, Hillman and Pedersen returned in 2002 with
Way Out West
, a sprawling 17-track collection of country,
roots rock, and
Americana, followed by
The Other Side
in 2005.
Discography
- The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers Bluegrass Favorites
Crown Records (1962)
- The Hillmen The Hillmen
(1969) Together Records
Contains material recorded in 1963-64. Reissued in 1981 and 1995 on Sugar Hill
The Byrds
- Mr. Tambourine Man
(1965) Columbia
- Turn! Turn! Turn!
(1965) Columbia
- Fifth Dimension
(1966) Columbia
- Younger Than Yesterday
(1967) Columbia
- The Notorious Byrd Brothers
(1968) Columbia
- Sweetheart of the Rodeo
(1968) Columbia
- Byrds
(1973) Asylum
The Flying Burrito Brothers
- The Gilded Palace of Sin
(1969) A&M
- Burrito Deluxe
(1970) A&M
- The Flying Burrito Brothers
(1971) A&M
- Last of the Red Hot Burritos
(1972) A&M
- Close Up the Honky Tonks
(1974) A&M
- Honky Tonk Heaven
(1974) Ariola
- Sleepless Nights
(1976) A&M
- Farther Along
(1988) A&M
- Dim Lights, Thick Smoke, and Loud, Loud Music
(1987) Edsel
- Out of the Blue
(1996) A&M
Manassas
- Manassas
(1972) Atlantic
- Down the Road
(1973) Atlantic
The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band
- The Souther Hillman Furay Band
(1974) Asylum
- Trouble in Paradise
(1975) Asylum
McGuinn, Clark & Hillman
- McGuinn, Clark & Hillman
(1979) Capitol
- City
(1980) Capitol
- Return Flight I
(1992) Edsel
- Return Flight II
(1993) Edsel
- Three Byrds Land in London
(1997) Windsong
- The Capitol Collection
(2007) Capitol
McGuinn/Hillman
- McGuinn / Hillman
(1981) Capitol
Ever Call Ready
- Down Home Praise
(1984) Maranatha! Music
- Ever Call Ready
(1985) Maranatha! Music
The Desert Rose Band
- The Desert Rose Band
(1987) Curb/MCA
- Running
(1988) Curb/MCA
- Pages of Life
(1990) Curb/MCA
- A Dozen Roses/Greatest Hits
(1991) Curb/MCA
- True Love
(1991) Curb/MCA
- Traditional
(1992) Curb/MCA
- Life Goes On
(1993) Curb
Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen
- Bakersfield Bound
(1996) Sugar Hill
- Way Out West
(2003) Back Porch Records
Larry Rice, Tony Rice, Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen
- Out of the Woodwork
(1997) Rounder
- Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen
(1999) Rounder Records
- Running Wild
(2001) Rounder Records
Solo Artist
- Slippin' Away
(1976) Asylum
- Clear Sailin
(1977) Asylum
- Morning Sky
(1982) Sugar Hill
- Desert Rose
(1984) Sugar Hill
- Like a Hurricane
(1998) Sugar Hill
- The Other Side
(2005) Sovereign Records
Singles
Year
| Single
| Chart Positions
| Album
|
US Country
| CAN Country
|
1989
| "You Ain't Going Nowhere" (with Roger McGuinn)
| 6
| 11
| Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two
(Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album)
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