Chris Hillman

Chris Hillman, alongside his frequent collaborator Gram Parsons, stood at the center of country-rock’s emergence and essentially shaped the style through pioneering recordings with the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Born December 4, 1944, in Los Angeles, Hillman absorbed the sounds of Spade Cooley and Cliffie Stone while learning guitar on his own. He formed the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers in 1961 with two high-school companions and they released an album; the following year he entered the Golden Gate Boys, a bluegrass ensemble that included Vern Gosdin. Recognizing the newcomer’s mandolin skill, the band adopted the name the Hillmen; after completing a self-titled LP under producer Jim Dickson, the group dissolved in 1963.

The Beefeaters, an L.A. folk trio consisting of guitarists Jim (later Roger) McGuinn, David Crosby, and Gene Clark, issued the single “Please Let Me Love You” in 1964; once it failed commercially, the members chose to expand with a bassist and drummer. Producer Dickson recommended Hillman for bass, and although he had never played the instrument, his bluegrass experience enabled him to craft a distinctive melodic approach. With the addition of drummer Michael Clarke, the five-piece adopted the name the Byrds. At the label’s direction their debut was tracked by session musicians, leaving Hillman and Clarke sidelined; the resulting single, a ringing version of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” became a major success and signaled the arrival of folk-rock.

Throughout the mid-1960s the Byrds ranked among America’s most popular and influential acts, releasing hits such as “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” “Eight Miles High,” and “So You Want to Be a Rock ’n’ Roll Star” together with the well-received Younger Than Yesterday in 1967 and the acclaimed The Notorious Byrd Brothers in 1968. Persistent internal tensions reduced the original lineup until, by late 1967, only Hillman and McGuinn remained. Around that period Gram Parsons appeared; in December 1967 McGuinn recruited him as a jazz pianist for a project surveying American popular music. Parsons’s command of country music quickly dominated the sessions, a development Hillman welcomed, and the album they completed, 1968’s Sweetheart of the Rodeo, supplied the template for subsequent country-rock releases.

A tour ensued, yet discord followed when Parsons objected to performing in apartheid-era South Africa and departed the Byrds in July 1968. Three months later Hillman also exited, joining Parsons as vocalist and guitarist in the reconstituted Flying Burrito Brothers alongside bassist Chris Ethridge, pedal-steel player “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow, and drummer Jon Corneal. Refining their fusion of rock energy and country subject matter, the band recorded the landmark Gilded Palace of Sin, then Burrito Deluxe in 1970. After Parsons left in 1971, Hillman remained for the less successful self-titled 1971 album and Last of the Red Hot Burritos the next year. Once the group disbanded he entered Stephen Stills’ Manassas, staying until 1973, when he briefly rejoined the Byrds.

Hillman formed Souther Hillman Furay in 1974 with songwriters John David Souther and Richie Furay; following two albums with that trio he issued the solo sets Slippin’ Away in 1976 and Clear Sailin’ in 1977. By 1978 he had reunited with McGuinn and Clark to record the 1979 album McGuinn, Clark & Hillman, which yielded the Top 40 single “Don’t You Write Her Off.” City appeared the following year under the billing “Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman featuring Gene Clark.” The three musicians parted ways again, and in 1982 Hillman released the country-oriented Morning Sky. Two years later came Desert Rose, containing the minor country-chart entries “Somebody’s Back in Town” and “Running the Roadblocks.” The album title foreshadowed future developments; in 1986 Hillman assembled the Desert Rose Band, a country-rock unit featuring Nashville veterans Herb Pedersen, John Jorgenson, Jay Dee Maness, Steve Duncan, and Bill Bryson.

The Desert Rose Band became Hillman’s most commercially successful venture after the Byrds. Its debut, the self-titled 1987 album, produced the Top Ten country singles “Love Reunited” and “One Step Forward,” the latter reaching number two. “He’s Back and I’m Blue,” issued in 1988, topped the country chart, as did “I Still Believe in You” from Running. Two further singles from that album, “Summer Wind” and a cover of John Hiatt’s “She Don’t Love Nobody,” reached the Top Five. The next release, 1989’s Pages of Life, also performed strongly, generating the Top Ten hits “Start All Over Again” and “Story of Love.” Later projects such as 1991’s True Love and 1993’s Traditional proved less popular, and after the final album Life Goes On the band disbanded in 1994.

While the Desert Rose Band was at its height, Hillman occasionally performed with McGuinn; their 1989 duet “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” reached the country Top Ten. The pair soon joined Crosby in a reconstituted Byrds lineup for several club appearances. In 1990 they performed “Mr. Tambourine Man” with its composer, Bob Dylan, at a tribute to the late Roy Orbison. That same year the Byrds recorded four new tracks for a retrospective box set and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. Hillman rejoined Desert Rose alumnus Herb Pedersen for Bakersfield Bound in 1996; Like a Hurricane followed in 1998. After a brief pause he returned in 2002 with Way Out West, a seventeen-track survey of country, roots rock, Americana, and folk that again featured Pedersen and members of the Desert Rose Band. The Other Side appeared in 2005. Continuing his partnership with Pedersen, Hillman released At Edwards Barn, a live career retrospective recorded at Edwards Barn in Nipomo, California, on Rounder Records in 2010. Throughout the 2010s he toured with Pedersen, who also served as executive producer on the Tom Petty-produced album Bidin’ My Time issued in 2017.