Biography
The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, a bluegrass ensemble active in the early 1960s, owe their principal renown to the presence of teenage mandolinist Chris Hillman, whose subsequent entry into the Byrds occurred roughly a year after the group disbanded. During their brief existence the quintet committed to tape a collection of traditional bluegrass numbers that served as the debut recording for both Hillman and dobro specialist Larry Murray, the latter of whom later joined the underappreciated Los Angeles folk-country-rock outfit Hearts & Flowers. Although the album long commanded greater attention for its scarcity than for its musical content, the material—energetic and occasionally fleet-fingered bluegrass performed by players still in their teens—has grown far more accessible following its compact-disc reissue. Future Eagles cofounder Bernie Leadon, who also shared a stint in Hearts & Flowers with Murray, participated in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers yet does not appear on the original album, having come aboard only after the sessions concluded.
Details surrounding the band’s timeline have proven somewhat elusive, yet available accounts indicate formation in San Diego during 1961 or 1962, with Hillman recruited as the final member while still completing high school. In 1963 the group captured the LP Blue Grass Favorites for Joe Bihari’s economy-priced Crown imprint—best remembered for its B.B. King releases—in a single live session lasting approximately four hours, according to Hillman’s own recollection. Intended for placement in supermarkets and similar retail outlets, Crown’s releases contributed to the album’s limited visibility and enduring rarity, although the label retained it in print until the close of the 1960s. Further complicating matters, Crown later reissued the same material under the title Best of the Blue Grass Favorites, crediting the performances to the Kentucky Mountain Boys. The ten tracks additionally surfaced on a Custom pressing titled The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde, attributed to a fictitious artist named Ray Waters; both Crown and Custom operated as subsidiaries of Modern.
Following completion of the album, Leadon assumed the banjo chair vacated by Kenny Wertz upon the latter’s departure for Air Force service. The band nevertheless dissolved around the end of 1963, after which Hillman aligned with another bluegrass unit, the Golden State Boys, whose roster included brothers Vern Gosdin and Rex Gosdin. That ensemble also recorded an album, eventually issued in the late 1960s—some five years after tracking—as The Hillmen. At least one notable musician encountered the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers release during its original era: Gram Parsons, who would later form the Flying Burrito Brothers alongside Hillman, remarked to The Seattle Helix that “one of my favorite records was one by the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. That was Chris’s group, though of course I didn’t know he was in it. I would have given my right knee just to have been in it.” Roughly four decades after the breakup, a reunion performance took place in April 2003 at the 30th Annual Roots Festival in San Diego, reuniting Hillman, Murray, Wertz, Leadon, and guitarist Doug Jeffords.
Details surrounding the band’s timeline have proven somewhat elusive, yet available accounts indicate formation in San Diego during 1961 or 1962, with Hillman recruited as the final member while still completing high school. In 1963 the group captured the LP Blue Grass Favorites for Joe Bihari’s economy-priced Crown imprint—best remembered for its B.B. King releases—in a single live session lasting approximately four hours, according to Hillman’s own recollection. Intended for placement in supermarkets and similar retail outlets, Crown’s releases contributed to the album’s limited visibility and enduring rarity, although the label retained it in print until the close of the 1960s. Further complicating matters, Crown later reissued the same material under the title Best of the Blue Grass Favorites, crediting the performances to the Kentucky Mountain Boys. The ten tracks additionally surfaced on a Custom pressing titled The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde, attributed to a fictitious artist named Ray Waters; both Crown and Custom operated as subsidiaries of Modern.
Following completion of the album, Leadon assumed the banjo chair vacated by Kenny Wertz upon the latter’s departure for Air Force service. The band nevertheless dissolved around the end of 1963, after which Hillman aligned with another bluegrass unit, the Golden State Boys, whose roster included brothers Vern Gosdin and Rex Gosdin. That ensemble also recorded an album, eventually issued in the late 1960s—some five years after tracking—as The Hillmen. At least one notable musician encountered the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers release during its original era: Gram Parsons, who would later form the Flying Burrito Brothers alongside Hillman, remarked to The Seattle Helix that “one of my favorite records was one by the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. That was Chris’s group, though of course I didn’t know he was in it. I would have given my right knee just to have been in it.” Roughly four decades after the breakup, a reunion performance took place in April 2003 at the 30th Annual Roots Festival in San Diego, reuniting Hillman, Murray, Wertz, Leadon, and guitarist Doug Jeffords.
Albums