Chris Hillman
Encyclopedia
Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

 which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...

, Gene Clark
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....

, David Crosby
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...

, and Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke (musician)
Michael Clarke , was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the 1960s rock group The Byrds from 1964 to 1967. He died in 1993, at age 47, from liver failure, a direct result of more than three decades of heavy alcohol consumption.-Biography:Clarke was born Michael James Dick in...

.

Along with frequent collaborator Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...

, Chris Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

, virtually defining the genre through his seminal work in The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

 and The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers was an early country rock band, best known for its influential debut album,The Gilded Palace of Sin . Although the group is most often mentioned in connection with country rock legends Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, the group underwent many personnel changes.-Original...

 and later became the leader of the country rock act Desert Rose Band
Desert Rose Band
The Desert Rose Band is a US country music band from California founded by Chris Hillman along with Herb Pedersen and John Jorgenson in 1985. Rounding out the original lineup were Bill Bryson on bass guitar, Jay Dee Maness on pedal steel guitar, and Steve Duncan on drums...

.

Early years

Chris Hillman, the third 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
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 and folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 when she returned from college in the late 1950s with folk music records by The New Lost City Ramblers
Mike Seeger
Mike Seeger was an American folk musician and folklorist. He was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, mouth harp, mandolin, dobro, jaw harp, and pan pipes. Seeger, a half-brother of Pete Seeger, produced more than 30 documentary...

 and others. Hillman soon began watching many of the country music shows broadcast on local television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 in southern California at the time, such as Town Hall Party, Spade Cooley
Spade Cooley
Donnell Clyde Cooley , better known as Spade Cooley, was an American Western swing musician, big band leader, actor, and television personality...

 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
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

, and fell in love with the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

. When he was barely 15, Hillman went to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 to see legendary bluegrass band the Kentucky Colonels
Kentucky Colonels (band)
The Kentucky Colonels was a popular bluegrass band in the 1960s. They included Clarence White, later with The Byrds.-History:The White brothers started out as the Country Boys in 1954, with their brother Eric. With the addition of Latham, Mack and Sloane, and Roger Bush replacing Eric, they changed...

 at the Ash Grove
Ash Grove (music club)
The Ash Grove was a folk music club located at 8162 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, founded in 1958 by Ed Pearl and named after the Welsh folk song, "The Ash Grove."...

, and later convinced his family to allow him to take the train by himself up to Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

 to take lessons from mandolinist Scott Hambly. It was around this time that Hillman's father died.

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 supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

s, 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, Flying Burrito Brothers, Byrds, Hearts & Flowers
Hearts & Flowers
Hearts & Flowers was a Los Angeles folk-rock club band, perhaps most significant as one of the groups that launched the career of Eagles' founding member and guitarist-songwriter, Bernie Leadon. The lineup included Larry Murray , Dave Dawson and Rick Cunha . Leadon replaced Cunha on their second...

, 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
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

, featuring future country star Vern Gosdin
Vern Gosdin
Vern Gosdin was an American country music singer. He idolized The Louvin Brothers and The Blue Sky Boys as a young man and sang in a gospel quartet called The Gosdin Brothers. An inheritor of the soulful honky tonk style of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard, Gosdin was nicknamed "The Voice" by his...

, his brother Rex, and banjoist Don Parmley (later of the Bluegrass Cardinals). Shortly thereafter the band changed its name to The Hillmen
The Hillmen
The Hillmen were a southern Californian bluegrass group. Formed in 1962, the original line-up of the Golden State Boys consisted of Vern Gosdin on guitar and lead vocals, his brother Rex Gosdin on double bass, Hal Poindexter on guitar, and Don Parmley on banjo...

, 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
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...

, David Crosby
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...

, Gene Clark
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....

 and Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke (musician)
Michael Clarke , was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the 1960s rock group The Byrds from 1964 to 1967. He died in 1993, at age 47, from liver failure, a direct result of more than three decades of heavy alcohol consumption.-Biography:Clarke was born Michael James Dick in...

 in a new band, The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

. Hillman was recruited to play electric bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

, 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
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

's "Mr. Tambourine Man
Mr. Tambourine Man
"Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan, which was released on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. The Byrds also recorded a version of the song that was released as their first single on Columbia Records, reaching number 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and...

", was a huge international hit and marked the birth of the musical genre "folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

". 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
Eight Miles High
"Eight Miles High" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn, and David Crosby and first released as a single on March 14, 1966 . The single managed to reach the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 30 of the UK Singles Chart...

", and "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star
So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star
"So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by Jim McGuinn and Chris Hillman and included on their 1967 album, Younger Than Yesterday. The song was released as a single on January 9, 1967 and reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 but failed to...

".

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
Younger Than Yesterday
Younger Than Yesterday is the fourth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in February 1967 on Columbia Records . The album saw the band continuing to integrate elements of psychedelic rock into their music, a process they had begun on their previous LP...

, co-writing and sharing lead vocals (with McGuinn) on the hit "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star
So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star
"So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by Jim McGuinn and Chris Hillman and included on their 1967 album, Younger Than Yesterday. The song was released as a single on January 9, 1967 and reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 but failed to...

". Hillman also wrote and sang the minor hit "Have You Seen Her Face
Have You Seen Her Face
"Have You Seen Her Face" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by the group's bass player Chris Hillman and included on their 1967 album, Younger Than Yesterday. The song was released as the third single to be taken from that album on May 22, 1967 and reached #74 on the Billboard...

", 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
The Notorious Byrd Brothers
The Notorious Byrd Brothers is the fifth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in January 1968 on Columbia Records . Musically, the album represents the pinnacle of The Byrds' psychedelic experimentation, with the band blending together elements of folk rock, psychedelic rock,...

, on which he shared songwriting credit on seven of the album's eleven songs.

Pioneering country rock

Internal strife dogged the Byrds, and by the beginning of 1968 the band was down to two original members, Hillman and McGuinn, along with Hillman's cousin Kevin Kelley
Kevin Kelley (musician)
Kevin Daniel Kelley was an American drummer, best known for his work with the rock bands The Byrds and the Rising Sons. Kelley also played drums for Fever Tree, although it is unknown whether he was an official member of the group or not...

 on drums. They then hired Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...

 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
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

" when they recorded the album Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo is the sixth album by American rock band The Byrds and was released on August 30, 1968 on Columbia Records...

. Once again, Hillman seemed to recede 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
Clarence White
Clarence White was a guitar player for Nashville West, The Byrds, Muleskinner, and the Kentucky Colonels. His parents were Acadians from New Brunswick, Canada...

 as a replacement, but this lineup was short-lived when Hillman himself left a few weeks later.

The Flying Burrito Brothers

Hillman teamed with Parsons again, this time as a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, to form the Flying Burrito Brothers. Further honing their pioneering country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

 hybrid sound by combining the energy, instrumentation and attitude of rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 with some of the issues and themes of country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

, the Burritos recorded the landmark The Gilded Palace of Sin
The Gilded Palace of Sin
The Gilded Palace of Sin is an album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1969. It continued Gram Parsons' and Chris Hillman's pioneering work in modern country music, fusing traditional sources like folk and country with other forms of popular music like gospel, soul,...

, followed 1970's Burrito Deluxe
Burrito Deluxe
Burrito Deluxe is the second album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1970. In between The Gilded Palace of Sin and Burrito Deluxe, the band underwent some personnel changes. Bassist Chris Ethridge left the band out of frustration at the band's lack of success...

. Parsons was out of the line-up by June 1970, when the band toured Canada as part of the Festival Express
Festival Express
Festival Express is a 2003 documentary film about the eponymous 1970 train tour across Canada taken by some of North America's most popular rock bands, including The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band and Delaney & Bonnie & Friends...

 tour, replaced by future Eagles guitarist Bernie Leadon
Bernie Leadon
Bernard Mathew "Bernie" Leadon, III is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of two pioneering and highly influential country rock bands, Dillard & Clark and the Flying Burrito Brothers...

, while Hillman reverted to playing bass guitar. Hillman stayed with the band for two less successful records, bringing in the Byrds' Michael Clarke and future Firefall
Firefall
Firefall is a rock band that formed in Boulder, Colorado in 1974. It was founded by Rick Roberts, who had been in the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Jock Bartley, who had been Tommy Bolin's replacement in Zephyr. The band's biggest hit single, "You Are the Woman", peaked at #9 on the Billboard charts...

 singer Rick Roberts
Rick Roberts
Rick Roberts may refer to:* Rick Roberts , Canadian actor* Rick Roberts , American radio talk show host* Rick Roberts , Canadian field hockey player* Rick Roberts , American rock musician, founder of Firefall...

 for another short-lived lineup.

1970s

Before the Flying Burrito Brothers disbanded, Hillman joined Stephen Stills
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash . He has performed on a professional level in several other bands as well as maintaining a solo career at the same time...

' band Manassas
Manassas (band)
Manassas was an American rock band, formed by Stephen Stills in 1971. The nucleus of the band had already backed Stills on his July 1971 album, Stephen Stills 2, and in May 1972, the double album, Manassas, was released. Down The Road was released in 1973, but in October of that year the band split...

, where he remained until 1973, when he briefly rejoined the original lineup of the Byrds for a reunion album on Asylum Records
Asylum Records
Asylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell...

.

In 1974, Hillman teamed with singer-songwriter Richie Furay
Richie Furay
Richie Furay is an American singer, songwriter, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member who is best known for forming the bands Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin, and Poco with Jim Messina, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner...

 who had co-founded both Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield is a North American folk rock band renown both for its music and as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Among the first wave of North American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion, the group combined...

 and Poco
Poco
Poco is an Southern California country rock band originally formed by Richie Furay and Jim Messina following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968. The title of their first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, is a reference to the break-up of Buffalo Springfield. Highly influential and creative,...

, and songwriter J. D. Souther
J. D. Souther
John David Souther is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and actor. He has written and co-written numerous hits songs recorded by artists such as Linda Ronstadt and Glenn Frey of the Eagles.-Singing career:...

, who had co-written much of the Eagles' early repertoire, in the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band
Souther-Hillman-Furay Band
The Souther Hillman Furay Band was a country rock supergroup led by singer-songwriters Richie Furay , Chris Hillman , and J.D. Souther...

. The trio never quite gelled and broke up 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
Crawdaddy!
Crawdaddy! was the first U.S. magazine of rock and roll music criticism. Created in 1966 by college student Paul Williams in response to the increasing sophistication and cultural influence of popular music, Crawdaddy! was self-described as "the first magazine to take rock and roll...

 magazine editor Peter Knobler
Peter Knobler
Peter Knobler is an American writer living in New York City. He has collaborated on several national best sellers and was the editor-in-chief of Crawdaddy magazine from 1972 to 1979.- Writing :...

. One of their songs, "Step on Out," was recorded by The Oak Ridge Boys
The Oak Ridge Boys
The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet.The group was founded in the 1940s as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in southern gospel during the 1950s...

 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
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....

, Dillard & Clark
Dillard & Clark
Dillard & Clark was a country rock duo which featured ex-Byrds member Gene Clark and bluegrass banjo player Doug Dillard. The group was formed in 1968, shortly after Clark departed The Byrds, and Dillard left The Dillards. They were backed up by, among others, Bernie Leadon, Chris Hillman, Sneaky...

, Poco
Poco
Poco is an Southern California country rock band originally formed by Richie Furay and Jim Messina following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968. The title of their first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, is a reference to the break-up of Buffalo Springfield. Highly influential and creative,...

, Dan Fogelberg
Dan Fogelberg
Daniel Grayling "Dan" Fogelberg was an American singer-songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, whose music was inspired by sources as diverse as folk, pop, rock, classical, jazz, and bluegrass music...

 and others. After an early 1977 British tour reunited him with Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...

 and Gene Clark
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....

, the trio stayed together for two McGuinn-Clark-Hillman albums (on which Hillman continued his songwriting collaboration with Knobler) 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
Herb Pedersen
Herb Pedersen is an American musician, guitarist, banjo player, and singer-songwriter who has played a variety of musical styles over the past forty years including country, bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, folk, folk rock, country rock, and has worked with numerous musicians in many different...

, a former member of The Dillards
The Dillards
The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of...

. Soon after, Hillman and Pedersen formed the Desert Rose Band
Desert Rose Band
The Desert Rose Band is a US country music band from California founded by Chris Hillman along with Herb Pedersen and John Jorgenson in 1985. Rounding out the original lineup were Bill Bryson on bass guitar, Jay Dee Maness on pedal steel guitar, and Steve Duncan on drums...

, which proved to be Hillman's most commercially successful post-Byrds project. Their first LP, an eponymously titled 1987 outing, generated two Top Ten
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

 country hits in "Love Reunited", written with Steve Hill, and "One Step Forward", plus the number one single "He's Back and I'm Blue." From 1987 till the end of 1993 the band 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
Academy of Country Music
The Academy of Country Music was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Whereas the Country Music Association, founded in 1958, was based in Nashville, the Academy sought to promote country music in the western states. Among those involved in the...

 awards, before calling it quits in 1994. As Hillman said, "We definitely quit while we were ahead."

Recently, The Desert Rose Band
Desert Rose Band
The Desert Rose Band is a US country music band from California founded by Chris Hillman along with Herb Pedersen and John Jorgenson in 1985. Rounding out the original lineup were Bill Bryson on bass guitar, Jay Dee Maness on pedal steel guitar, and Steve Duncan on drums...

 reunited when John Jorgenson performed with Chris Hillman, Herb Pederson, Jay Dee Maness and Bill Bryson on May 2, 2008, at the Station Inn
Station Inn
The Station Inn is a concert venue in Nashville, Tennessee that hosts bluegrass acts. Frommers wrote that it is "widely regarded as one of the best bluegrass venues around"...

 in Nashville. This lineup is the best known and includes all of the original members present on the hit albums from the 1980s. At this show Hillman said it was the first time they'd played together in 19 years. They went through a string of DRB hits but were unable to play "He's Back and I'm Blue" because Hillman said he had forgotten the words. This sold-out show prompted Hillman and the band to play a handful of other reunion shows at clubs and music festivals throughout the U.S. Several of these were recorded for inclusion on a live album which Hillman is currently shopping to record labels in the U.S. and Europe. When released, this will be the Desert Rose Band's only official live album.

1990s and beyond

At the peak of the Desert Rose Band
Desert Rose Band
The Desert Rose Band is a US country music band from California founded by Chris Hillman along with Herb Pedersen and John Jorgenson in 1985. Rounding out the original lineup were Bill Bryson on bass guitar, Jay Dee Maness on pedal steel guitar, and Steve Duncan on drums...

's success, Hillman also began appearing infrequently with McGuinn. A duet recorded by the pair for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country-folk-rock band that has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California in 1966. The group's membership has had at least a dozen changes over the years, including a period from 1976 to 1981 when the band performed and recorded...

'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
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...

, performing "Mr. Tambourine Man" along with the song's composer, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

. The same year, the Byrds cut four new songs for inclusion in a career-spanning box set, and in 1991 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...

. In 1996 Hillman reunited with Desert Rose Band
Desert Rose Band
The Desert Rose Band is a US country music band from California founded by Chris Hillman along with Herb Pedersen and John Jorgenson in 1985. Rounding out the original lineup were Bill Bryson on bass guitar, Jay Dee Maness on pedal steel guitar, and Steve Duncan on drums...

 alumnus Herb Pederson for the CD Bakersfield Bound. Like a Hurricane (1998) followed, as well as three bluegrass-flavored releases on Rounder Records
Rounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...

 with Pedersen, Larry Rice and Tony Rice
Tony Rice
Tony Rice is an American acoustic guitarist and bluegrass musician. He is considered one of the most influential acoustic guitar players in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and acoustic jazz.Rice spans the range of acoustic music, from traditional bluegrass to jazz-influenced New...

. He appeared on the 1999 album
Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons
Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons
Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons is a 1999 tribute album to pioneering country-rock musician Gram Parsons, co-produced by his one-time singing partner, Emmylou Harris and featuring cover versions of songs written/co-written by or popularized by Parsons, performed by Harris,...

in a duet with Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....

 on "High Fashion Queen", which Hillman co-wrote with Parsons. After a short hiatus, Hillman and Pedersen returned with
Way Out West (2002), a 17-track collection of country, roots rock
Roots rock
Roots rock is a term now used to describe rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid sub-genres from the later 1960s including country rock and Southern rock, which have been seen as responses to the...

, and Americana
Americana (music)
Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...

, followed by
The Other Side (2005).

As of early 2010, Hillman has been "recovering from extensive spinal surgery, and hopes to be back touring soon," according to his wife, Connie Hillman.

Discography

  • The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers
    The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers
    The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers were a San Diego-based bluegrass group, perhaps most significant as the band that launched the career of founding Byrds' member, Chris Hillman and founding Eagles' guitarist-songwriter, Bernie Leadon...

     
    Bluegrass Favorites Crown Records (1962)
  • The Hillmen
    The Hillmen
    The Hillmen were a southern Californian bluegrass group. Formed in 1962, the original line-up of the Golden State Boys consisted of Vern Gosdin on guitar and lead vocals, his brother Rex Gosdin on double bass, Hal Poindexter on guitar, and Don Parmley on banjo...

     
    The Hillmen
    The Hillmen (album)
    The Hillmen is a studio album by The Hillmen, a southern California bluegrass band originally known as The Golden State Boys. The Hillmen consisted of Chris Hillman on mandolin, country singer/songwriter Vern Gosdin on guitar and lead vocals, his brother Rex Gosdin on double bass, and Don Parmley...

    (1969) Together Records

Contains material recorded in 1963-64. Reissued in 1981 and 1995 on Sugar Hill

The Byrds

  • Mr. Tambourine Man
    Mr. Tambourine Man (album)
    Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut album by the American folk rock band The Byrds and was released in June 1965 on Columbia Records . The album, along with the single of the same name, established the band as an internationally successful rock act and was also influential in originating the musical...

    (1965) Columbia
  • Turn! Turn! Turn!
    Turn! Turn! Turn! (album)
    Turn! Turn! Turn! is the second album by the folk rock band The Byrds and was released in December 1965 on Columbia Records . Like its predecessor, Mr. Tambourine Man, the album epitomized the folk rock genre and continued the band's successful mix of vocal harmony and jangly twelve-string...

    (1965) Columbia
  • Fifth Dimension
    Fifth Dimension (album)
    Fifth Dimension is the third album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in July 1966 on Columbia Records . Most of the album was recorded following the February 1966 departure of the band's principal songwriter Gene Clark...

    (1966) Columbia
  • Younger Than Yesterday
    Younger Than Yesterday
    Younger Than Yesterday is the fourth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in February 1967 on Columbia Records . The album saw the band continuing to integrate elements of psychedelic rock into their music, a process they had begun on their previous LP...

    (1967) Columbia
  • The Notorious Byrd Brothers
    The Notorious Byrd Brothers
    The Notorious Byrd Brothers is the fifth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in January 1968 on Columbia Records . Musically, the album represents the pinnacle of The Byrds' psychedelic experimentation, with the band blending together elements of folk rock, psychedelic rock,...

    (1968) Columbia
  • Sweetheart of the Rodeo
    Sweetheart of the Rodeo
    Sweetheart of the Rodeo is the sixth album by American rock band The Byrds and was released on August 30, 1968 on Columbia Records...

    (1968) Columbia
  • Byrds
    Byrds (album)
    Byrds is the twelfth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in March 1973 on Asylum Records . It was recorded as the centerpiece of a reunion between the five original members of The Byrds: Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke...

    (1973) Asylum

The Flying Burrito Brothers

  • The Gilded Palace of Sin
    The Gilded Palace of Sin
    The Gilded Palace of Sin is an album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1969. It continued Gram Parsons' and Chris Hillman's pioneering work in modern country music, fusing traditional sources like folk and country with other forms of popular music like gospel, soul,...

    (1969) A&M
  • Burrito Deluxe
    Burrito Deluxe
    Burrito Deluxe is the second album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1970. In between The Gilded Palace of Sin and Burrito Deluxe, the band underwent some personnel changes. Bassist Chris Ethridge left the band out of frustration at the band's lack of success...

    (1970) A&M
  • The Flying Burrito Brothers
    The Flying Burrito Brothers (album)
    The Flying Burrito Bros is the third album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1971. Before recording sessions for the album began, Gram Parsons would leave the band for a solo career, leaving Chris Hillman and "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow to carry on. In Parsons' place, the...

    (1971) A&M
  • Last of the Red Hot Burritos (1972) A&M
  • Close Up the Honky Tonks
    Close Up the Honky Tonks
    Close Up the Honky Tonks is a compilation double-LP by country rock artist The Flying Burrito Brothers, which was released in 1974. By this time, the Flying Burrito Brothers no longer existed, having been dissolved by Rick Roberts in 1973....

    (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
    Manassas (album)
    Manassas is the 1972 debut double album from Stephen Stills' band of the same name."It Doesn't Matter" was released as a single and peaked at #61...

    (1972) Atlantic
  • Down the Road (1973) Atlantic
  • Pieces
    Pieces (Manassas album)
    Pieces is a compilation of alternate takes and outtakes by Stephen Stills’s band Manassas released in 2009.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Stephen Stills except where indicated.#"Witching Hour" – 5:12#"Sugar Babe" – 4:19...

    (2009) Rhino

The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band

  • The Souther Hillman Furay Band
    The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band (album)
    The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band is the debut album by The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, released in 1974. It peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200 chart.-History:...

    (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

The Desert Rose Band

  • The Desert Rose Band
    The Desert Rose Band (album)
    The Desert Rose Band is the first studio album by American country music group The Desert Rose Band. It was released June 2, 1987 via MCA/Curb...

    (1987) Curb/MCA
  • Running
    Running (The Desert Rose Band album)
    Running is the second studio album by American country music group The Desert Rose Band. It was released September 6, 1988 via MCA/Curb. The album peaked at #26 on the Top Country Albums chart.-Track listing:#"She Don't Love Nobody" – 2:56...

    (1988) Curb/MCA
  • Pages of Life
    Pages of Life
    Pages of Life is the third studio album by American country music group The Desert Rose Band. It was released January 16, 1990 via MCA/Curb...

    (1990) Curb/MCA
  • A Dozen Roses – Greatest Hits
    A Dozen Roses – Greatest Hits
    A Dozen Roses – Greatest Hits is the first greatest hits album by American country music group The Desert Rose Band. It was released January 4, 1991 via MCA/Curb...

    (1991) Curb/MCA
  • True Love
    True Love (The Desert Rose Band album)
    True Love is the fourth album by country band The Desert Rose Band, released in 1991. The album was released by the Curb record label, failing to make an impact on the American Country charts....

    (1991) Curb/MCA
  • Traditional (1992) Curb/MCA
  • Life Goes On
    Life Goes On (The Desert Rose Band album)
    Life Goes On is the fifth and final album by country band The Desert Rose Band, released in 1993. By 1994, the band had officially split. The band would eventually reunite for live performances in 2008....

    (1993) Curb
  • Live at Nevada County Fairgrounds with Emmylou Harris (8-03-1986) Bootleg C

Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen

  • Bakersfield Bound (1996) Sugar Hill
  • Way Out West (2003) Back Porch Records
  • At Edwards Barn (2010) Rounder 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
    The Other Side (Chris Hillman album)
    The Other Side is a Chris Hillman Album, released in 2005. It contains a countryfied version of The Byrds 1966 single "Eight Miles High".-Track Listing:# "Eight Miles High" – 4:05# "True Love" – 2:23...

    (2005) Sovereign Records

Singles

Year Single Chart positions Album
US Country
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

CAN Country
1984 "Somebody's Back in Town" 81 Desert Rose
1985 "Running the Roadblocks" 77
1989 "You Ain't Going Nowhere" (with Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...

)
6 11 Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two
Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two
Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two is a 1989 album by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The album follows the same concept as the band's 1972 album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which featured guest performances from many notable country music stars.-Composition:Circle II features largely acoustic,...


(Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country-folk-rock band that has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California in 1966. The group's membership has had at least a dozen changes over the years, including a period from 1976 to 1981 when the band performed and recorded...

 album)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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