Gene Watson's Peers: Chris Hillman
Gene Watson's peers within the country music
industry believe in the sheer talent of this unassuming man from east Texas,
so much so that Gene is regarded by many of them as 'the singer's singer' -
and rightly so!
All of Gene's Peers who were contacted in 2004 were most
gracious with their time & words. It is here, within this special part of
gene-watson.com, that you have an opportunity to read
a quote from Chris Hillman, which he submitted to this site on
Wednesday 6 October 2004.
Sean Brady would like to take this opportunity to say 'thank you' to
Chris Hillman who has
made a special contribution to a unique part of this online 'celebration of
a Lone Star Hero'.
Chris Hillman
This quote was submitted on Wednesday 6 October 2004
'Gene Watson's voice is right up there in the major
leagues with George Jones,
Vern Gosdin & Lefty Frizzell for pure country
soul.
Gene's recording of 'Farewell Party' is a roadmap for all aspiring singers'.
Thank you, Chris Hillman, for your
support of Gene Watson.
About Chris Hillman...
Chris Hillman, who is a
third-generation Californian with deep roots in the cowboy history of the
American West, was born in Los Angeles, California on 4 December 1944. The
only authentic cowboy to ever be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,
Chris spent his early years on his family’s ranch home in then rural North
San Diego County 'riding horses & doing ranch chores'. His interests would
soon change from spurs and saddles to guitars and mandolins.
Chris credits his older sister in turning him on to folk & country music;
she was in college in the 1950s & when she came back home with a bunch of
folk albums, Chris was greatly influenced by their contents. Chris
also started watching 'live' country music shows on KTLA Channel 5 out of
Los Angeles, Spade Cooley, Cal's Corral, Town Hall Party & Cliffie Stone -
and he soon got hooked on the music.
Chris' mother encouraged him & bought him a $10 dollar guitar in Tijuana,
Mexico. He also started listening to bluegrass music and, after
hearing acts such as Flatt & Scruggs and Bill Monroe, Chris fell in love
with the mandolin. In 1959, learning that a young bluegrass group, the
Kentucky Colonels, were based out of Los Angeles, a very determined Chris
convinced his family to let him go & see the group. When he met the
group, their mandolin player Scott Hambly, offered him mandolin lessons.
Chris Hillman’s prowess on guitar & mandolin soon became well-known in San
Diego’s tight-knit folk music community. The proprietors of the Blue Guitar
shop, Larry Murray and Ed Douglas, invited Hillman to join their band, the
Scottsville Squirrel Barkers.
The Barkers, which lasted a mere two years & recorded but one album
('Bluegrass Favourites'), nonetheless earned a well-deserved legendary
reputation thanks to the skills & talents of its members. The Squirrel
Barker line-up included such notable musicians as Kenny Wertz, Bernie
Leadon, Larry Murray, Ed Douglas & Gary Carr (RIP).
When the Barkers called it quits at the end of 1963, Chris Hillman’s
reputation, coupled with connections with other bluegrass musicians, paid
off as he was invited to join the Golden State Boys who were then regarded
as the premier bluegrass band in southern California.
The Golden State Boys featured future country music star
Vern Gosdin, Vern's brother Rex, along with Don Parmley from the Bluegrass Cardinals. The
Golden State Boys soon morphed into what became known as 'The Hillmen'.
Te group played the country music bars in the southern California area &
performed weekly on 'Cal’s Corral', a live country music show on L.A.’s
channel 13. However, after approximately eight months together, the
group folded. Hillman was about to throw in the towel and would have
considered enrolling at UCLA if not for the interest of The Hillmen’s former
manager & producer Jim Dickson.
Dickson invited Hillman down to World Pacific Studios to hear three guys
with acoustic guitars singing Beatle songs & a few original songs. Those
three guys were Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark & David Crosby. When Dickson
offered Hillman the opportunity to join in, the young mandolin player was
not only interested but eager to 'plug in'.
With drummer Michael Clarke in tow, Chris was recruited to play electric
bass. The group were known initially as The Beefeaters but they soon became
known as The Byrds. They entered the recording studio in 1965 &
recorded Bob Dylan's 'Mr. Tambourine Man', along with a combination of Dylan
songs & their own compositions - they made rock & roll History as America’s
answer to The Beatles.
For the first three albums from The Byrds, Chris Hillman stayed in the
shadows with drummer Michael Clarke, providing a strong backbeat to the
three-part harmonies of McGuinn, Clark & Crosby & the jingle jangle of
McGuinn’s Rickenbacker 12 string guitar.
Gene Clark departed the group following the recording of '5-D', so McGuinn
began to increasingly rely on his dependable bass player & Hillman began to
stretch out in singing & song-writing. The result was several
brilliant Hillman compositions on the next album, 'Younger Than Yesterday',
which is Hillman’s favourite Byrds recording.
'Time Between' saw Hillman bring in his old bluegrass friend Clarence White
to play the Telecaster guitar solo on what is regarded by many critics &
fans to be the first country-rock song. White also helped out on
another country-flavoured Hillman composition, 'The girl with no name”; these
songs paved the way for The Byrds next adventure - that of exploring country
music.
With the departure of Crosby & Michael Clarke by the beginning of 1968, The
Byrds were down to just two original members, Hillman & McGuinn. The band
recruited Hillman’s cousin, Kevin Kelley to replace Michael Clarke but were
still in need of another musician to round out The Byrds line-up. Chris ran
into a new kid in town by chance one day; that kid was Gram Parsons and,
together with Hillman, he changed The Byrds’ musical direction & ushered in
a new era of music, that of 'country-rock'.
'Sweetheart of the Rodeo', their highly-acclaimed release, firmly cemented
the merging of country music & rock. Its influence can be heard today
in the music of country artists such as Brad Paisley, Emmylou Harris, Marty
Stuart, Jim Lauderdale & Dwight Yoakum.
While a Bob Dylan tune, 'You ain’t going nowhere', propelled by Lloyd
Green’s sweet steel guitar, kicked off the album, it was the compositions of
newcomer Parsons, Woody Guthrie, Merle Haggard & others, plus the array of
great California country musicians Jay Dee Maness, Clarence White & Earl P.
Ball, along with Nashville vets like Lloyd Green & John Hartford that
brought The Byrds back to full throttle with a sound that mixed pure country
with folk music.
When Parsons left the band shortly thereafter, Chris Hillman brought in his
good friend Clarence White to replace him, but the old magic of The Byrds
was gone for him. Hillman exited the Byrds in September 1968 to join
Parsons, Sneaky Pete Kleinow & Chris Ethridge in what soon became known as
the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Their first release, 'The Gilded Palace of Sin', created a new musical force
to be reckoned with. The Burrito’s created the environment for 'outlaw
country' & for much of the success experienced by artists such as The
Eagles, Poco & The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Even the Rolling Stones
were briefly influenced by the Burritos, with Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
composing 'Wild Horses' in honour of their friends, the Flying Burrito
Brothers.
One song off that seminal first album, 'Sin City', not only aptly described
Los Angeles at the end of the 1960s but was later included in the
Smithsonian Institute’s 'History of Country Music' collection.
The Burritos, however, were never really accepted in either musical
environments back then. Diehard country fans mistrusted them, while
rock 'underground' radio didn’t know what to make of them, or where they
might fit in a play list.
Near the end of his tenure with the Burritos, Hillman was performing with
the band in Washington, DC when he happened to hear a wonderful girl singer
playing in a nearby folk club. That 'girl' was Emmylou Harris. Hillman
was so impressed with her that he recommended her to Gram Parsons & musical
history was made.
A phone call from old friend Stephen Stills set Hillman on a new musical
journey; with Stills he formed the eclectic band 'Manassas'. The first
Manassas album accomplished what Roger McGuinn had considered doing before
'Sweetheart of the Rodeo', combining major elements of most forms of
American contemporary music & fusing them together. There were bits & pieces
of rock, country, bluegrass, salsa & blues blended together on the two
albums the group created.
Manassas broke up by the fall of 1973 & it was by this time too that Hillman
faced two major tragedies in his personal life, the deaths of his close
friends Clarence White & Gram Parsons.
From Manassas & a short-lived original Byrds reunion, Hillman was contacted
by entrepreneur, David Geffen, who wanted to put together a 'new' Crosby,
Stills & Nash. Geffen approached Hillman, J.D. Souther & Richie Furay, who
then became the Souther, Hillman, Furay Band. Their first album was
full of good songs, including 'Heavenly fire', Hillman’s heartfelt tribute
to Gram Parsons, but the three never jelled together as song-writing
partners or as personalities. The band finally went its separate way after a
second album that failed to live up to the promise of the first.
Chris Hillman then went back into the studio & released two solo albums, 'Slippin'
Away' & 'Clear Sailing', both for Asylum Records. Hillman toured for a year
& a half with his own band and, after a 1977 British tour had reunited him
with Roger McGuinn & Gene Clark, they formed the trio, McGuinn, Clark &
Hillman. They released three albums on Capital Records, & achieved two Top
10 singles.
By the beginning of the 1980s, Hillman returned to his roots in bluegrass &
country music. He recorded two critically acclaimed acoustic & steel
flavoured recordings and in doing so was reunited with his long-time folk &
bluegrass pal, Herb Pedersen.
Herb Pedersen & Hillman literally grew up in music, having become close friends
in their late teens. Chris also found a song-writing partner & good
friend in Steve Hill. The stage was set for the next evolution in the career
of Chris Hillman - the incomparable Desert Rose Band.
The genesis of the Desert Rose Band began when both Chris Hillman &
Herb Pedersen were
asked by fellow country rock aficionado & Manassas fan Dan Fogelberg to
record with him in the studio & accompany him on his 'High Country Snows'
tour in 1985. When Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen returned to Los Angeles, Hillman
enlisted Bill Bryson to play bass & multi-instrumentalist
John Jorgenson on
guitar.
Bryson was a veteran of such great bands as The Bluegrass Cardinals &
Country Gazette and Jorgenson had played the same Disneyland bluegrass
circuit as a much younger Hillman had done nearly twenty-five years earlier.
Content as an acoustic band, Hillman & Pedersen discovered how good they
sounded 'plugged in' & brought on board steel guitarist Jay Dee Maness, a
veteran of 'The Sweetheart Sessions', along with former Rick Nelson & the
Stone Canyon Band drummer Steve Duncan.
From 1987 until the end of 1993, the Desert Rose Band recorded seven albums
& scored a string of 16 top country hits, the majority of them riding high
in the Top Ten country charts. They also garnered a number of awards from
both the Academy of Country Music & the Country Music Association.
Among these awards were the following:
Academy of Country Music
Touring Band of the Year: 1988, 1989, 1990
Nominee, Best Vocal Group Award: 1989, 1990
Country Music Association
Horizon Award: 1989
Vocal Group of the Year: 1990
Amidst those strong vocals, fine harmonies & excellent instrumentation were
two things that made the Desert Rose Band so special. The songs themselves,
which addressed current issues in our culture. Not only were the songs
written by Hillman and Hill full of honesty & sometimes wit, they were also
sung by a confident singer who not only had found his own voice after so
many bands, but who sang with power, grace & conviction in what he had
written.
In 1991, while in the Desert Rose Band, Hillman’s landmark band, The Byrds,
were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - a fitting tribute to one
of the most influential bands of the 20th Century. By the beginning of 1994,
saddened by the passing of his close friends & band members, Gene Clark and
Michael Clarke, and wishing to spend more time with his family & watching
his children grow, Hillman decided to call it a day for the Desert Rose
Band.
Since 1995, Chris Hillman has kept busy having recorded seven albums.
On 'Bakersfield Bound' (Sugar Hill Records, 1995), Chris Hillman &
Herb Pedersen
revisited their classic California roots. They then teamed up with their old
bluegrass friends Larry & Tony Rice to record three albums on Rounder
Records namely 'Out of the Woodwork' (1997), 'Rice, Rice, Hillman &
Pedersen' (1999) & 'Running Wild' (2001) - Larry Rice has, sadly, since
passed on.
Chris Hillman also released a solo recording 'Like a Hurricane' (Sugar Hill
Records, 1998). In 2002, Chris Hillman &
Herb Pedersen again revisited California
country in the wonderful 'Way Out West' (Back Porch Records), an album that
had the flavour of old California music halls.
Chris Hillman was honoured by his peers as the recipient in 2004 of the
Americana Music Association’s 'Lifetime Achievement Award'.
Visit Chris Hillman's Official Site