Chris Hillman

Christopher Hillman (born December 4, 1944) is an American musician. He was the original bassist of and one of the original members of the Byrds, which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby and Michael Clarke.

With frequent collaborator Gram Parsons, Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock, defining the genre through his work with The Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas and the country-rock group the Desert Rose Band. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 as a member of the Byrds.

Early years

Hillman was born in Los Angeles, California, the third of four children. He spent his early years at his family's ranch home in rural northern San Diego County, approximately from Los Angeles. He has credited his older sister with exciting his interest in country and folk music, when she returned from college during 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 on local television in southern California at the time such as ''Town Hall Party'', ''The Spade Cooley Show'' and ''Cal's Corral''. Hillman's mother encouraged his musical interests and bought him his first guitar; shortly thereafter he developed an interest in bluegrass, particularly the mandolin. At the age of 15, Hillman went to Los Angeles to see the Kentucky Colonels bluegrass band at the Ash Grove, and later convinced his family to allow him to travel by train to Berkeley for lessons from mandolinist Scott Hambly. When Chris was 16, his father committed suicide.

Hillman became known in San Diego's folk music community as a solid player; this won him an invitation to join his first band, the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The band lasted barely two years, recording only one album (''Blue Grass Favorites'', which was distributed in supermarkets); however, it has a 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 & Flowers, and the Country Gazette. When the band broke up in late 1963 Hillman received an invitation to join the Golden State Boys, regarded as the top bluegrass band in southern California and 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; soon Hillman 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 played. When the Hillmen folded, he briefly joined a spinoff of Randy Sparks' New Christy Minstrels known as the Green Grass Revival, although his tenure with The Hillmen produced a classic, to this day revered by moonshiners everywhere, their stellar rendition of "Copper Kettle".

The Byrds

At this point a frustrated Hillman considered quitting music and enrolling at UCLA when 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 bass guitar, although he had never picked up the instrument. Thanks to his bluegrass background, he quickly developed his own melodic style on the instrument. The Byrds' first single, a jangly cover of Bob Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man", was an international hit and marked the birth of folk rock. During the mid-1960s the Byrds ranked as one of the most successful and influential American pop groups; they recorded 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 shared lead vocals with Crosby adding high harmony and singing the bridge on " All I Really Want to Do". However, Clark's departure in 1966 and Crosby's growing restlessness allowed Hillman the opportunity to develop as a singer and songwriter in 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", "Thoughts and Words", "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name", the latter two demonstrating 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.

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), with Hillman's cousin Kevin Kelley on drums. They then hired Gram Parsons to replace Crosby. Hillman, who had brought country music into the Byrds' earliest recoding of "Satisfied Mind", found another lover of country music, with Gram Parsons. '' Sweetheart of the Rodeo'' was recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles and continues to inspire musicians in the American format. Parsons left the band shortly thereafter; Hillman brought in former Kentucky Colonels guitarist Clarence White as a replacement and White suggested that the group replace Kelley with Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram) on drums, but this line-up was short-lived and Hillman himself left the Byrds due to financial misappropriation by their management.

The Flying Burrito Brothers

Hillman teamed with Gram Parsons again (this time as vocalist, guitarist and songwriter) to form the Flying Burrito Brothers. Further honing their pioneering country-rock hybrid sound by combining the energy, instrumentation and attitude of rock and roll with the issues and themes of country music, the Burritos recorded the landmark '' The Gilded Palace of Sin'' followed by 1970's '' Burrito Deluxe''. Parsons was fired from the line-up by June 1970 (replaced by guitarist Rick Roberts) when the band toured Canada as part of the Festival Express tour, with Hillman reverting to bass guitar. Hillman stayed with the band for two more records, '' The Flying Burrito Brothers'' and '' Last of the Red Hot Burritos''.

1970s

Before the Flying Burrito Brothers disbanded, Hillman joined Stephen Stills' band Manassas; he remained with Manassas until 1973, when he briefly re-joined the original line-up of the Byrds for a reunion album on Asylum Records. In 1974, Hillman teamed with singer-songwriter Richie Furay (who co-founded Buffalo Springfield and Poco) and songwriter J. D. Souther (who co-wrote much of the Eagles' early repertoire) in the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. 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'' magazine editor Peter Knobler

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