The Genealogy of California Country Rock as Seen Through Chris Hillman's Autobiography 'Time Between' (Part 1)

I read Chris Hillman's autobiography, 'Time Between — My Life As A Byrd, Burrito Brother, And Beyond.' Chris Hillman played a significant role in shaping the sound of 70s West Coast rock, and I believe he is an outstanding vocalist and instrumentalist. However, his reputation and popularity are not necessarily as high as those of the people he worked with. While I have a personal attachment to the music of each of the original Byrds members, if I had to choose one favorite, it would be Chris Hillman. I would like to introduce his journey, which I feel so strongly about, over several parts, incorporating stories I learned for the first time in his autobiography and other memorable episodes.

'Time Between — My Life As A Byrd, Burrito Brother, And Beyond'

This autobiography, 'Time Between — My Life As A Byrd, Burrito Brother, And Beyond,' was published in 2020. First, for those who may not know much about Chris Hillman, I will quote the introduction written on the inside cover of the book.

While summarizing it this way makes it seem very simple, this autobiography is extremely interesting because it depicts, from the author's own perspective, the circumstances that led to each of the bands mentioned above and his solo career, as well as the reasons why they ended. As the introduction above states, Chris Hillman is undoubtedly one of the pioneers of 'country rock,' but in the 80s, when I was devouring this kind of music a beat behind, the term 'country rock' was almost a dead language (naturally, terms like 'roots rock' and 'Americana' did not yet exist). Even if I wanted to talk about the appeal of Gram Parsons, there was no one around to talk to, and information was limited. That situation changed in the 90s when so-called alt-country artists began to emerge. Young artists at the time all began to talk about the influence of this kind of music. Gram Parsons, in particular, became the subject of a cult-like celebration, coupled with the strange fate of dying at the young age of 26. However, I feel that Chris Hillman, who built the foundation of country rock together with Gram, was rarely given the attention or recognition he deserved.

Even so, why did country rock blossom in Southern California in the first place? To explain that, it is easier to look at the upbringing of Chris Hillman, who was born and raised in Southern California, rather than talking about Gram Parsons, who drifted to LA from Florida.

The LA Acoustic Music Scene in the Early 60s

Chris Hillman was born in 1944. He was born in LA, but his family moved to a rural town near San Diego when he was young. As a child, he loved riding horses and was obsessed with action heroes like those in Westerns and Superman. His first musical shock was the arrival of Elvis Presley in the mid-1950s. Next, he became obsessed with Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and the Everly Brothers. These childhood experiences are generally similar to those found in the biographies of other musicians of the same era, but in Chris's case, there is a lot in common with Linda Ronstadt, who was born in the neighboring state of Arizona in 1945 (Linda also asked her parents to buy her a pony when she was a child). However, being a true Californian, Chris was also obsessed with surfing from junior high through high school.

According to his autobiography, in 1959, real rock 'n' roll (R&R) by artists like Chuck Berry and Little Richard suddenly disappeared from the radio, and commercial pop music became the only thing that stood out. At the same time, folk music began to take the spotlight as 'meaningful music,' especially among college students. This was the so-called 'folk revival.' Influenced by his older sister, who was a college student, Chris also began listening to Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and the New Lost City Ramblers, which led to his interest in acoustic string instruments and picking up the guitar. Furthermore, after listening to Flatt & Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers, he was shocked by Bill Monroe's mandolin playing and began playing the mandolin himself.

The fact that there was a generation that experienced the imprint of R&R in their childhood while being baptized by acoustic music in their impressionable mid-teens—isn't this one of the reasons why country rock flourished in the late 60s and early 70s? (Of course, the social background of the time, such as the anti-war sentiment, cannot be ignored.) Also, it is interesting that around 1960, bluegrass was somewhat popular, just like folk music. For example, Flatt & Scruggs often appeared on television, and the theme song for the comedy drama 'The Beverly Hillbillies,' which was also broadcast in Japan, was originally a song by Flatt & Scruggs.

At that time in Los Angeles, there were several famous coffeehouses (clubs) that featured performances of this kind of folk and bluegrass music. The two major hubs were said to be The Troubadour and The Ash Grove, and Chris Hillman even traveled all the way from San Diego to listen to Flatt & Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers. These shops had an open mic day once a week called a 'hoot' (short for hootenanny), and they were bustling with young people aspiring to be musicians. In this regard, The Troubadour is generally more famous, but The Ash Grove was developing in a similar way; Ry Cooder was a regular at this shop, and Linda Ronstadt met Kenny Edwards (with whom she would later form The Stone Poneys) at this shop. Hillman also says that his first meeting with Herb Pedersen, who would become his long-time musical partner in later years, was at this shop. In the early 60s, at the same time Bob Dylan began frequenting Greenwich Village in New York, there was definitely an acoustic music scene in Los Angeles driven by young people in their late teens and early 20s. People who would later lead the second generation of bluegrass, such as the White brothers, Roland and Clarence, and the Rice brothers, Larry and Tony, led by their father Herb Rice, were also honing their skills in this scene.

There were bluegrass artists like the Greenbriar Boys in the New York and Boston scenes at the same time, but looking at the results, it seems that the LA acoustic scene was more heavily influenced by bluegrass. It is not strange to think that the exquisite harmony vocals by brothers and families, which are common in bluegrass groups, became the roots of the vocal harmonies that would later become one of the characteristics of West Coast rock. (However, CS&N, with The Beach Boys influenced by jazz vocal groups like The Four Freshmen, and David Crosby, who was devoted to jazz, can be said to be a different lineage.)

The path to forming The Byrds

After graduating from high school, Chris Hillman was invited by his local San Diego friends, Gary Carr and Kenny Wertz (later members of Country Gazette), to join their bluegrass band on mandolin. That band, called The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, also included Larry Murray, who would later form the psychedelic folk-rock band Hearts and Flowers. The Barkers, who were also performing at places like Disneyland, contacted Jim Dickson, a producer who was in charge of The Dillards, a bluegrass band that was starting to gain popularity through television appearances, because people around them recommended they record. Although Dickson recognized the Barkers' performance ability, he said he didn't have the capacity to manage them and introduced them to 'Crown Records,' a tiny label that only had sales channels in supermarkets and the like. As a result, the album 'Blue Grass Favorites,' which was recorded in just four hours and entirely live, became Chris Hillman's first recording. However, shortly after that, Gary and Kenny were drafted, and Bernie Leadon, who was still a high school student at the time, joined on banjo as Kenny's replacement, but because the Leadon family moved to Gainesville, Florida, the group naturally dissolved. (By the way, Bernie Leadon, who moved to Gainesville (also Tom Petty's hometown), met local guitarist Don Felder there.)

Shortly after the Barkers disbanded, Chris received news from Ed Douglas, the group's leader. He said that The Golden State Boys (GSB), a popular local bluegrass group, were looking for a mandolin player. Chris auditioned and passed, becoming a member of the band. Hillman, who had built up a track record as a member of GSB, contacted Jim Dickson, who had helped him with the Barkers' first recording. Dickson, surprised by the high level of GSB's performance, immediately recorded them, but in the end, they couldn't win a contract with a record company, and this recording was shelved. By this time (1963), folk and bluegrass were already somewhat on the decline. The band, which had become financially strapped, chose to disband. This recording was released years later (in 1969) as 'The Hillmen,' capitalizing on Hillman's fame (interestingly, two Bob Dylan songs were already covered in this work). This GSB (The Hillmen) included Don Parmley (banjo), who would form The Bluegrass Cardinals in the 70s, and the brothers Vern (guitar) and Rex (bass) Gosdin, who would later work with Zeke Clark for a time. Vern Gosdin has also been active in the country world as a singer and songwriter since the 80s.

Around this time, like many other young Americans, Chris was shocked to see The Beatles on the TV show 'The Ed Sullivan Show.' And shortly after that, he saw a young man singing The Beatles' 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' with an acoustic 12-string guitar at a hoot at The Troubadour. It was Jim McGuinn (who later changed his name to Roger). However, Hillman and McGuinn didn't immediately hit it off here. Hillman and McGuinn actually met a little later, and Jim Dickson, who had taken care of him in the Barkers and The Golden State Boys, was involved here too. It was an invitation to come and see a rehearsal of 'The Jet Set,' a trio from the folk scene that Dickson was trying to sell at the time. When Hillman went to see the rehearsal, there was Jim McGuinn, who had sung 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' at The Troubadour, along with Gene Clark and David Crosby. Chris was impressed by the three-part harmony, which was on a different level from bluegrass harmony vocals, but at that time, he just watched and left. A while later, he got another call from Dickson, who asked, 'That band is looking for a bassist, can you play bass?' Chris, who had never played bass at all, accepted the role immediately. Thus, along with drummer Michael Clarke, who also joined, the original lineup of The Byrds was complete.

Did Miles Davis contribute to The Byrds' debut?!

It was Jim Dickson, the producer, who brought the Byrds' debut hit, 'Mr. Tambourine Man,' to the group. Dickson, who was friends with Bob Dylan's manager Albert Grossman, asked Grossman if he had any songs they could use, and was reportedly provided with a demo recording of the song by Dylan and Ramblin' Jack Elliott. The members were not particularly interested at first, but when McGuinn rearranged the original 2/4 time signature into 4/4, the song was reborn as something entirely new. It is a famous story that the songwriter, Dylan, was impressed, saying, 'Wow, you can dance to that!'

There is another interesting episode I learned from Chris's autobiography. Jim Dickson, who was trying to secure a record deal for the Byrds, played the 'Mr. Tambourine Man' demo for an acquaintance of his named Benny Shapiro, who ran a jazz club in LA. When he had him listen to the demo in the living room of Shapiro's house, Shapiro's daughter, who was still in her early teens, came running down from the second floor asking, 'Who was that?' When Shapiro told that story to his close friend Miles Davis, Miles spoke to the president of Columbia Records, where he was signed, and thanks to that, a contract with the major label Columbia was established.

Breakthrough with the Byrds

Having debuted with a No. 1 hit in the US, the Byrds suddenly rose to stardom. Chris Hillman, who was a low-key bassist who didn't sing when the band first started, began to come into his own around the time of their fourth album, 'Younger Than Yesterday' (released in 1967). By this time, Gene Clark, who had been the face of the band alongside McGuinn, had left due to a fear of flying. David Crosby, who had begun to show his personality for better or worse, had his unrestrained and selfish behavior go too far, and was fired by McGuinn and Hillman during the recording of the next album (the situation at that time was recreated in Crosby's documentary film 'David Crosby: Remember My Name'). With this, Hillman's presence as McGuinn's most trusted partner inevitably grew. Furthermore, Hillman's own songwriting ability is said to have increased rapidly around 1966. (Shortly before this, Hillman moved to Laurel Canyon in the suburbs of LA. He became one of the first musicians to move to this area, which would become a place of interaction for many musicians until the early 70s.)

The mid-period Byrds hit that opens the album 'Younger Than Yesterday,' 'So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star,' was developed by McGuinn from an intro and first verse that Hillman came up with. 'Younger Than...' contains four other Hillman compositions, but the most notable is 'Time Between,' the song that became the title of his autobiography. Here, Hillman welcomes his former bluegrass bandmates, Clarence White and Vern Gosdin, as guests. The playing, which can be called the prototype of the string bender that would become a characteristic of the later Byrds—and by extension, a feature of early 70s country rock—is already featured at this point. The Byrds had covered Porter Wagoner's country hit 'Satisfied Mind' on their second album, but the performance at that time was still folk-rock-like. In comparison, the sound of 'Time Between' is a prototype of 'country rock.' This song was the first one Chris wrote by himself, and he says it came to him out of the blue on a night when he was impressed after participating in a session with the South African black trumpeter Hugh Masekela along with Crosby. (Chris re-recorded this song on the first album of the Desert Rose Band in the 80s.)

On the next album, 'The Notorious Byrd Brothers' (released in January 1968), Hillman comes even more to the fore. In addition to his increased contribution to songwriting, country-touch songs such as 'Old John Robertson' and 'Wasn't Born to Follow' (a Goffin/King work later featured in the movie 'Easy Rider') also increased. However, the album itself reflects the era to some extent, and the finish can be called experimental or disjointed, ranging from Sgt. Pepper-like psychedelic anti-war songs to songs using somewhat soul-like horns, and songs where a jet machine is suddenly inserted into a country flavor. Chris's bass playing also began to play more impressive phrases than before.

During the recording of this album, original drummer Michael Clarke left the band. By the time the album was released, the Byrds consisted of only two members: Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. (Regarding the reason for Michael Clarke's departure, Wikipedia and other sources state that he was fired by McGuinn and Hillman, but Hillman himself writes, 'I don't know why he quit.' Considering that he later moved to Hawaii, he writes, 'He must have become like someone with burnout syndrome.')

The Byrds, now reduced to two, invited two new musicians to the session. One was Chris's cousin, Kevin Kelley, a drummer who had been in Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder's band, the Rising Sons. And the other was Gram Parsons, a 21-year-old youth from the South who was in a Bakersfield-style country band called the International Submarine Band under the same management as the Byrds.

To be continued