Spoke with Chris Hillman last night

[drumbob]

I went to see Chris and Herb Pederson last night at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Whippany, NJ, and of course, they sounded great. I spoke to Chris for several minutes before the show, had him sign a couple of my old Byrds albums and got a picture of us together. He and Herb were hanging out in the bar after having some dinner. When I asked him if he had any other musical projects going on, he surprised me by saying, "I'm retired, Bob. I'm 64 years old. I love playing acoustic with Herb and friends, but I don't have any grand plan for my career at this point. I don't even have any plans for recording another CD. I have four dates coming up the Desert Rose Band, and I feel so-so about those."

I somehow got the feeling he was putting me on, but maybe not.

When I asked him about The Byrds and a possible reunion, Chris said, "I totally agree with Roger that we shouldn't do it. We have this amazing legacy we've left, and we want to let it be. Besides, Michael and Gene are dead, and we want the band to be remembered as the five original members and that's all."

I used his comments for my upcoming McGuinn interview in Premier Guitar magazine, which will appear in the November issue.

The article will also feature a sidebar piece from John Hall of Rickenbacker (of course). John's comments about Roger's refusal to put The Byrds back together remained on the cutting room floor as "off the record" remarks, but they were surprising nonetheless.

[winston]

Thanks for posting this Bob, I found it to be an extremely interesting read.

[firstbassman]

When I asked him about The Byrds and a possible reunion, Chris said, "I totally agree with Roger that we shouldn't do it. We have this amazing legacy we've left, and we want to let it be. Besides, Michael and Gene are dead, and we want the band to be remembered as the five original members and that's all."

I think he may feel like that in some ways.

But, as he himself expressed at The Barns just a few weeks ago, I think Hillman would be very open to a somewhat spontaneous very short-lived get-together with Roger. (With David I don't know.)

[8mileshigher]

Thanks for posting this interesting conversation you had.

Hopefully you will remind us when Premier Guitar November issue is set to hit the news-stands ?
Regards -Rich F.

[doctorwho]

Thanks for posting this interesting conversation you had ...

Ditto!

[kvalois]

It's interesting that, for years, Hillman enthusiastically welcomed a Byrds reunion (along with Crosby). I wonder what made Hillman change his mind?

[jimk]

Didn't Chris allude to that fact that he "agrees with Roger"? Seems to me that hints at a conversation between the two in the past somewhere. And that Roger made a good case for not reuniting the Byrds.

As for my own thoughts on a Byrds reunion: let it go. If all we want to do is reminisce, we have the records and the videos on YouTube. And since the vast majority of us on the Forum are players, we can learn and play their songs. It was good to have the Byrds around while they lasted. That time clearly is over, at least in Roger's mind, maybe Chris' too now. And Chris makes a valid point; Geno's dead, and so is Michael, as are Skip Clarence, and Gram.

JimK

[janglebox]

Didn't Chris allude to that fact that he "agrees with Roger"?

Yes he did, Jim. I think Chris made his thoughts about not wanting to be part of a formal Byrds reunion first known in an April 11, 1997 Goldmine interview. Quoting Chris directly from that article:

At one point David Crosby and I were saying, "Roger won't go out as the Byrds, and we want blah blah blah," and then I thought, "Wait a minute. Roger's smarter than all of us. He's right. Why go out as three Byrds? Why put ourselves through all that?" Yeah, for the money. Great. But it's not the same. Let the Byrds be a nice memory. Roger's more comfortable playing small venues. I can understand that. He doesn't have to compromise. The Byrds are never going to go out again. Now it's coming from Hillman. It used to be Hillman saying, "Come on, Roger." Now I agree with him. Even if we did go out for a six-week tour and made millions of dollars, what does it mean? What am I going to buy? I don't want anything. I just want to pay my bills and have a nice life here. Does that make sense?

[kvalois]

Thanks, Steve!!!

Now, we know!!!

Karl