months later , I see Roger McGuinn at the Troubadour in L . A ., onstage with an acoustic 12-string , singing “ I Want to Hold Your Hand .” And people were heckling him , but he was totally committed . And only a few months after that , The Byrds formed .

IE : It ’ s interesting to note that the one album released by your first bluegrass outfit , The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers , was distributed in supermarkets . You ’ re

you should hold your mandolin like this , so you ’ re using your wrist . So get this technique down , play some scales , and learn your chords , and listen to records .” And that was about all I needed to get me going . And then I learned from other guys down in L . A . And I had such a passion for the music , no one even thought about making any money back then . The first time I got paid was in ’ 63 , and I got $ 7 for being in a bluegrass band in San Diego . And every year , the moment would come around where I ’ d say , “ Okay – I ’ m gonna go to school .” I was out of high school , and every year I planned to register for the next college semester . But something would happen , and I just kept going with music . And I kept getting better and better at it . But finally , after The Beatles had come out in ’ 64 , and everybody my age saw them on “ The Ed Sullivan Show ,” I went , “ Wow ! What was that ?” And six

right – the music industry HAS changed !

CH : Yeah . And somebody had me sign one , an original one , the other day . Back then , you had to do public domain songs that didn ’ t pay any royalties . And what did you do that for ? You did it to get work . If you had an album , you could go to a folks club and the booking guy sees your record . And we did that whole album in four hours , the whole thing , live . It ’ s probably one of the better records I ’ ve made , because we were kids , just going for it , and playing without fear . And we each got a box of ten albums , and we each got $ 10 , so that was $ 50 , total . But it felt great .

IE : Best of all is the fact that you still have all these great friends who were happy to contribute to your “ Bidin ’ My Time ” cause . CH : I can ’ t tell you how grateful I am . And

I think we ’ re all at an age where you don ’ t take everything quite so seriously . When you ’ ve been doing this so many years , you say , “ I ’ m glad I ’ m alive , and I ’ m glad I can get out of bed today .” And when you ’ re doing something that you love to do , and you can still keep your head above water , well , that ’ s what it ’ s all about . So I look at this new record as a gift . When Herb said we got the deal and Rounder wanted to

Hillman ( bottom left ) with the Byrds , 1965

make a record with me , I went to meet the label guy and went , “ Are you sure this isn ’ t just because Tom ’ s involved ?” And he assured me it wasn ’ t . But hey – I ’ m always trying to screw things up !

Chris Hillman ' s Bidin ' My Time ( Rounder ) is available now .

Tom Lanham