Chris
ILLINOIS ENTERTAINER : You ’ ve actually been away ten long years ? CHRIS HILLMAN : Well , I ’ ve been working with Herb Pedersen as a duo . We go out quite a bit and we ’ ve built a good brand name , where we work whenever we want to with zero overhead . And I did
because it ’ s a completely different label , and the promotion they ’ re doing there is amazing .” So I talked to Tom and said , “ Are you sure you wanna do this ?” And he said , “ Well , do you want me to ?” And I said , “ Of course I want you to ! I ’ d love to work with you !” So he said , “ let ’ s do it ! We ’ ll use my studio .” And I said , “ But you haven ’ t heard any of my songs .” And he told me he wasn ’ t worried . So it was the smoothest record I ’ ve ever made , and it was so much fun . And probably the reason is that I ’ m not chasing a career or trying to get on the charts like in the old days . And of course , having Crosby come in and sing on one track , and having Roger overdub some stuff was awesome – we had to send that to him in Florida because he couldn ’ t get out to the studio .
Chris Hillman , 2017
11 • 2017 make records for the old Rounder and Sugar Hill labels , but once in a while . And then I was just winding it down , Because I do have – thank God – songs I ’ ve written with The Byrds which creates a nice , comfortable royalty stream . Am I Bruce Springsteen ? No . However , I am comfortable , and my family ’ s comfortable . So here I am , ready to retire last fall , really winding down , when Herb comes up with this idea to have Tom Petty do an album with me . And I said , “ I dunno . I don ’ t have a record deal .” And Herb said , “ I ’ m gonna talk to Rounder – the new Rounder that ’ s owned by Concord Music Group –
And then to have The Heartbreakers come in was just excellent . And they did it because they really wanted to – I don ’ t think Tom had said , “ You ’ d better do this for Hillman or else !” And it says a lot about him that he ’ s kept the same guys together for 40 years .
IE : What did you learn from him ? CH : He was an absolute joy to work with – gracious , and a very good producer . He would look me in the eye and say , “ I don ’ t hear this song .” And I ’ d say , “ Let me mess with it a bit .” But I ’ d come back to him and say , “ You ’ re right – I can ’ t make it
Photo : Lori Stoll
8 illinoisentertainer . com novemer 2017