by Mark Stienecker
In correlation with his Museum of Ventura County historical exhibit, “Chris Hillman: Time Between”, Chris Hillman, along with his longtime musical collaborator, Herb Pedersen, performed before a standing room only crowd in the Martin V. & Martha K. Smith Pavilion.
The longtime Ventura resident has written and performed his songs with some of histories more storied bands: The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas and The Desert Rose Band.
Before performing a few of his well-known songs, Mr. Hillman entertained the crowd with some funny and decades old stories, including life on the road around the world with “The Byrds” after their number one hit, “Mr. Tambourine Man” was an international hit.
Other stories included his early fascination with Kentucky Bluegrass Music, his meeting up with Steven Stills to form the band, Manassas, and how The Flying Burrito Brothers came to fruition. His last tear jerker story entailed his collaboration with Tom Petty on his 2017 hit album, “Bidin My Time”. Chris and Tom, along with some of the Heartbreakers, David Crosby and Roger Mcguinn, wrote and performed songs together, the last musical project for Tom, who passed away unexpectedly, months later.
The “Chris Hillman: Time Between” exhibit is on display from now until March 31st. May of the musical artifacts include some of Chris’s guitars/mandolin, a few of his flashy outfits worn on stage over the years, many gold and platinum records from albums by each of his bands and many, many framed pictures and posters from a career not many have lived.
Speaking about the exhibit, Chris stated, “I am very honored to be a part of the Museum of Ventura County’s exhibit on my life in music. I feel so blessed to have been able to seek out and accomplish all that I dreamed of as a young man”.
The Museum of Ventura County is open to the public, Tuesday thru Sunday. For more information: call 805-653-0323 or visit their website at: Venturamuseum.org
