Rock Hall to Host Virtual Interviews with Inductees John Densmore of The Doors and Chris Hillman of The Byrds
The Inductees will discuss their newly released memoirs as part of the ongoing virtual Hall of Fame Series interviews
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame continues its Virtual Interview Series with special guests and Inductees John Densmore of The Doors and Chris Hillman of The Byrds.
The events will be hosted by Senior Director of Museum & Archival Collections, Andy Leach, and are available to stream on the Rock Hall’s YouTube and Facebook channels at 7p.m. ET on their respective dates.
Densmore’s interview will take place on April 19th, which marks the 50th anniversary of the release of The Doors’ classic album L.A. Woman. He’ll be discussing his new book, The Seekers: Meeting With Remarkable Musicians.
The memoir digs deep into Densmore’s own creative process and draws upon his access to his fellow artists and performers to explore the origins of creativity itself. Weaving together anecdotes from his personal notebooks and experiences over the past fifty years, the book takes readers on a rich, thought-provoking journey into the soul of the artist.
Hillman joins the Rock Hall on May 26th to discuss his recently released book Time Between: My Life as a Byrd, Burrito Brother, and Beyond.
In Time Between, Hillman shares his quintessentially Southern Californian experience, from an idyllic, rural 1950s childhood; to achieving worldwide fame thanks to hits such as “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” “Eight Miles High,” and “So You Want To Be A Rock and Roll Star”; to becoming the first musician to move to Laurel Canyon. Featuring behind-the-scenes insights on his time in The Byrds, his productive but sometimes complicated relationship with Gram Parsons, his role in launching the careers of Buffalo Springfield and Emmylou Harris, and the ups and downs of life in various bands, music is only part of his story.
Following the book discussion, country music legend Marty Stuart will join the event as a special guest. In 2018, Hillman and his Byrds bandmate Roger McGuinn teamed up with Stuart on a tour of shows to commemorate the 50th anniversary of The Byrds’ groundbreaking album Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
A limited number of signed copies of The Seekers: Meeting With Remarkable Musicians and Time Between: My Life as a Byrd, Burrito Brother, and Beyond will be available to purchase online and in the Rock Hall store.
About John Densmore
Drummer John Densmore was far more than merely the rhythmic engine of The Doors. Strongly influenced by jazz skinsmen like Elvin Jones and the supple grooves of the Brazilian wave, he brought a highly evolved sense of dynamics, structure and musicality to his beats.
In the mid-’60s he joined guitarist Robby Krieger in a band called Psychedelic Rangers; shortly thereafter joining forces with keyboardist Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison, and an explosive chapter in the development of rock & roll began.
Following his time in The Doors, Densmore explored reggae and jazz in subsequent projects, became active in L.A.’s adventurous theater community, and wrote articles and books including his autobiography Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and The Doors, a New York Times bestseller. His work has been featured in Rolling Stone, London Guardian, The Nation, and many nationally syndicated newspapers. His most recent book The Seekers was published by Hachette in November of 2020.
About Chris Hillman
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Country Rock pioneer, Chris Hillman has never stopped making music. He was a founding member of the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas, the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, McGuinn-Clark-Hillman and the Desert Rose Band.
In 2017 Hillman released the acclaimed Bidin’ My Time, his first solo album in 12 years, produced by Tom Petty and executive-produced by Herb Pedersen. In 2018, the 50th Anniversary of The Byrds’ groundbreaking Sweetheart of the Rodeo album, which launched the country rock movement in 1968 and is widely considered to be one of the most influential albums in the genre, was celebrated with a special tour featuring Hillman and fellow Byrds alum Roger McGuinn, joined by country legends Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives. The album ranked #120 on Rolling Stone’s list of “The 500 Greatest Albums.”
Following the Sweetheart tour, in January of 2019, Hillman became the focus of another benchmark event when the Museum of Ventura County honored his six-decade career with a vivid retrospective. Titled Chris Hillman: Time Between, the exhibit spanned the Sixties to the present and showcased Hillman’s legacy through stories, memorabilia, instruments and stage attire.
Hillman’s memoir, Time Between: My Life as a Byrd, Burrito Brother, and Beyond was released via BMG Books in November of 2020.
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