The Hillmen is a studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by The Hillmen

The Hillmen

The Hillmen were a southern Californian bluegrass group. Formed in 1962, the original line-up of the Golden State Boys consisted of Vern Gosdin on guitar and lead vocals, his brother Rex Gosdin on double bass, Hal Poindexter on guitar, and Don Parmley on banjo...

, a southern California bluegrass

Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

 band originally known as The Golden State Boys. The Hillmen consisted of Chris Hillman

Chris Hillman

Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....

 (later of The Byrds

The Byrds

The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

, The Flying Burrito Brothers

The Flying Burrito Brothers

The Flying Burrito Brothers was an early country rock band, best known for its influential debut album,The Gilded Palace of Sin . Although the group is most often mentioned in connection with country rock legends Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, the group underwent many personnel changes.-Original...

, Manassas

Manassas (band)

Manassas was an American rock band, formed by Stephen Stills in 1971. The nucleus of the band had already backed Stills on his July 1971 album, Stephen Stills 2, and in May 1972, the double album, Manassas, was released. Down The Road was released in 1973, but in October of that year the band split...

 and The Desert Rose Band) on mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

, country singer/songwriter Vern Gosdin

Vern Gosdin

Vern Gosdin was an American country music singer. He idolized The Louvin Brothers and The Blue Sky Boys as a young man and sang in a gospel quartet called The Gosdin Brothers. An inheritor of the soulful honky tonk style of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard, Gosdin was nicknamed "The Voice" by his...

 on guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 and lead vocals

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

, his brother Rex Gosdin on double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

, and Don Parmley (later of the Bluegrass Cardinals) on banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

.

History

The album was recorded by Jim Dickson over the course of three months in 1963 and 1964. Dickson had been granted free use of World Pacific Studios

Pacific Jazz Records

Pacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles-based record label best known for releasing cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded by Richard Bock and drummer Roy Harte in 1952....

 in Los Angeles at night time, and this is where the band recorded "live" onto a three-track recorder

Multitrack recording

Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...

 using used magnetic tape

Magnetic tape

Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...

.

The Hillmen album was originally released in 1969 on the Together label (catalogue number ST-T 1012). It was reissued in 1981 (SH 3719) and 1996 (SUG-CD 3719) by Sugar Hill Records.

Side 1

1. "Fair and Tender Ladies
   Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies
   "Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies" is an American folk music ballad, originating from the Appalachian region. It has been recorded under either of its two title variations by numerous artists, including The Carter Family, Joan Baez, Odetta, Peter, Paul and Mary, Emmylou Harris, and Dolly Parton...
   
   " (Traditional) – 3:04
2. "Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues" (Pete Seeger
   Pete Seeger
   Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
   
   ) – 3:15
3. "Wheel Hoss" (Bill Monroe
   Bill Monroe
   William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
   
   ) – 2:25
4. "Fair Thee Well
   Farewell (Bob Dylan song)
   Farewell, also known as Fare Thee Well, is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Dylan wrote the song in January 1963. He considered it for his third album, The Times They Are a-Changin, but only attempted a few takes during the album's first studio session...
   
   " (Bob Dylan
   Bob Dylan
   Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
   
   ) – 2:58
5. "Goin' Up" (Vern Gosdin
   Vern Gosdin
   Vern Gosdin was an American country music singer. He idolized The Louvin Brothers and The Blue Sky Boys as a young man and sang in a gospel quartet called The Gosdin Brothers. An inheritor of the soulful honky tonk style of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard, Gosdin was nicknamed "The Voice" by his...
   
   , Rex Gosdin) – 2:19
6. "With These Chains" (unknown) – unknown

Side 2

1. "When the Ship Comes In
   When the Ship Comes In
   "When the Ship Comes In" is a folk music song by Bob Dylan, released on his third album, The Times They Are a-Changin, in 1964.Joan Baez states in the documentary film No Direction Home that the song was, more or less, inspired by a hotel clerk who refused to allow Dylan a room due to his...
   
   " (Bob Dylan) – 3:03
2. "Roll on Muddy River" (Vern Gosdin, Rex Gosdin) – 2:27
3. "Blue Grass Chopper" (Chris Hillman
   Chris Hillman
   Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....
   
   , Vern Gosdin, Rex Gosdin, Don Parmley) – 1:26
4. "Ranger's Command" (Woody Guthrie
   Woody Guthrie
   Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
   
   ) – 3:00
5. "Prisoner's Plea" (Vern Gosdin, Rex Gosdin) – 2:57

Side 1

1. "Brown Mountain Lights
   Brown Mountain Lights
   The Brown Mountain Lights are a series of ghost lights reported near Brown Mountain in North Carolina. The lights can be seen from the Blue Ridge Parkway overlooks at mile posts 310 and 301 and from the Brown Mountain Overlook on NC Highway 181 between Morganton, NC and Linville, NC...
   
   " (Scott Wiseman
   Scott Wiseman
   Scott Nigel Kenneth Wiseman is an English footballer who plays for Barnsley as a defender. His preferred position is right-back.-Career:...
   
   ) – 2:10
2. "Ranger's Command" (Woody Guthrie) – 3:00
3. "Sangaree" (Traditional) – 1:56
4. "Blue Grass Chopper" (Chris Hillman, Vern Gosdin, Rex Gosdin, Don Parmley) – 1:26
5. "Barbara Allen" (Traditional) – 3:11
6. "Fair and Tender Ladies" (Traditional) – 3:04
7. "Goin' Up" (Vern Gosdin, Rex Gosdin) – 2:19

Side 2

1. "When the Ship Comes In" (Bob Dylan) – 3:03
2. "Fair Thee Well" (Bob Dylan) – 2:58
3. "Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues" (Pete Seeger) – 3:15
4. "Prisoner's Plea" (Vern Gosdin, Rex Gosdin) – 2:57
5. "Back Road Fever" (Vern Gosdin, Rex Gosdin) – 1:56
6. "Roll on Muddy River" (Vern Gosdin, Rex Gosdin) – 2:27

1996 reissue

1. "Brown Mountain Light" (Scott Wiseman) – 2:10
2. "Ranger's Command" (Woody Guthrie) – 3:00
3. "Sangaree" (Traditional) – 1:56
4. "Blue Grass Chopper" (Chris Hillman, Vern Gosdin, Rex Gosdin, Don Parmley) – 1:26
5. "Barbara Allen" (Traditional) – 3:11
6. "Fair and Tender Ladies" (Traditional) – 3:04
7. "Goin' Up" (Vern Gosdin, Rex Gosdin) – 2:19
8. "Wheel Hoss" (Bill Monroe) – 2:25
9. "When the Ship Comes In" (Bob Dylan) – 3:03
10. "Fair Thee Well" (Bob Dylan) – 2:58
11. "Winsborough Cotton Mill Blues" (Pete Seeger) – 3:15
12. "Prisoner's Plea" (Vern Gosdin, Rex Gosdin) – 2:57
13. "Back Road Fever" (Vern Gosdin, Rex Gosdin) – 1:56
14. "Copper Kettle" (Traditional) – 3:49
15. "Roll on Muddy River" (Vern Gosdin, Rex Gosdin) – 2:27

Personnel

• Rex Gosdin – bass
  Double bass
  The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
  
  , tenor vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Vern Gosdin
  Vern Gosdin
  Vern Gosdin was an American country music singer. He idolized The Louvin Brothers and The Blue Sky Boys as a young man and sang in a gospel quartet called The Gosdin Brothers. An inheritor of the soulful honky tonk style of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard, Gosdin was nicknamed "The Voice" by his...
  
   – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , lead vocals
• Chris Hillman
  Chris Hillman
  Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....
  
   – mandolin
  Mandolin
  A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
  
  , vocals (track 9)
• Don Parmley – banjo
  Banjo
  In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
  
  , baritone vocals

Additional personnel

• Jim Dickson – producer
  Record producer
  A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
  
  
• Dino Lappas – engineering
• Bill McElroy – engineering