The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band is the debut album by The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band

Souther-Hillman-Furay Band

The Souther Hillman Furay Band was a country rock supergroup led by singer-songwriters Richie Furay , Chris Hillman , and J.D. Souther...

, released in 1974. It peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 chart.

History

The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band was a country rock

Country rock

Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

 supergroup

Supergroup (music)

In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....

 led by singer-songwriters Richie Furay

Richie Furay

Richie Furay is an American singer, songwriter, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member who is best known for forming the bands Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin, and Poco with Jim Messina, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner...

, 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....

, and J.D. Souther. The band was formed in 1973 upon the request of David Geffen

David Geffen

David Geffen is an American record executive, film producer, theatrical producer and philanthropist. Geffen is noted for creating Asylum Records in 1970, Geffen Records in 1980, and DGC Records in 1990...

, then head of Asylum Records

Asylum Records

Asylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell...

. The group had a substantial hit with the 1974 self-titled first album and the single "Fallin' in Love" reached No. 27 in the U.S. It was reissued on CD by the Wounded Bird

Wounded Bird Records

Wounded Bird Records is a CD only, re-issue record label, that was founded in 1998 in Guilderland, New York. They re-release lesser known albums from both popular and lesser known artists, including Deborah Harry, Chic, David Blue, Marilyn Martin, Gordon Haskell, Jon Anderson, Adrian Belew, Ellen...

 label in 2002.

Reception

In his review for Allmusic, critic Brett Hartenbach wrote "despite high expectations along with the history of their members, the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band's 1974 eponymous debut never quite lived up to its promise. The trio... delivers a collection of ten pleasant, if overall unremarkable tunes in the singer/songwriter, country-rock vein. There are glimmers of past glories by each, but only Furay really connects solidly... there should be enough here—thanks especially to the Furay tracks—that will at least be of moderate interest to most fans."

Track listing

1. "Fallin' in Love" (Richie Furay) – 3:31
2. "Heavenly Fire" (Len Fagan, Chris Hillman) – 3:46
3. "The Heartbreaker" (J. D. Souther) – 2:57
4. "Believe Me" (Furay) – 5:03
5. "Border Town" (Souther) – 3:54
6. "Safe at Home" (Hillman) – 2:54
7. "Pretty Goodbyes" (Souther) – 3:43
8. "Rise and Fall" (Fagan, Hillman) – 3:08
9. "The Flight of the Dove" (Furay) – 4:08
10. "Deep, Dark and Dreamless" (Souther) – 5:37

Personnel

• J.D. Souther - vocals, guitar
• 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....
  
   - vocals, guitar, bass, mandolin
• Richie Furay
  Richie Furay
  Richie Furay is an American singer, songwriter, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member who is best known for forming the bands Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin, and Poco with Jim Messina, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner...
  
   - vocals, guitar
• Jim Gordon
  Jim Gordon (musician)
  James Beck "Jim" Gordon is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award winner was one of the most requested session drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of the time, and was the drummer in the blues-rock supergroup Derek...
  
   - drums, percussion
• Ron Grinel - drums
• Paul Harris
  Paul Harris (musician)
  Paul Harris is a keyboards player and session musician.Harris appears on several albums of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s by leading artists such as Stephen Stills, B. B. King, Judy Collins, Al Kooper, ABBA, Eric Andersen, Rick Derringer, Nick Drake, John Sebastian, Joe Walsh, Seals & Crofts and Dan...
  
   - keyboards
• Joe Lala
  Joe Lala
  Joe Lala is an actor and voice actor, notable for his dubbing of Kun Lan of the video-game Killer7.He also played drums and percussion on 32 gold and 28 platinum albums. His credits include Blues Image, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Manassas, The Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, and many...
  
   - percussion
• Al Perkins
  Al Perkins
  Al Perkins is a Texas-born American guitarist. The Gibson guitar company called Perkins "the world's most influential Dobro player", and even began producing an "Al Perkins Signature" Dobro in 2001 - designed and autographed by Perkins....
  
   - pedal steel guitar, dobro, bass, guitar

Production notes

• Richard Podolor
  Richard Podolor
  Richard Podolor was a record producer.Richard Podolor, who is also known as Richie Podolor or Richard Allen, produced hits including "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night and "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf. His early hits were as guitarist and co-writer on the drummer Sandy Nelson's records...
  
  - producer, mixing
• Elliot Roberts - direction
• Doug Sax - mastering
• Bill Cooper - engineer, mixing
• Amanda Flick - assistant
• Lorrie Sullivan - photography

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1974	Billboard Pop albums	11