I Was There When… McGuinn, Clark & Hillman Created A Joyful Noise at Burlington, Vermont’s Hunts

Reunions of the Byrds both formal and informal occurred years before (and after) the alliance of Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark and Chris Hillman. But, overall, none proved more frustrating than this one that spanned the late Seventies and early Eighties, if only because it had the potential to be so fruitful.  One marked exception was the trio’s appearance in late April 1979 at Burlington Vermont’s long-venerated R. W. Hunt Mill & Mining Company (Hunt’s for short). The lower Main Street location was the site of more than a few rousing performances over the course of its roughly ten-year history, but none perhaps more dramatic or galvanizing than this one in the late spring/early summer shortly after release of the first MCH studio collaboration in 1979.

Long before that time, each of the trio had amassed a more or less estimable solo discography from which to draw for live performances.  As a result, Dillard & Clark’s “Train Leaves Here This Morning” (co-written with Bernie Leadon of the Eagles) and while Hillman’s collaboration with Stephen Stills on Manassas’ “It Doesn’t Matter” sounded of a piece with “Turn Turn Turn.” Not surprisingly, all those were markedly superior to the likes of “Sad Boy” or “Don’t You Write Her Off” from the commercial compromise of the aforementioned (eponymous) debut.  

McGuinn, Clark and Hillman always rotated vintage material in and out of their setlists as they toured in support of their combined effort(s). On this occasion, however, they forestalled the appearance of the immediately-recognizable likes of the parent group’s work with additional selections from their recent record issue rather than a wide(r) array of culls from their individual works (respectively, “Drivin’ Wheel,” “Full Circle” or “Slippin’ Away”). Regardless, it’s arguable whether the harmony-laden, chiming twelve-string tones of f “Mr. Tambourine Man,” among others, might’ve sounded any more glorious as such selections arrived in sequence during the single set.

As such, it mattered less whether familiar numbers were resonating equally deeply in the Byrds fans in attendance or those present simply nostalgic for era when the group originally became famous. McGuinn, Clark and  Hillman, perhaps (correctly) perceiving they had a discerning audience, increasingly inserted more familiar material such as “Eight Miles High” over the course of the set and thus generated a suspenseful momentum rendered all the more palpable by the intimacy of the venue; in fact, the mutual gratification deriving from the singing and playing may have been most striking aspect of the evening.

The threesome no doubt garnered similarly boisterous accolades at other tour-stops. But the shared combination of surprise and delight permeating the room by the time  “Chestnut Mare” resounded so melodiously off the walls prompted increasingly loud accolades from the audience. It actually got to the point where that reaction gave even the musicians (positive) pause at certain points, that response itself was readily noticeable given how small the room was. 

With the group undertaking its most extended roadwork in followup to their album release, it was a well-honed ensemble that occupied the tiny stage at Hunt’s including John Sambataro on guitar, (later of lightweight country rockers Firefall) and Greg Thomas on drums). McGuinn strummed his trademark Rickenbacker and Hillman played the mobile bass that earmarked the Byrds lineup circa 1967’s Younger than Yesterday, Meanwhile, the usually stoic Clark (more or less) happily shook a tambourine off and on for the duration of a performance that took on a life of its own as it progressed.  

Whatever the partly-camouflaged clashes of these three men’s earlier collaborations (and eventually this one), their innate chemistry took precedence this night in the Green Mountains, thereby even more indelibly imprinting vivid recollections of a legitimately memorable affair.