[Review] Chris Hillman: Morning Sky (1982)
Hillman returns to his bluegrass roots for his best album in years.
Kronomyth 3.0: Morning sunlight on blue grass.
If Chris Hillman never released another rock album, you wouldn’t find me mourning. Progressive bluegrass is plainly his muse and Morning Sky is his best album to date. Featuring familiar names (Byron Berline, Bernie Leadon), members of Country Gazette (Herb Pedersen, Al Perkins, Kenny Wertz) and Emory Gordy on bass, Morning Sky warms your soul like a patch of sunlight. The harmonies are gorgeous, the playing both piquant and mellow, the words poetic and wise. Hillman makes excellent choices in what to play and then gilds them in sweet harmonies and strands of mandolin, steel guitar, fiddle and banjo. The only misstep is a cover of Grateful Dead’s Ripple, which needs Jerry Garcia’s tart vocals to really work. Tomorrow Is a Long Time, however, is one of the best Bob Dylan covers I’ve heard in a long time. Hillman isn’t afraid to follow in some big footsteps: John Prine, Kris Kristofferson, Gram Parsons. He also includes a warmer version of Mexico, which first appeared on Trouble in Paradise, that lets the song’s natural genius breathe. And maybe that applies to all of Morning Sky. The material on here is given the room to really blossom, whether it’s the rich harmonies or well-balanced playing. As much as it feels strange as a drummer to say this, maybe the drums just get in the way sometimes. Progressive bluegrass is one of the few Western musical forms where the rhythm is implied rather than telegraphed in beats. Without the constant ticking of time in the background, the world moves slower and more gracefully. That’s certainly the case while Morning Sky is playing and, since the purpose of music seems to be an escape from the world’s brutality and ugliness, maybe those folkies were onto something.
Original elpee version
A1. Tomorrow Is a Long Time (Bob Dylan) (2:46)
A2. Taker (Kris Kristofferson/Shel Silverstein) (2:33)
A3. Here Today and Gone Tomorrow (Wally Fowler) (2:58)
A4. Morning Sky (Dan Fogelberg) (2:16)
A5. Ripple (Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter) (3:17)
B1. Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues (Danny O’Keefe) (2:32)
B2. Don’t Let Your Sweet Love Die (Clarke Van Ness/Zeke Manners) (2:39)
B3. Mexico (J.D. Souther) (3:04)
B4. It’s Happening to You (John Prine/John Burns) (2:52)
B5. Hickory Wind (Gram Parsons/Bob Buchanan) (3:40)
The Players
Chris Hillman (mandolin, acoustic guitar, lead vocals), Byron Berline (fiddle), Emory Gordy (bass), Herb Pedersen (acoustic guitar, banjo, tenor vocals on all duets, harmony vocals), Al Perkins (steel guitar, dobro, acoustic guitar), Kenny Wertz (harmony vocals, acoustic guitar) with Bernie Leadon (banjo on A2). Produced by Jim Dickson; engineered by Larry Wendelken.
The Pictures
Photography by Henry Diltz. Jacket design by Raymond Simone.
The Plastic
Released on elpee in 1982 in the US (Sugar Hill, SH-3729).
- Re-issued on compact disc in 1991 in the US (Sugar Hill, SH-CD-3729).
