Tom Petty had a hand in Roger McGuinn’s return to the spotlight in the early 90s, writing and performing on Back From Rio, the Byrds figurehead’s first album in a decade. Ever the fan, he plays an even bigger role for another founding member of the band here, producing Hillman’s first release following a similar ten-year layoff.
There are tangible echoes of Hillman’s past on Bidin’ My Time, not just through revisiting The Byrds on Bells Of Rhymney and Here She Comes Again. He doffs a laconic Stetson to his days in the Flying Burrito Brothers on the self-written prairie lament Restless, and a version of Wildflowers that arguably edges Petty’s original.
None of this is especially groundbreaking or radical, but the sound of a veteran in fine voice, making music with his pals (McGuinn and David Crosby are also along for the ride), is very persuasive indeed.
