Chris Hillman became a country star as leader of The Desert Rose Band in the 1980s. Before that he had a reputation as being the ultimate sidekick.

First to Roger McGuinn and David Crosby in The Byrds, then to Gram Parsons in the seminal country-rock band The Flying Burrito Brothers and to Stephen Stills in Manassas. Now he has his own sidekick. Or rather Hillman and Herb Pedersen are sidekicks for each other.

They’ve been playing together since Desert Rose and are on tour as a duo with Hillman mostly on mandolin and Pedersen acoustic guitar. At their stop Thursday at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Mass., they displayed consumate muscianship as they ran through a set of each other’s songs, Byrds tunes and classic country numbers.

What really sets this pair apart, though, is their beautiful vocal blend. Their voices mesh so well it’s like hearing one voice in perfect harmony. Pedersen has long been known as an excellent harmony singer, going back to Emmylou Harris’ breakthrough country hit in 1974 If I Could Ever Win Your Love, which Hillman and Pedersen performed second in their set.

Hillman and Pedersen have a wonderful rapport on stage and play it fast and loose, as Hillman said early in the set, they have a list of songs but don’t follow a setlist and play what they want to play. Continue reading Hillman, Pedersen perfect sidekicks →