Scottsville Squirrel Barkers

Chris Hillman: Guitar (acoustic), Guitar (electric), Vocals | Ed Douglass: Guitar (acoustic), Guitar (electric) | Bernie Leadon: Bass guitar, Guitar (acoustic)

Genre: Acoustic, Bluegrass & Roots, Blues & Soul, Country, Rock, Rockabilly

RIYL: Gram Parsons, Poco, the Desert Hill Band, Flying Burrito Brothers, the Eagles, Chris Hillman, Jack Tempchin, Hearts and Flowers

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Synoposis

Inception: San Diego, 1961

Influences: Woody Guthrie, Flatt and Scruggs, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Chet Atkins, Roy Clark, the Stanley Brothers, Johnny Paycheck

Background:

The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers were founded in the early 1960s by future Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famer and Byrd/Flying Burrito Brother/Desert Rose Band front man Chris Hillman. The band also included guitarist Ed Douglass, who founded the original Blue Guitar shop on Midway Drive, which had an impact on the music world as the meeting place for noted songwriters and musicians, including Hoyt “Jeremiah was a bullfrog” Axton. Douglass later operated the Double Eagle guitar shop, through 2007.

The locally recorded Scottsville Squirrel Barker album from 1962 regularly sells in excess of $200 in mint condition. Alongside Douglass and founding Byrds member Chris Hillman, the bluegrass combo also included future members of the Eagles (Bernie Leadon), the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Hearts and Flowers.

Though the other Barkers went on to worldwide fame, Douglass doesn’t mind that he was the only member who didn’t sign with a major label. “My skills weren’t as good as the other guys in the band,” he deadpans. “But I was good at one thing. I could get us shows.”

San Diego Reader