NO REUNION FOR HILLMAN AND BYRDS

Ex-Byrds member Chris Hillman wasted no time laying to rest any nostalgic speculation about a Byrds reunion growing out of the double bill he’s sharing with the group’s former leader Roger McGuinn tonight at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.

“This is not another version of the Byrds,” Hillman, 43, said by phone this week from his Ventura residence.

“Roger will do a solo acoustic set and then we’ll play. But I will try to drag him up on stage to do (the Byrds’ hit ‘So You Want To Be A) Rock & Roll Star.’ ”

The “we” Hillman referred to is his Desert Rose Band, a sextet that also includes guitarist Herb Pedersen and steel guitarist J.D. Maness, both highly respected veterans of the Southern California country-rock scene. In fact, Maness also played on the Byrds’ landmark “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” album in 1968 when country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons joined the group.

Along with a third ex-Byrds member Gene Clark, McGuinn and Hillman last recorded together in 1979-80 on two albums as McGuinn, Clark and Hillman. McGuinn hasn’t made a record in several years, but Hillman said, “I’m going to be on him to get back into the studio. He’s got a lot of good songs.”

Hillman grew up in the San Diego County communities of Del Mar and Solana Beach (where Desert Rose will perform next week at the Belly Up), listening not to rock ‘n’ roll or R&B; but country.

Because he’s been in such ground-breaking bands as the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, he looks with fondness on the current crop of cowpunk groups that are continuing to stretch the boundaries of country and rock. He’s had a close-up look at several of those bands while playing local clubs in recent months.

“We played last week at the (Club) Lingerie (in Hollywood) with the Lonesome Strangers and Tin Star. The people in the audience were all wearing string ties,” he said. “And I saw Dwight Yoakam at the Roxy. He reminds me of Gram, with a kind of Sam Shepard look.

“They are all doing things similar to what the Burritos did in the late ‘60s. I think it’s a healthy thing that’s happening. Maybe it will make Nashville wake up to what’s going on. I still think some of the best country music ever came out of Bakersfield and Los Angeles in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s.”

Hillman formed Desert Rose about four years ago as a traditional bluegrass quartet and in 1984 recorded an album for the tiny Sugar Hill label. Last December, however, he added two more musicians to the band, which now is emphasizing a more forceful, electric style of country rock.

The group has been offered a deal with the Nashville subsidiary of a major label and Hillman said the contract is now “in the hands of the lawyers.”

In May, Desert Rose’s will open for the Oak Ridge Boys at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, a date that caused Hillman to chuckle.

“In the ‘60s, we used to laugh about ending up in Vegas,” Hillman said. “Roger and I used to joke about what would be the worst possible gig. We figured it would be playing at a Holiday Inn lounge in Oklahoma, wearing toupees and singing ‘Mr. Tambourine Man.’ But now Vegas is one of the few places where country musicians can play.”

Although tonight’s Coach House show will be Hillman’s first Orange County concert in several years, he occasionally substitutes with the Thunder Mountain Boys, the bluegrass band at Disneyland in which Desert Rose mandolin player John Jorgeson also plays. He does it strictly out of his fondness for the music, an affection that has permeated his work for more than 20 years.

“I get to play mandolin all day long,” he said. “When you get a couple of days like that, it’s just great.”