The Final Album Tom Petty Recorded and Produced That Nearly Led to a Reunion of The Byrds

In 2017, former Byrds bassist and founding member Chris Hillman was 72 and had no plans to release new music, until their mutual friend Desert Rose Band co-founder Herb Pedersen, who had been touring with Tom Petty’s other band Mudcrutch in 2016, suggested he work on another album. Petty immediately wanted in and ended up producing Hillman’s album with Pedersen as executive producer.

“Herb brought it up to Tom, and Tom jumped on it,” said Hillman. “I had no intention of making another record; I just wasn’t pursuing that. I had some songs, but the record business of halcyon days just wasn’t there anymore, and I wasn’t that interested. But Herb pushed that, and Tom was eager to jump on.”

By January 2017, months before Petty’s death on October 2, they began working on Hillman’s Bidin’ My Time. Set up at Petty’s home studio, the album featured the Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, and Steve Ferrone, Hillman’s former Byrds bandmates David Crosby and Roger McGuinn, and Desert Rose Band’s John Jorgenson, and Jay Dee Maness, along with musicians upright bassist Mark Fain, guitarist Josh Jové, and fiddler Gabe Witcher.

“Tom was on board and I really had to get it together,” recalled Hillman of their collaboration. “I just wasn’t thinking that way. But maybe that was a good thing, just approaching it without pressure. I don’t know where that pressure would come from at my age after all of these years. I figured if Tom wasn’t hearing it or it wasn’t what he thought it would be, he probably would have gotten out of it ever so graciously.”

A Byrds “Reunion” and Petty Cover

Released a week before Petty’s death, Bidin’ My Time opens on a cover of Pete Seeger and Welsh poet Idris Davies’ 1958 folk song “The Bells of Rhymney,” which the Byrds originally recorded on their 1965 debut, Mr. Tambourine Man. The rerecorded track also features Crosby and Pedersen harmonizing.

Hillman’s rendition of the Everly Brothers’ 1961 hit “Walk Right Back,” written by Sonny Curtis is also weaved in along with two songs co-written by Hillman and McGuinn, including “Here She Comes Again,” which appeared on a Byrds live album from Australia, and “New Old John Robertson,” an update to the Byrds’ “Old John Robertson,” released on the band’s 1968 album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers.

“She Don’t Care About Time,” written by Byrds co-founder Gene Clark—and the original B-side to the Byrds’ 1965 No. 1 “Turn! Turn! Turn!”—also appears on the album, in between new songs penned by Hillman and co-writer Steve Hill. Nathan Barrow also wrote “When I Get a Little Money” for Hillman, who closes Bidin’ My Time on Petty’s “Wildflowers,” featuring the Heartbreakers, Crosby, and McGuinn.

The album was a semi-Byrds reunion with McGuinn and Crosby featured on the album, but Hillman believed that if Petty, who had always revered the Byrds, had lived he would have been the one to reunite the band and persuade them to record again. “I think if Tom had not such an untimely passing, he probably would have been the one to put the three of us in the studio,” revealed Hillman in an interview five years before the passing of Crosby in 2023.

“He [Petty] had mentioned he wanted to go out and do a semi-acoustical tour, like what Herb and I and John do,” added Hillman. “I was telling him [during the recording sessions], ‘This’ll be the last one I do, and I’m so glad it’s turning out so well.’ And he said, ‘I wouldn’t be saying that just yet.’ So he was saying that to me: ‘We’ve got other things to do.’”

Hillman continued, “It didn’t work out that way, but I couldn’t be happier with it. I’m just enjoying the moment, and if it’s the end of the trail, that’s OK.”

[RELATED: The Ballad Stevie Nicks Wrote After Tom Petty Gave Her Some “Hard Advice”]

Hillman’s “Last Hurrah”?

Petty and Hillman approached the recording sessions differently and opted to work during the daytime for several hours a day instead of all-nighters at the studio. At the time, Petty was suffering from a fractured hip after slipping and falling during a rehearsal with the Heartbreakers for their 40th-anniversary tour. Instead of getting hip surgery, Petty worked through the pain, touring, and working with Hillman on the Bidin’ My Time.

The album was more a labor of love than a project pointed at commercial success. “It was just so much fun,” said Hillman. “Bottom line is that I’m not chasing a career. I’m not getting on the charts, but it was a great time making this record. If it’s the last one I make, that’s fine. I couldn’t ask for a better last hurrah.”

After learning of Petty’s death, Hillman initially wanted to cancel any scheduled live dates, but McGuinn suggested he move ahead with the shows. “Roger and Tom were very, very close friends,” said Hillman. “When it was announced finally that Tom had passed away on that dreadful Monday, Roger called me, and he said, ‘You cannot cancel these shows. Tom would not want you to do this. He would want you to be out there playing the music.’

Hillman added, “That was the greatest wisdom. It was just what I needed to hear. So we didn’t cancel the shows. We continued on, and we made it a celebratory thing every night, for Tom. We were honoring Tom with the music that we were a part of with him.”

[RELATED: Tom Petty’s Final Performance in 2017 and Final Song in the Set, “American Girl”]

In 2024, Hillman and McGuinn released the 24-track live album, featuring Marty Stuart and celebrating the Byrds’ country-rock album Sweetheart of the Rodeo from 1968. Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman with Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Sweetheart of the Rodeo was recorded during a 27-show 50th anniversary tour in 2018.

Photo: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers at Vegoose Music Festival 2006, Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. (Jason Merritt/FilmMagic)