Mike Hinton obit

Guitarist Michael Hinton Dies (R.I.P.)

 He was not on the list.

Michael "Mike" Hinton was an American guitarist , residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. During his career, he has been a member of several bands such as Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band for nine years, and has appeared on several albums with the Rainforest Band and other Merl Saunders projects, including It's In The Air, Fiesta Amazonica, Still Having Fun, Merl Saunders With His Funky Friends - Live, and Still Groovin'.

Hinton played with Country Joe and Friends, and recorded with Rick Danko on A Tribute To Jerry Garcia: Deadhead Festival in Tokyo, Japan, 1997. He was also on the Roky Erickson albums, Don't Slander Me and You're Gonna Miss Me: The Best Of Roky Erickson. Among his other credits are his involvement in the Mickey Hart and Merl Saunders band, High Noon, and Freddie Roulette and Friends. He also co-wrote the music for the films Stacy's Knights (1982) and Eddie Macon's Run (1983), and played on the score for the 1980s remake of the television program, The Twilight Zone with Jerry Garcia, John Cippolina, David Grisman and others. Hinton also co-wrote several songs with the late Norton Buffalo, world renowned harmonica player, as well as playing lead guitar in Norton's band for approximately seven years, beginning in late 1980.

Hinton has played several Merl Saunders tributes since the keyboardist's death in October 2008. A re-launch of the Rainforest Band as a tribute to Saunders took place at the 29th Starwood Festival on July 25, 2009, the site of their last performance, featuring Saunder's son and bassist Tony Saunders, Hinton, and other members of the Rainforest Band and other Saunders' projects.

The following is from Barry Melton's (Country Joe & The Fish) FB page:

I've been a guitar player for more than 60 years now (gulp!); and next year will mark my 50th year of performing in public. And throughout my career, I've sought to perform with great guitar players -- like Mike Hinton -- who could play stuff beyond my reach, who could push the sonic envelope and get me into that very special place that has no adequate description, but is inadequately referred to sometimes as "the groove," or "the zone," or something like that.

Together -- with Michael -- I've been on lost continents, walked on other planets and explored far-away universes. We knew where those places were and we didn't always get "there," but we struggled mightily against gravity and other earthbound forces to make our music free. And most of the time, even if only for a few minutes, we got to experience that very special place I mentioned above (and when I use the word "we," it includes the other musicians on stage and the wonderful folks who came to hear our off-brand brand of live music.)

Thankfully, we left a bit of evidence -- we got to record a few tracks together on a Hippie Uprising CD and thanks to anonymous archivists who record such things, there are smatterings of our work together scattered throughout cyberspace. It may not be our best work, but we were "there" and I'm going to miss those places -- I'm gonna miss Michael.

RIP Michael.

 

Performed or recorded with

 

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Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Brent Mydland, Tom Constanten, Vince Welnick, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann

Quicksilver Messenger Service: John Cippolina, David Frieberg

Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship: Jack Casady, Don Baldwin, Pete Sears

Santana: Jose "Chepito" Areas, Michael Carabello

Country Joe and the Fish / Country Joe McDonald and Friends: Joe McDonald, Barry Melton

Rainforest Band: Merl Saunders, Muruga Booker, Vince Littleton, Michael Warren, Tony Saunders

Johnnie Johnson and Unreal

Max Gail Band

High Noon: Mickey Hart, Jim McPherson (Copperhead), Bobby Vega (Etta James)

Norton Buffalo and the Knockouts

Schellville Southside Blues Band

Zero: Greg Anton, Chip Roland, Steve Kimock

Sons of Champlin: Geoffrey Palmer, Jim Preston

Barry Melton Band

Peter Albin (Big Brother and the Holding Company)

Byron Allred (Steve Miller Band)

Trey Anastasio (Phish)

Maya Angelou

Babatunde Olatunji

Joan Baez

John Barbata (Dinosaurs)

Elvin Bishop

Bobby Black

Vernon Black (Mariah Carey)

Ed Bogas

O'Teal Burbage (Allman Brothers)

Paul Butterfield

Ray Chew (Showtime at the Apollo)

Vassar Clements (Old & In the Way)

The Coasters

Lacy J. Dalton

Rick Danko (The Band)

John Dawson (New Riders of the Purple Sage)

Austin de Lone

Lance Dickerson (Commander Cody)

Greg Douglass (Steve Miller Band)

Roky Erickson (13th Floor Elevators)

Steve Erquiaga (Andy Narell)

Greg Errico

Mimi Farina (Bread and Roses)

Billy C. Farlow (Commander Cody)

Martin Fiero (Legion of Mary)

Mic Gillette (Tower of Power)

Nate Ginsberg (Herbie Hancock)

Bill Graham

Nick Gravenites (Electric Flag)

Rusty Gauthier (New Riders of the Purple Sage)

David Grisman

Billy Hart (Herbie Hancock)

Edwin Hawkins Singers

Mark Isham

Dr. John

Matt Kelly (Kingfish)

Kronos Quartet

Lowell "Banana" Levinger (The Youngbloods)

Huey Lewis

Carl Lockett (Jimmy Smith)

Harvey Mandel

Mel Martin

Scott Mathews

John McFee (Clover/Doobie Brothers)

Buddy Miles (Electric Flag/Jimi Hendrix)

Steve Miller

Ziggy Modeliste

Eddie Moore (Woody Shaw)

Maria Muldaur

Charlie Musselwhite

Mark Naftalin (Butterfield Blues Band)

Odetta

Sammy Piazza (Hot Tuna)

John Popper (Blues Traveler)

Jimmy Pugh (Robert Cray Band)

Chuck Rainey (Steely Dan)

Vicki Randle (George Benson/Tonight Show)

Brett Rasmussen (Merl Saunders)

Roy Rogers

Freddie Roulette

John Schneider (Dukes of Hazzard)

Melvin Seals (Jerry Garcia Band)

Ron Stallings (Reconstruction/Elvin Bishop)

Luther Tucker (Little Walter Jacobs)

Bill Vitt (Saunders-Garcia Band)

Narada Michael Walden

"Bishop" Norman Williams

Kate Wolf

Television appearances and work

"Q" for KQED (Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band live)

KGO Curethon (Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band live)

Tales From The Crypt (TV series) (HBO) "On A Dead Man's Chest" Directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist)

Rediscovering The Amazon - Filmed on the Amazon River (Documentary for Moondragon Pictures)

The Twilight Zone (CBS) "The Girl That I Married" (with John Cippolina), "Shelter Skelter", "Joy Ride", "The Junction" (with David Grisman), "Dead Run" (with Bob Weir, Brent Mydland)

Studio Cafe (Norton Buffalo and Michael Hinton duo live)

Norton Buffalo and the Knockouts live (KRCB)

Sports America (Abe Lemons and Eddie Sutton — NCAA Basketball Coaches)

"Revenge Of The Insects" (for PBS with Barry Melton and Mickey Hart)

Discography

I Ain't No Angel - Lindy Gravelle (1982)

Don't Slander Me - Roky Erickson (1986) Restless Records

You're Gonna Miss Me: The Best Of Roky Erickson (1991) Restless Records

It's In The Air - Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band (1993) Summertone Records

Still Having Fun - Merl Saunders (1995) Summertone Records

Fiesta Amazonica - Merl Saunders (& the Rainforest Band) (1998) Summertone Records

Merl Saunders With His Funky Friends - Live (1998) Summertone Records

Still Groovin - Merl Saunders (2004) Summertone Records

San Francisco After Dark - Merl Saunders

A Promise Kept - Jim McPherson (2009)

Keystone Revisited - Tony Saunders, Michael Hinton, Bill Vitt, Steve Abramson, Jeff Pevar (2013)

Sonoma Soundtrack - Schellville Southside Blues Band

Joan Baez (unreleased tracks) - produced by Mickey Hart (Featuring members of the Grateful Dead and High Noon) (2001)

 

Filmography

Scores

Stacy's Knights (1982) (with Kevin Costner) co-wrote the music with Norton Buffalo and performed, Crown International Pictures

Eddie Macon's Run (1983) (with Kirk Douglas, John Schneider) co-wrote with Norton Buffalo and performed soundtrack, Universal Pictures/ MCA

He had a small part as a drummer in All that Jazz.