The Desert Rose Band was one of the most successful country-rock bands of the 1980s and early '90s, picking up where groups like the Eagles and Poco left off... Frontman Chris Hillman, guitarist/arranger John Jorgenson and country-folkster Herb Pedersen formed the core of this surprisingly successful roots-country Top 40 band, along with steel player Jay Dee Maness, who gave the band a retro feel that balanced its more contemporary pop-country production style. The group took its name from a 1984 Chris Hillman solo album which Pedersen had also played on; in many ways it was a commercial vindication of the original 1970's country-rock scene, which had embraced both old-school country and eclectic experimentation. The Desert Rose Band was pretty solidly "pop," however, shooting for chart success while still keeping things twangy.
Desert Rose Band "A Dozen Roses (Greatest Hits)" (Curb, 1991)
(Produced by Paul Worley & Ed Seay)
This best-of set is a nice, concise document of Chris Hillman's valiant late-'80s run towards the Top 40 brass ring, with some well-crafted poppy heartsongs, and a few tunes that are just kinda so-so. But for a simple, soft-edged set of country rock/honkytonk, this ain't bad.
Desert Rose Band "Traditional" (Curb, 1993)
Desert Rose Band "Desert Rose Band" (Curb-MCA Records, 1987)
(Produced by Paul Worley)
This debut disc included their first single, "Ashes Of Love," a cover of an old Johnny & Jack song that managed to crack the Country Top 40, as well as the three singles that followed -- "Love Reunited," "One Step Forward" and the chart-topping "He's Back And I'm Blue," which established the Desert Rose Band as one of the major acts of the late '80s. Nice stuff, all things considered!
Desert Rose Band "Running" (Curb-MCA, 1988)
Desert Rose Band "Pages Of Life" (Curb-MCA, 1989)
Desert Rose Band "True Love" (Curb-MCA, 1991)
(Produced by Tony Brown)
A slick, generic, even anodyne, country-pop set, recorded as the original band was reshuffling its lineup after the departure of steel player Jay Dee Maness. Alison Krauss chimes in on the end of one song, "Undying Love," and Paul Franklin fills in on steel... Perhaps the most notable aspect of this album is how most of the songs echo back to Chris Hillman's lyrics about devotion, surrender and inevitability that read more easily as religious texts, rather than secular love songs, echoing back to his Christian country recordings of the '70s and '80s. They released a couple of singles from this album, but for the most part, it tanked commercially.
Desert Rose Band "Life Goes On" (Curb-MCA, 1993)
