Heartwood Revisited - 1986 to 1987

Heartwood Revisited treats folks to tuneful good time

By Heidi Aycock
For The News and Observer

CHAPEL HILL - About 50 children at Carolina Friends School danced , clapped and hollered for the rock band on a recent Friday and then crowded around the three men to get autographs.
That was a nice way for Heartwood Revisited to be greeted 11 years after the acoustic rock 'n roll band broke up.  The three current members have been playing together again at local bars and clubs since August.  Tonight the band plays at Ninth Street Bakery in Durham.
The three men, Robert B. Hudson, Byron Paul and Tim Hildebrandt performed a musical history lesson last Friday that included tunes by Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers and The Beatles.  The program ended with music written by members of Heartwood Revisited.
"Eventually, some guys in North Carolina who grew up when The Beatles and Buddy Holly grew up started playing music," guitar player Paul said to the elementary school-aged audience.  "And that was us."  The band broke into some originals that were written when the musicians worked at music full time.
Although they said they would like to play and write music full time again, each member had reasons for enjoying music part time.
"When you're playing full time and you're not an overwhelming success, you start doing it more to make the money than because you like it," Hildebrandt said.  He plays acoustic guitar.
Hudson also likes the freedom of working for fun, not money.  "This way we play just what we want and the places that don't like us we just don't go back." Hudson, the drummer, said.
And Paul agreed that being a part-time musician left him with a lot of options.  "All your doors are kept open for creative ideas," he said.  "You don't limit yourself to pleasing bar owners just so you can go back and play there again."
Originally a seven-member band called Heartwood, the band recorded three albums and had a large following in the 1970s until it split up in August 1975.
Playing and singing as a trio instead of a bigger band has been good for Heartwood Revisited, they said.
"We can do a lot," Paul said.  "And we don't step on each other's toes."
Besides being good for the music, playing in a small group has been good for business.  " A lot of clubs have been opening up that use small acoustic bands like us," Hudson said.
Paul works as a messenger for a law firm.  Hildebrandt works for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a data communications technician and Hudson works for Environmental Monitoring and Service Inc. as an environmental systems technician.
    They got back together because Paul was going to leave North Carolina this summer.  "I was gong to move to Nashville," he said.  "I was going to do a demo tape and I called Tim because he was an engineer and I wanted him to produce it."
Hildebrandt and Hudson were playing together so all three decided to start practicing as a trio again.  "It just kind of fell back together again.  When we got together things just clicked," Paul said.
    A large part of their performance involves the fun they have playing together.  "A central thread I think is we pretty much enjoy what we're doing," Hildebrandt said.  And we try to pass that on to our audience and get them to participate, get them involved."
For information about Heartwood Revisited's Ninth Street Bakery performance, call 286-0303.

                                                               From The Raleigh New and Observer
                                                               Friday, November 21, 1986

Tim Hildebrandt - Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Byron Paul - Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Robert Hudson - Percussion, Vocals

Hear "Sensible Shoes".  Written by Tim, this is a shortened version of the song that we recorded for a demo tape.

Listen to "Clear Moments".  Written by Tim, this is a shortened version of the song that we recorded for a demo tape.

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