Life Goes On (The Desert Rose Band album)

Background

Following the commercial failure of the True Love album, the band were dropped by their label MCA in 1992 and both original guitarist John Jorgenson and drummer Steve Duncan left the band. For the Life Goes On album, the band returned to the production team of Paul Worley and Ed Seay, who had produced the band's first three albums, whilst original guitarist John Jorgenson returned to play on two tracks. On the album, guitarist Jeff Ross stood in for Jorgenson and played on the album, although was replaced by Jim Monahan afterwards, whilst the drummer position was filled by Tim Grogan for touring. Monahan was encountered by Hillman in local bands around his own home in Ventura County. Several prominent country and bluegrass musicians made guest appearances on the album, who were also close friends of Hillman; guitarist Tony Rice, fiddle player Sam Bush, dobro player Al Perkins and Larry Park (of Boy Howdy) on guitar.

In a Billboard Magazine article in the issue of August 14, 1993, author Jim Bessman stated that Desert Rose Band might have called it quits if leading member Chris Hillman hadn’t refused to leave the band's 1991 album True Love as the final "calling card". Hillman was quoted "I couldn't live with that. Any disgruntled artist can point fingers, but we were mildly seduced by the record company to go into a direction which they thought would break us through. So we compromised on a lot of things, and whilst it wasn't a complete disaster, it wasn't a good album. We got resistance at radio, and the record company bailed." In relation to the band being dropped by MCA and the leaving of Jorgenson and Duncan, Hillman stated "I was sitting here with Bill and Herb and Tom, and asking, 'Is this it? Should I go solo?' But I couldn't let us go out with "True Love," and we owed Curb two records. So we worked things out with Curb country's division president Dick Whitehouse, and now that Curb has its own distribution and Hal Ketchum's doing miracles for the label, I said, 'You have every opportunity to be a major label. Let's make a record.'"

In the article, Hillman spoke of the album, stating "We've worked on the road and built a good core following, and could remain working without a record, so we took our time putting the new album together. The songs and the vocal blend which Herb and I get are even more focused, but we're just furthered the unique sound we have." Hillman also noted "We've been on thee top with hit singles – and to the bottom, having experienced some failure, and taking a break between Desert Rose albums, has only made this one better. My great stock line is that the shelf life of artists has been cut in half from four years ago, because of the country boom and the volume of new artists. You can have the best record in the world and 15 indies working on it, and it still won't sell. So we've had to adapt, and I know I sometimes come across as being arrogant, but we're still an honest band that really believes in what it's doing."

For the article, the band's co-manager Cameron Randle of Refugee Management stated "The whole album is premised on the fact that this band brings a credibility and artistic integrity to country music. But they've been absent from the scene the last couple of years – at a time of an enormous changing of the guard in country radio. So they're carrying on with new personnel, but the core, as always, is the relationship between Chris and Herb, vocally and historically. And the new material is as fresh and compelling as anything they've ever done. There's no more appropriate time for Desert Rose band to re-enter the country market than when everyone else is acknowledging Hillman's contributions."

In the Los Angeles Times of July 19, 1993, writer Richard Cromelin wrote an article titled "Desert Rose Hoping to Bloom Again With New Album", where it was revealed that Hillman had one simple hope for the album. Hillman stated "I want to get us back into the majors, we were relegated to the minor leagues." In regards to the True Love album - described as a "commercial dud and an artistic letdown" in the article, Hillman stated "I made one of the most monumental blunders anybody can make, I stopped listening to my intuitive voice, the voice that says: 'Don't do that, don't write that.' I was seduced by the business side of it with all this stuff. I was doing every stupid thing, like a 20-year-old kid thinking 'Gee, they're gonna really get behind it.' I fooled myself. But there have been people who have miraculously come back from the dead. John Anderson is better now than ever. Sawyer Brown has come from being a ditzy show band into doing some interesting material. I think Desert Rose can come back, too." In regards to the album, Hillman noted "I think we did a really good record. We went back with our original producers, and it's far more Desert Rose-sounding than any of the other records."

On June 16, 1994, an article in the Los Angeles Times noted that fans of the band would expect release of their final album that month, however this didn't materialize.

Aftermath

The line-up changes and record company problems eroded the band's confidence and, by the end of 1993, Hillman was reportedly ready to throw in the towel. Reflecting on the current country music scene, he stated with a mixture of biterness and disillusionment: "It's a volatile business right now. It's becoming so disposable. I think the shelf life of an artiste is cut right in half now. I think record companies might tend to look at an artiste and if he's not going to do big business they let him go a little too quickly rather than delvoping that artiste, as in the old days. What was once an artistic business has somehow become a commodities business." Not wishing to become part of a "commodities business", Hillman disbanded the Desert Rose Band on March 1, 1994, one week after they played their final gig in Indio, California. Following the split, Hillman took a sabbatical from the music business, filling in time by doing voice-overs for commercials, until by 1996, he was ready to record again.

Later in the Billboard Magazine of April 20, 1996, an article based on Hillman's new duet album Bakersfield Bound with Herb Pedersen was published. It was noted that all of Hillman's activity was occurring even though the last Desert Rose album Life Goes On had not seen the light of day domestically in America. Hillman stated "It wasn't a bad record, but Curb, in all its wisdom, put it out only in Europe and the Orient. Original band members John Jorgenson and Jay Dee Maness had already left, so we'd lost the essence of the original ensemble – and our shelf life had expired. If we had kept going, we'd have ended up doing USO tours and Vegas lounges – things we didn't want to do! So we laid out a situation for Curb where we'd do a 'retirement party' in L.A., and maybe film it for TNN and gracefully say adios – but they didn't go for it."

Track listing

1. "What About Love" - 3:18 (Chris Hillman; Steve Hill)
2. "Night After Night" - 3:21 (Chris Hillman; Michael Woody)
3. "Walk on By" - 2:55 (Chris Hillman; R. Alan Thornhill)
4. "Love's Refugees" - 3:25 (Chris Hillman; Steve Hill)
5. "Life Goes On" - 3:20 (Chris Hillman; Herb Pedersen)
6. "That's Not the Way" - 3:49 (Chris Hillman; Michael Woody)
7. "Till It's Over" - 3:07 (Chris Hillman; Steve Hill)
8. "Hold On" - 3:54 (Herb Pedersen)
9. "Little Rain" - 2:50 (Chris Hillman; Steve Hill)
10. "Throw Me a Lifeline" - 3:13 (Chris Hillman; Steve Hill)

Critical reception

In the 2007 Italian book 24.000 Dischi (24,000 discs), authors Riccardo Bertoncelli and Cris Thellung reviewed the Life Goes On album, stating "Even the restructured line-up - with the arrival of Tom Brumley, Jeff and Tim Grogan Red - changes the coordinated sound of the group, whose rudder is firmly in the hands of the leader."