Michael David Hinton (May 4, 1956 – August 1, 2013) was an American guitarist, residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. During his career, he played with numerous bands, including Norton Buffalo and the Knockouts, High Noon, Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band, to name a few. He 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 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 Cipollina, 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 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, Sikiru Adepoju and other members of the Rainforest Band and other Saunders' projects.
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 (The 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 and 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
"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)
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)
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
Saunders & Friends by John Metzger - The Music Box November 1998, Volume 5, #11
Chet Helms: Tribal Stomp (with Country Joe McDonald and Friends)
2B1 Multimedia
A Tribute To Jerry Garcia: Deadhead Festival in Tokyo, Japan, 1997 (1997/8) Japanese Laser Disc NTSC - VAP Video Super Rock series VPLR-70650
