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All About Shorty

Shorty Hill, age 6

Shorty likes to point to several defining moments. 

The first was when he was 6. He was chosen to "conduct" the annual performance of the First Grade Rhythm Band at the Summer Street School in Lynnfield Massachusetts. Why Shorty? Because he was the only first grader who could reliably keep time to the music. His parents (an artist and a teacher) tastefully outfitted him in a white suit and black bowtie. The performance went flawlessly. At the conclusion he turned to the audience (just like the teacher instructed) to take his bows. Of course there were probably no more than a hundred parents in that elementary school gym, but in the memory of that 6-year old boy, which still resides vividly in the brain of the veteran performer Shorty Hill, it might as well have been an arena filled with 40,000 cheering fans. At that moment he knew he had "connected", and that somehow it had made a difference, and that's what he wanted to do in his life.

Another defining moment was the day his older sister brought home the Beatles “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.  Wow!  Within a month he had a guitar and was learning how to play it.  In six months he formed his first band, The Shadows.

 

A third was standing in the mud at Woodstock, realizing the really transformative power of the music (of course the weed might have had something to do with that epiphany).

The Shadows 1964
The G String Cowboys

Shorty has played lead guitar and sung with a great number of bands, really, more than he can remember - you know, bands tend to have a rather short shelf life!  But besides The Shadows there were Lord Timothy, American Stone, Sugarbear, Full Moon Traveling Band, Shorty Hill & the Longhaulers, A Little On The Side, Distant Neighbors, and The G String Cowboys.

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A list of some of the artists with whom Shorty has appeared is certainly a reflection of his eclectic style:

  • Aerosmith

  • Waylon Jennings

  • Jessi Colter

  • Ryan Montbleau

  • Roomful of Blues

  • James Montgomery

  • John Hammond Jr

  • Ricky Skaggs

  • Peter Wolf

  • Swallow

The G String Cowboys

Tim Rath, Shorty Hill & Ken Nickell

Like most any veteran performer, Shorty’s music is colored by personal experiences. For Shorty, one of the most important is Costa Rica. In 2004 Shorty and his wife Liann bought a 25 acre farm near the south Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The mission was, and still is, reforestation, based on the feeling that we can all do something to be part of the climate solution. They found a small farm in a secluded rural valley. 75 years ago it was dense, pristine jungle, but the area had been largely stripped of forest to make way for cattle farms. Soil erosion ensued and wildlife diversity plummeted. Shorty and Liann have planted about 2,500 trees on the farm so far. Wildlife diversity is returning!  And the farm still has one sustainable crop - vanilla!

Shorty on the river in Costa Rica
Shorty in the Newburyport snow

Now Shorty splits his time, about 6 months in New England, and 6 months in Costa Rica, performing regularly in both.  In New England most are solo performances at bars and restaurants, festivals, and private functions.  In Costa Rica he performs extensively as a solo performer, as well as with the very unique trio, The G String Cowboys.

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​Shorty loves to perform, and he’d love to see you at one of his shows!

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