Michael Hinton

Michael Hinton's passion for music commenced at an early age. He was a self-taught musician who began playing the guitar alongside friends in his family's garage on Andrieux Street, Sonoma, CA 95476. Throughout his career, he collaborated and played with numerous musical groups, including Norton Buffalo & The Knockouts, High Noon, Merl Saunders & The Rainforest Band, to name a few. Hinton appeared on and contributed to several albums with the Rainforest Band and various Merl Saunders projects, including [m1113736], [m1167659], [r12029613], Merl Saunders & Friends - [r7022676], and [r23700557].

Hinton collaborated and played with Country Joe and Friends, and recorded with Rick Danko on [r11974080]. Additionally, he appeared on the Roky Erickson albums, [m60088] and [r2669035]. His other notable engagements include his participation in the Mickey Hart and Merl Saunders band, High Noon, as well as with Freddie Roulette and Friends. Hinton contributed as a co-composer to the musical scores of the films [url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084723/]Stacy's Knights[/url] (1982) and [url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085473/]Eddie Macon's Run[/url] (1983), and participated in the soundtrack for the 1980s remake of [url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088634/]The Twilight Zone[/url], originally broadcast from 1959 to 1964, performing alongside notable musicians such as 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.

Since the passing of keyboardist Merl Saunders in October 2008, Hinton has performed in multiple tributes honoring him. A reformation of the Rainforest Band as a tribute to Saunders occurred at the 29th [url=https://www.starwoodfestival.com/starwood]Starwood Festival[/url] on July 25, 2009, which marked the site of their final previous performance. This event featured Saunders' son and bassist Tony Saunders, Hinton, Sikiru Adepoju, along with other members of the Rainforest Band and participants from various Saunders projects.