The Joel Scott Hill Trio was a 1960s ensemble featuring Strangers guitarist Joel Scott Hill (later to replace Al Wilson in Canned Heat), bassist Bob Mosley (soon to join Moby Grape), and drummer Johny Barbata (who would end up in the Turtles and Jefferson Airplane/Starship).
Hill's band Joel Scott Hill and the Invaders, which featured drummer Willie Kellog and bassist Harold Kirby, recorded a few singles and opened for the Rolling Stones on November 1, 1964, at Balboa Park Bowl. Hill recalled that day and meeting the Stones backstage for an April 1998 Reader article.
“They were just these frail looking little guys with gray skin. They don’t get much sun over there in England, you know…they weren’t talking to anyone. Mick Jagger was sitting in a corner by himself…he was p-ssed off about money or something. He was afraid they weren’t going to get paid. They didn’t sell many tickets.” A month after the Stones show, the Invaders appeared on the local Channel 8 TV show Dancetime (December, 1964). Invaders drummers included session player Eddie Hoh (who recorded with everyone from the Monkees to the Modern Folk Quartet) and John Barbata (CSNY, Jefferson Starship).
Hill also recorded with Kathy Young and did session work for Monogram Records with artists like Chris Montez. He also played with the Flying Burrito Brothers, recorded an album with Chris Etheridge and John Barbata, and played in a 1980s band called Sierra. Solo singles like "I Thought It Over" were released on the Trans American label.
In 2016, while living near Pittsburg, Kansas, he contracted a staph infection and, after suffering complications, passed away on May 29.