Craig D. Hillis
Editor
Craig D. Hillis left the University of Texas in 1970 to pursue a career in the music business, a calling he enjoys to this day. After twenty years in the mainstream Austin music scene, he returned to UT to complete his undergraduate degree and focus on writing about his tenure as a traveling guitar player and his years as music business entrepreneur. After completing his B.A. in History (1992), he went on to earn an M.A. in American Studies (2000) and a Ph.D. in American Studies (2011). He is currently shaping his dissertation, The Austin Music Scene in the 1970s: Songs and Songwriters, into a commercial publication.
He published his first book in 2000, Texas Trilogy: Life in a Small Texas Town (University of Texas Press) which was a commercial rewrite of his Master’s Thesis based on the work of 2007 Texas Poet Laurate and songwriter, Steven Fromholz. He has written extensively on American music and cultural history with articles, reviews and essays appearing in The Austin American Statesman, The Austin Chronicle, The Journal of Texas Music History, Langdon Review of the Arts in Texas, and The Handbook of Texas Music. In 2016 he published Pickers & Poets: The Ruthlessly Poetic SingerSongwriters of Texas (Texas A&M University Press) with co-editor Craig Clifford.
Hillis has taught and lectured at Texas State University, UT Austin, Midwestern State University, Ranger College, and Tarleton State University. He maintains his interests in the Austin music community and continues to perform throughout the southwest with The Lost Austin Band.
AREAS OF SPECIALTY
Historical fiction and nonfiction, particularly topics based on American history from all periods. I enjoy working on short stories, vignettes, biography, autobiography, and college application essays. I’m exceptionally experienced in writing about music, art, the entertainment business as well as academic topics based in the humanities. I have a special interest in Texas cultural history and the City of Austin as an evolving climate of creativity.
AVAILABLE FOR
Manuscript critiques and editorial assessments
Development editing
Content editing
Writing coaching for adults
"Craig Hillis had already carved out quite a career as a musician and songwriter when he took the leap and crossed over into writing prose. He didn’t just write, he edited other writers, which is akin to herding cats, and made a book out of the effort, Pickers & Poets. As one who has managed to write for a living over the past five decades, I can attest to Hillis’ skills as a persuasive editor who pushed me to improve a chapter that I already thought was pretty good. With his input, we made it a whole lot better. As a writer, that’s all you can ask for.
-Joe Nick Patoski, author of Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire (1993), Selena: Como la Flor (1996), Willie Nelson: An Epic Life (2008), Texas Highschool Football: More than a Game (2011), The Dallas Cowboys: The Outrageous History of the Biggest, Loudest, MostHated, Best Love Football Team in America (2012), Austin to ATX (2019)
"Craig Hillis provided a wonderful peer review of my first non-fiction book, The Broken Spoke: Austin’s Legendary Honky-Tonk, published by Texas A&M University Press in the spring of 2017. Craig's detailed edits of my rough manuscript based upon his first-hand knowledge about Austin's historic music scene provided invaluable insights that I would never have discovered on my own. Also, he offered the names of obscure local musicians and details about their work. I consider Craig's in-depth edits and suggestions--handwritten along the margins and between the lines of my typed text--some of the most important contributions that I received throughout three years of researching my book.
-Donna Marie Miller, author of The Broken Spoke: Austin’s Legendary Honky-Tonk
“Craig’s critique of my manuscript, Texas Tornado: The Times and Music of Doug Sahm, was extremely helpful as I prepared it for publication with UT Press (2010). He has a keen editorial eye, he backs up his suggestions with solid reasoning, and he has a talent for shaping successful sentences and paragraphs through simplicity. Craig’s input made Texas Tornado a better book. Whenever I write about Texas music—something I’ve done from time to time since my first book, The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock (1974)—I seek out Craig for his opinions. His knowledge of the Texas music scene, his academic credentials, and his longstanding experience as a musician have proven very helpful to me through the years.
-Jan Reid, author of The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock (1974), Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos (Rock of Ages) (2006), Texas Tornado: The Times and Music of Doug Sahm (2010), Comanche Sundown: A Novel (2010), Let the People In: The Life and Times of Ann Richards (2012), The Bullet Meant for Me (2014), The Song Leader (2021).
“Dr. Craig Hillis is a rare combination of academic brilliance, American Culture and Intellectual History expertise, and street smarts. Hillis has had backstage passes to much of late 20th century popular culture, touring the nation as a guitar player with Michael Martin Murphey and Jerry Jeff Walker, and is an institution in American music history. Beyond that, Hillis is an excellent editor, offering positive criticism and input and helping all levels of writers improve their projects while remaining sensitive to the ever-present writers’ ego. I first worked with Hillis as an editor on his Pickers and Poets. He and co-editor Dr. Craig Clifford gathered about twenty acclaimed writers and charged each with selecting a “ruthlessly poetic singer-songwriter” to profile in a collection of essays. The book has been a successful addition to the John and Robin Dickson Series in Texas Music for Texas A&M University Press. When I wrote Delbert McClinton: One of the Fortunate Few (TAMU Press 2017, 2021) Hillis was one of the subject matter experts to vet the book before publishing. His combination of enthusiasm and expertise pushed this project over the top, and today, in its second edition, the biography remains one of the top sellers for TAMU Press. In addition to his editing prowess, Hillis is a very dynamic subject matter expert, teacher, and guest lecturer in classroom, panel, and seminar settings. I have seen him in several settings speaking to university students, senior citizens, major donors, and a variety of other groups. I highly recommend Dr. Hillis.”
-Diana Finlay Hendricks, Writer, Editor, Photographer, Tequila Aficionado, author of Delbert McClinton: One of the Fortunate Few (2017, 2021)
“I am a Grammy Award winning graphic artist and art director in Austin, Texas. I’ve designed hundreds of album and CD packages, countless logos, and a wide variety of popular visual brands that you’re likely to see in your travels around Austin. I’ve worked with Craig Hillis since 1979 on a variety of entertainment-related projects like logo designs, nightclub branding, concert posters, and of course, album covers. After more than 40 years in this business, I wanted to pass my experience and knowledge on to the younger generations of graphic artists who are currently exploring the unique territory where visual art meets music. I wanted to write a book, so I reached out to Craig. He not only provided a basic tutorial on storytelling, autobiography, and the fundamentals of writing, he spent several days interviewing me asking probing questions about my life’s work. He then set me up with a transcription service to create a manuscript from our digitally recorded sessions. I now have “a big piece of me” on the printed page and I’m well on my way with the book. I look forward to having something for Craig to edit later next year (2022).”