He subsequently contacted Hillman, asking him, along with Burritos' guitarist Al Perkins and fiddler Byron Berline, to join him in Miami at Criteria Studios to jam.

Stills also invited several members of his touring band (drummer Dallas Taylor, bassist Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels, keyboardist Paul Harris and vocalist/percussionist Joe Lala) to play at the session.

The musicians quickly gelled in the studio, and within several weeks had recorded enough material at Criteria to fill a double-LP album release.

The band was capable of a wide musical range, with a repertoire including blues, folk, country, Latin, and rock songs.

The Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman, a friend of both Hillman and Stills who visited Criteria during the sessions, was an early fan of the band, at one point expressing an interest in joining.

First, Hillman accepted his management's proposal to join a project involving ex-Buffalo Springfield and Poco singer/guitarist Richie Furay and Eagles songwriter/collaborator JD Souther, after satisfying Manassas' scheduled touring commitments.

When this tour ended in mid-1973, Crosby, Nash and Young – encouraged by their management, and hopeful to realize the financial benefits of a possible CSNY reunion – regrouped in Maui to discuss potential work on a new album.

The three contacted Stills, who, putting aside the differences that led to CSNY's initial demise,[10] cut short his honeymoon break with Sanson to join the new project.

CSNY worked for several weeks in both Maui and Los Angeles on the project, Human Highway, but these sessions were ultimately aborted due to various disagreements within the band.

Chris Hillman's Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, which would also include Manassas members Al Perkins and Paul Harris (and eventually Joe Lala, who also played on the 1974 CSNY reunion tour), released its first album in early 1974.