September 2, 2025 • 27 mins
This episode features a conversation with Bernie Leadon, founding member of the Eagles and an icon of American music history. From his groundbreaking work with the Eagles and the Flying Burrito Brothers to his enduring influence on country rock, Bernie shares stories from across six decades in music. Listeners will hear about pivotal moments, legendary collaborations, and the inspiration behind his new album, “Too Late To Be Cool,” as Bernie reflects on past triumphs and the creative spark driving his latest music.
Join host Buzz Knight as he and Bernie Leadon take a walk through the highlights and heartbeats of a legendary career—exploring the roads that led to rock classics, as well as the exciting new paths Bernie is carving today.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I have had a lot of great friends and people
that were benefactors and advocates for me, and helpers and mentors,
and I'm just really grateful to all of them. You know,
nobody progresses without help.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Really, what do you get when you mix a banjo,
a stratocaster, and a restless spirit of musical adventure. You
get a career that helps set the foundation for one
of the biggest bands in rock history, and a musical
journey that spans folk clubs, country stages in the California
Sound of the seventies. I'm buzznight, and on this Taking
(00:33):
a Walk episode, I'm joined by guitar as songwriter and
original Eagle Bernie Ledden. Bernie has always been a seeker,
never content to stay in one lane, always looking for
the crossroads where tradition and innovation meet. From his days
shaping bluegrass and country rock with the Flying Burrito Brothers
(00:54):
to co founding the Eagles and writing classics that still
echo through the airwaves, history is one of quiet but
undeniable impact. So join me on this episode through the
life and music of a true pioneer, Bernie Ledden. Coming
up after these words.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Taking a Walk, well, Bernie.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
It's an honor havenue on the Taking a Walk Podcast,
It's an honor to be here. So since we call
this podcast Taking a Walk, Before we get into the
brand new Too Late to Be Cool release and everything
that's been going on, I'd like to ask this little
opening question here. If you could take a walk with
(01:36):
someone living or dead, who would you take a walk with? Then?
Where would you take that walk with them?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Jesus Christ, and wherever it was would be up to him,
And if you wanted to be somewhere else, you could
just take us there.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I love that wonderful. Well, Bernie, congratulations on the brand
new music. First of all, too Late to Be Cool.
You must be so excited to get this out to
the world.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, it's I really am. It's I'm actually extremely happy
with the record. You know, I haven't released anything for
I think somebody said twenty three heres or something. But
I went out of the road with the Eagles in
twenty thirteen through twenty fifteen in the History of the
Eagles tour and just got excited about playing and singing
(02:29):
every day again. And so when the touring ended, I
decided to spend more time writing and so I built
up a pile of songs, and then of course you
want to record them. And I built a new building
for my recording year. And then my old friend Glynn Johns,
who produced the first two and a half Eagles albums,
came over from England and we did two batches of
(02:51):
recording last year in early January this year. And so anyway,
he's so experienced that we're such good friends. We know
each other so well, but he just works so fast
and smoothly. He makes decisions on the fly. And we
recorded the two inch sixteen track analog tape, so you
have to make decisions right because there's no room for
(03:14):
forty three guitar parts or seventeen vocals or whatever. So
we got on with it the whole thing. You know.
It took about three weeks maybe four to mix it
and everything, but it sounds fresh to me still, and
so I'm just so happy about that, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
And you had stayed in contact with Glenn over the years,
hadn't you.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah, he started after I left the Eagles in seventy five.
He began using me on reporting sessions in England and
also and mostly Los Angeles. A lot of different people
Nancy Griffith, Landa Rotstadt again, you know, some different bands,
John Hyatt, and it's always fun to work with Glenn.
He's just a dear friend and he's so good at
(03:56):
what he does. I'm just always trying to understand it better.
So it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I want to come back to the new music, but
I do want to ask you about Nashville because you're
outside of Nashville and the Nashville community is a pretty
amazing place to be. How does that community inspire you.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well, it's you know, they have a catchphrase that they
use around here. It all begins with a song. So
that's nice that they give the songwriter kind of prominence
in the food chain of making music, you know. And
you probably know that in New York back in the
fifties and sixties, there was a place called the Brill Building,
(04:40):
and it was a building in which all the songwriters
and all the publishers pretty much all had offices. So
again it was music brow was a little bit like
that where the community was literally bumping into each other
on the stairs in the hallway, and serendipity would put
people together and stuff would happen, you know, So Nashville
always was like that as a songwriting community, and there's
(05:03):
some funny stories about well, Harlan Howard is this infamous
Nashville songwriter who wrote just I don't know one, hundreds
and hundreds of hits. But their story was he would
write have some fresh songs, and he'd dropped by some
of the session at ten in the morning and they
had three other songs ready to record on somebody and
they'd say, well, Harland, you got anything today, and they
(05:25):
he'd play them a song and they go, oh, it's face,
so we're going to cut that right now. And they'd
bump the first song and then they'd ask him you
got anything else, and that you play them something. They
bump all three songs from this artist. They will record
for me and record three Harlan Howard songs and usually
there'd be a hits. I mean, he was so good
at it. But it's really a great community and everybody
(05:46):
supports each other and everybody cheers for one another, and
it's really cool.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
So when you look back at your musical journey from
the Eagles to the Flying Burrito Brothers and beyond, what
moments do you feel like with the biggest crossroad moments.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Well, I wouldn't actually pick you know, a musical event.
I would actually I just went out to LA to
go to the memorial service of the dear friends that
I met in nineteen sixty three, let's say, in San Diego,
and he was ex Navy diver, and they owned a
(06:25):
little music store and they had a bluegrass band called
the Scottsville s war Barkers. Chris Hillman later of the
Birds was the man Lenklller. But I've traced back my
career from the Eagles backwards and it all goes back
to this guy Larry Murray in San Diego, because he
invited me later to come out to LA and join
him on a singing group on Capitol Records in nineteen
(06:48):
seventy sixty seven, and he also produced and was responsible
for Linda Ronstock, so he started using me on sessions.
But again, it all goes back to this guy Larry,
and every thing positive connection in my career was you
can trace it all the way through it. So I'm
(07:09):
really glad to realize that. And I have had a
lot of great friends and people that were benefactors and
advocates for me and helpers and mentors, and I'm just
really grateful to all of them. You know, nobody progresses
without help. Really, What was.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
It like being a friend and a collaborator with the
great Graham Parsons.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Graham with a lot of fun, you know. One of
the things people don't talk about it. So for those
who don't know, Graham Parsons was from he was from Waycross, Georgia.
He was from a well to do family. He was
a trust fund kid. He went to Harvard for a
minute and left, started a bandon International Submarine band in Boston,
(07:58):
ended up in La got in the Birds later in
the birds career. He left the Birds before the Swootheart
the Radio album was released. A lot of his vocals
were replaced, but he then Chris Hillman left the Birds
and the two of them formed the Flying Burrito Brothers.
I was on the second Brido album. The first Brio
album is actually brilliant and genius And one of the
(08:22):
things people don't mention about Graham because he's credited with
people call him the father of country rock, and the
Eagles ebulated that model, but he added R and B
influences also to the mix that he called cosmic American music.
You know, the Eagles also mixed in R and B
with country and folk and rock and pop. Graham was
(08:47):
just a lot of fun. Unfortunately he was an alcoholic
and he hung out with He quit the Britos who
went to live with the Rolling Starns in the south
of France when they're like, I'm not sure what album
they were making. But he tried to keep up with
Keith Richards. And the truth is, nobody has ever kept
up with Keith Richards as far as staying up in
(09:07):
doing things that perhaps would be advisable to do for
very long. So Keith's still with us. And Graham died
at twenty six, you know, and tragically, but brilliant guy.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
And it's so important, I think is generations advance to
keep you know, folks like Graham's name and his music
and his influence alive, don't you think I do?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
And I have to give credits to Amy Lou Harris,
who pretty much took on that the mantle of doing that.
You know, she's kind of been the curator of Graham's
legacy by recording every song pretty much that he wrote
that you know she liked, and I mean she recorded
almost all his stuff and so she's definitely one. And
(09:57):
there's there's a lot of bands that have emulated in
some way, but Ammy has kept his actual catalog and
actual songs alive, you know. And I just saw her
the other day at Linda Ronstatt tribute and she's still
she's still doing that. God bless her.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Well, you mentioned Linda Ronstadt, so obviously your career and
the Eagles were so intertwined with Linda. Talk about those moments, which,
as I'm asking you the question, I'm such a fan
of yours and your music and Linda's music, I have
chills asking you the question. What was it like being
(10:36):
with Linda and collaborating with her?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Well, it's been great. So, as I said, I've joined
the group that was already on Capitol Records in late
nineteen sixty seven, and Linda Ronstatt was signed to the
same label, same producer, same a and Argyll and so
he's that producer started using me on Linda's sessions, which
was the Stonempone, Linda ro Onnsett and the Stone Ponies.
(11:02):
So I played on Stone Ponies Records actually in nineteen
sixty eight, and then she started doing well as a
solo artist, and I was in her touring band and
continued recording with her. But I was in a touring band.
We were actually living in hotels in New York City
the summer of sixty nine when Woodstock was happening, and
(11:25):
we're playing clubs in French Village and surrounding areas. And
then I left and joined the Flying Brido Brothers, and
then the other soon to be Eagles, Don Hanling, Glen
Fry and I think Randy also were then in Linda's
band after me. So some say we all came from
(11:45):
Lindi's band, and we did, but not all at the
same time, you know, But we were all in the
same musical community in LA, which actually was very similar
to the Nashville community back then, you know, West La.
The Trouevia or Club, the Ashbury Club, and all the
other clubs around that had been folk clubs and they
(12:05):
became kind of a little bit electrified, but they still were,
you know, two hundred, two hundred and fifty seat showrooms,
showcase rooms, little mini theaters. It served drinks, you know,
and there was a whole bunch of them. It was
just a network of clubs you could play in the
(12:26):
local area. Of la, which of course is huge, but
you could hone your craft, and some people had a
record deal, some people had a publishing deal, and we
all just in her rocket, you know, And that's how
the world there was at that time, and in Ronstatt
was always Linda was always part of it.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
What a what a gem she is? Huh my god?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, amazing. I mean actually, when I first started playing
with her doing shows, I was the main harmony singer,
and she sings so full voice and loud, like no
restraint that I had to let my voice open up
or I would have said it like a pipsqueak mouse
(13:08):
next to her. And so it was really wonderful to
sing with her, you know. And she was unrestrained with
her voice and just such a natural talent, you know.
But what a what a gift to be able to
sing with her.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I love it. I love it. I love how everything
has come full circle in that Henry Dilts is part
of your new work here in terms of his brilliance.
I love Henry. He's been on the podcast a couple
of times and he's one of my favorites. Obviously. He
goes back to some Eagles history there in terms of
(13:47):
his work and cover art and everything. Can you take
me back to some of that work that he did
with the Eagles and what that was like then? Sure?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Okay, So Henry was not a studio photographer. His whole
thing was to go on location, whether that was in
la but to go somewhere that there was some background
that was interesting, and he put the people in front
of that. But in the case of the first Eagles album,
So I got to tell you, this was the business
(14:20):
plan for that photo shoot. Okay, We're going to go
to the Troubadour Club and we're going to close it down.
We're going to wait till they close it one point
thirty in the morning. Then we're going to get in
our cars and drive one hundred plus miles through Palm
Springs to the Upper Desert to Joshua Tree National Mania.
But we're not going to go in the front gate.
We're going to go in this backway through this neighborhood
(14:42):
that goes out in this that leads to a little
mountain about ten miles in that had an old barber
chair sitting on the top of it. Okay, So we
get there and then we light a fire and it's
high desert. It's cold. We're at five thousand feet and
nobody had winter calt or anything. So we're just we're
like freezing, and they light a fire and then the
(15:06):
art director who was with us, not Henry, but he
just he had brought some payoti buttons, so he just
started started making payot tea. So we sat up the
rest of the night trying to stay warm by the fire,
drinking payot tea. And then the sun started coming up,
and you know, in photography, there's a golden hour in
the sunset time for maybe ten fifteen twenty minutes, also
(15:29):
in the morning, so we're using the golden hour at
first light at five point thirty in the morning. They
stand us in a group huddling together and we all
work like this because we're freezy, and you know, like this,
and that's the photo of us. That was the That
was the business plan of how to get a great
a quick hopping fut.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Everything happens for a reason, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah? Apparently.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
So what was it like? Had you had you stayed
in touch with the ny over the years.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yeah, I talked to him, I don't know, a few
years ago. Of course, there's been documentaries so the art
so the photo that's the cover of this album, we
actually did it was Henry and the art director Gary Burton,
who did all the Eagles stuff too, so album covers together.
(16:22):
Henry the photographer, Gary the art directory. Anyway, he also
participated in this and we I had the idea of
doing a photo after dark with the city lights of
La down below. But we started out in Malibu and
the city lights looked about this big, so we went
farther into town. We went on an expedition that night
(16:44):
too to find a spot where city lights were really bright,
and we had to go all the way into Hollywood
a point of the canyons onto a lookout spot and
did that. So anyway, but I made that cover for
an album that was to come out forty five year
years ago, and it never did. We didn't finish the album,
so hey, I paid for it back then, so we're
(17:06):
using it.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
I love that. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
So you've always had tremendous musical curiosity and diverse tastes.
Is there anything new that you've just discovered that you
want to share from this curiosity.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Well, there's a lot of different styles I think on
the record, and the only criteria was I was trying
to write good songs, you know. So there are a
lot of styles I've played and studied, and so they
seem to come out when they're needed based on, you know,
what the idea for the song is. And sometimes I
(17:58):
start a song with the guitar riff and you know,
progression and it's kind of like an instrumental almost with
a melody and plug words, and other times that you know,
I started with words, but I just kind of pull
something out of my head that fits with it. There's
a lot of different styles, you know that sigle this
out now now too late to be cool, I mean
just a little. It's a rocker, kind of stoneesy. But
(18:22):
there's a couple of ballads, you know, and there's an
acoustic jazz song on there called Everyone's Quirky with upright
bass on it and just and there's a national steal
body guitar, you know, kind of acoustic blues. There's a
lot of different feels and flavors and you know, vibes.
(18:44):
So that's who I love that, you know, it's like
the central theme is you know, it's it's just it's
me doing it. And there's songs I wrote and in
one side larked. You know, that's it. That's the only criteria.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Tell me about the song, too many memories.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Well yeah, people seem to have related it to be
mostly about the Eagles, and that that's because that's what
they know about my life. But I wrapped the Eagles
in nineteen seventy five, and I you know, I've had
a whole full life doing all kinds of things. You know,
I have a forty five year old son, I'm happily
married now and I've gosh, I've done so much traveling
(19:27):
to all the places in America and Canada that are
in between all the big cities that the tours go to.
Because when you get to a certain level of touring,
you go it's this big circuit around the country. You
play all the arenas and same hotels, same airport, same venue, backstage,
and you go, wow, I've been here, you know, thirty times.
(19:50):
So it was great to get out and go to
all the places up in New England and you know, Montana,
end up in the Yukon territory, Alaska. I've traveled a
lot and done a lot of different things, and so
when it says too many memories, I was just the
second versus I've lived many lifetimes in a single go,
(20:11):
you know, in a single lifetime. I've lived a lot
of different places, done a lot of different things, and
warn different hats in a way, you know. And so
it's not that there are too many memories, but there's
things that It's probably more that there's still some things
that have that bothered me or that bothers a person,
and then you know, we need to we need to
(20:32):
take care of that and clean it up, you know.
And so the song, the conclusion of the song is
just finally, just face all the shadows and let it
all go like melt like fog in the meadow, you know,
just let it go, just let it dissolve. Focus on today,
be happy, don't forget to smile. You know.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
I get a sense of real contentment though when I
listened to the music you know from.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
You, Well, that's that's good. I think that's good. There's
enough people that are full of angst and expressing that
and I don't know that the world needs to be
encouraged to have more X so you know, I mean
simple things like let's enjoy today, be present here, get
out of the past, get out of the future, and
you know, just live today and don't forget to smile
(21:23):
because it doesn't cost anything.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
You'll be playing at Americana Fest in September, which is
an amazing event. I'm told I've never been to Americana Fest.
Is this your first time ever attending Americanafest and playing?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Of course, yeah, formally, but as the Americana Music Association began,
it started small at most things too, it's it's it
seems like most styles of music now are called Americana
if they don't know what else they call it. Lots
of styles that were called something else before, country rock
or whatever, folk rock, bluegrass, you know, many things are
(22:05):
now just limped in the Americana umbrella. And that's fun.
It's probably good for everybody. Yeah, So the Americana Music
Association has been part of that has grown up in Nashville,
and so I've been around it and you know, the
people involved with it from the beginning. I've not attended
it before formally, Like now you buy a pass for
(22:26):
the whole week. We used to just be a night
or two, but I'm really looking forward to it. It
is kind of home base, anarogous.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
And you'll be taking people through not only the new music,
but also through your career, won't you.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yes, the show's relatively short, it's like less than an hour,
a little less than an hour. But yes, I'm going
to play at least three Eagle songs, and I'm going
to do one that I wrote with my brother Tom Leden,
and then we show it Tone Helely and gwn Fry
and they completely re rub the lyrics except for the
(23:03):
opening line, so it's still it still starts the same
as my brother and my song did, but it's called
Hollywood Waltz. And and what happened after the Eagles record
is buck Ownes recorded it. So it's like, how do
you get a cut with buck Owns? You have the
Eagles record it?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
First train leaves here this morning. Yes, will that be
something that will people will get to hear?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, But I've just I've dropped the key one whole
step two half steps from E, D and D because
it's it's more comfortable down there. I did. I did
it every night in the history of the Eagles tour
and you know, ten years ago, but that was in
the key of E and I decided D is more relaxed,
(23:50):
and so it's in DNAW and I got a version
to take it easy. That also is, you know, in
a key that suits my voice. It's like my take
on it. So yeah, those songs for the moment, and
then later maybe some stuff from Dillard and Park or
Flyin Burrieder Brothers later when I can do a longer show.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
You know, what was it like bringing that song Train
to the Eagles, because obviously it had its own life
before it was a song from the Eagles and.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
You right, So I was in this group called Dirt,
Dillard and Clark with Doug Dillert, great banjo player, and
Gene Clark, who had been really the main writer in
the early verbs. And Gene was a brilliant songwriter. He
could he could do it. Few people can. Which has
come to rehearsal one day, here's something that wasn't finished,
(24:43):
and come back the next day with a complete song,
and you could sometimes you come back the next day
with a couple songs. So anyway, I'm credited with co
writing Train. I think all I did was contribute the
chords for the B section or the chorus. So when
they came to the early the Eagles, actually we weren't
writing that much yet and so the first album we
(25:04):
were all wanting to contribute something and Don Henley and
I were a witchy woman for that album. But I
can I offer trainer you shure this morning for me
to sing and they were, yeah, it's cool. So that's
how it happened. But it's probably my favorite song off
of that Jordan Clark album that we had done earlier.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Oh, it's such a great song. What do you think
of this revolution that's going on right now in terms
of these young guns of bluegrass that are on the scene,
And who are some of your favorites of that group
that has kind of emerged and brought bluegrass into the mainstream.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Well, Chris Stapleton notably, who's transition right out to become
basically a superstar. I mean, and Chris Stapleton is such
a great singer, but he was the lead singer of
a bluegrass group heared called the Steel Vibers in Town.
Billy Strings is, like, I guess, the latest phenomenon, and
(26:10):
he's a uniquely gifted guitar player, and he's expanding fast
remarkably a guitar player. So a lot of respect for
those guys. You know, I'm not sure I know the
names of all the people who are exploring that minding
that vein right now, but bluegrass is a really good
training ground for singers, songwriters, you know, players. Obviously, you
(26:35):
have to learn to play your instrument really well, and
a lot of people, if they keep progressing with their instrument,
they go kind of beyond blue grass and start blending
it with other stuff jazz, Marc O'Connor and fiddle, did
that bail of fleck on banjo thirty years ago or more?
You know, there's there's a really it's a really rich
vein of of American music to explore, and you can
(26:59):
cross pollinate it with wherever you want. So it's cool.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Bernie. I'm so grateful that you took the time to
be on taking a walk, and I'm so grateful for
the music that you continue to give us that makes
us feel so special and so great, and it's just
amazing and an honor to be with you.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Was it very kind word, Scus. It's been a pleasure
to be with you too.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I have had a lot of great friends and people
that were benefactors and advocates for me, and helpers and mentors,
and I'm just really grateful to all of them. You know,
nobody progresses without help.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Really, what do you get when you mix a banjo,
a stratocaster, and a restless spirit of musical adventure. You
get a career that helps set the foundation for one
of the biggest bands in rock history, and a musical
journey that spans folk clubs, country stages in the California
Sound of the seventies. I'm buzznight, and on this Taking
(00:33):
a Walk episode, I'm joined by guitar as songwriter and
original Eagle Bernie Ledden. Bernie has always been a seeker,
never content to stay in one lane, always looking for
the crossroads where tradition and innovation meet. From his days
shaping bluegrass and country rock with the Flying Burrito Brothers
(00:54):
to co founding the Eagles and writing classics that still
echo through the airwaves, history is one of quiet but
undeniable impact. So join me on this episode through the
life and music of a true pioneer, Bernie Ledden. Coming
up after these words.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Taking a Walk, well, Bernie.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
It's an honor havenue on the Taking a Walk Podcast,
It's an honor to be here. So since we call
this podcast Taking a Walk, Before we get into the
brand new Too Late to Be Cool release and everything
that's been going on, I'd like to ask this little
opening question here. If you could take a walk with
(01:36):
someone living or dead, who would you take a walk with? Then?
Where would you take that walk with them?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Jesus Christ, and wherever it was would be up to him,
And if you wanted to be somewhere else, you could
just take us there.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I love that wonderful. Well, Bernie, congratulations on the brand
new music. First of all, too Late to Be Cool.
You must be so excited to get this out to
the world.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, it's I really am. It's I'm actually extremely happy
with the record. You know, I haven't released anything for
I think somebody said twenty three heres or something. But
I went out of the road with the Eagles in
twenty thirteen through twenty fifteen in the History of the
Eagles tour and just got excited about playing and singing
(02:29):
every day again. And so when the touring ended, I
decided to spend more time writing and so I built
up a pile of songs, and then of course you
want to record them. And I built a new building
for my recording year. And then my old friend Glynn Johns,
who produced the first two and a half Eagles albums,
came over from England and we did two batches of
(02:51):
recording last year in early January this year. And so anyway,
he's so experienced that we're such good friends. We know
each other so well, but he just works so fast
and smoothly. He makes decisions on the fly. And we
recorded the two inch sixteen track analog tape, so you
have to make decisions right because there's no room for
(03:14):
forty three guitar parts or seventeen vocals or whatever. So
we got on with it the whole thing. You know.
It took about three weeks maybe four to mix it
and everything, but it sounds fresh to me still, and
so I'm just so happy about that, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
And you had stayed in contact with Glenn over the years,
hadn't you.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah, he started after I left the Eagles in seventy five.
He began using me on reporting sessions in England and
also and mostly Los Angeles. A lot of different people
Nancy Griffith, Landa Rotstadt again, you know, some different bands,
John Hyatt, and it's always fun to work with Glenn.
He's just a dear friend and he's so good at
(03:56):
what he does. I'm just always trying to understand it better.
So it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I want to come back to the new music, but
I do want to ask you about Nashville because you're
outside of Nashville and the Nashville community is a pretty
amazing place to be. How does that community inspire you.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well, it's you know, they have a catchphrase that they
use around here. It all begins with a song. So
that's nice that they give the songwriter kind of prominence
in the food chain of making music, you know. And
you probably know that in New York back in the
fifties and sixties, there was a place called the Brill Building,
(04:40):
and it was a building in which all the songwriters
and all the publishers pretty much all had offices. So
again it was music brow was a little bit like
that where the community was literally bumping into each other
on the stairs in the hallway, and serendipity would put
people together and stuff would happen, you know, So Nashville
always was like that as a songwriting community, and there's
(05:03):
some funny stories about well, Harlan Howard is this infamous
Nashville songwriter who wrote just I don't know one, hundreds
and hundreds of hits. But their story was he would
write have some fresh songs, and he'd dropped by some
of the session at ten in the morning and they
had three other songs ready to record on somebody and
they'd say, well, Harland, you got anything today, and they
(05:25):
he'd play them a song and they go, oh, it's face,
so we're going to cut that right now. And they'd
bump the first song and then they'd ask him you
got anything else, and that you play them something. They
bump all three songs from this artist. They will record
for me and record three Harlan Howard songs and usually
there'd be a hits. I mean, he was so good
at it. But it's really a great community and everybody
(05:46):
supports each other and everybody cheers for one another, and
it's really cool.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
So when you look back at your musical journey from
the Eagles to the Flying Burrito Brothers and beyond, what
moments do you feel like with the biggest crossroad moments.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Well, I wouldn't actually pick you know, a musical event.
I would actually I just went out to LA to
go to the memorial service of the dear friends that
I met in nineteen sixty three, let's say, in San Diego,
and he was ex Navy diver, and they owned a
(06:25):
little music store and they had a bluegrass band called
the Scottsville s war Barkers. Chris Hillman later of the
Birds was the man Lenklller. But I've traced back my
career from the Eagles backwards and it all goes back
to this guy Larry Murray in San Diego, because he
invited me later to come out to LA and join
him on a singing group on Capitol Records in nineteen
(06:48):
seventy sixty seven, and he also produced and was responsible
for Linda Ronstock, so he started using me on sessions.
But again, it all goes back to this guy Larry,
and every thing positive connection in my career was you
can trace it all the way through it. So I'm
(07:09):
really glad to realize that. And I have had a
lot of great friends and people that were benefactors and
advocates for me and helpers and mentors, and I'm just
really grateful to all of them. You know, nobody progresses
without help. Really, What was.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
It like being a friend and a collaborator with the
great Graham Parsons.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Graham with a lot of fun, you know. One of
the things people don't talk about it. So for those
who don't know, Graham Parsons was from he was from Waycross, Georgia.
He was from a well to do family. He was
a trust fund kid. He went to Harvard for a
minute and left, started a bandon International Submarine band in Boston,
(07:58):
ended up in La got in the Birds later in
the birds career. He left the Birds before the Swootheart
the Radio album was released. A lot of his vocals
were replaced, but he then Chris Hillman left the Birds
and the two of them formed the Flying Burrito Brothers.
I was on the second Brido album. The first Brio
album is actually brilliant and genius And one of the
(08:22):
things people don't mention about Graham because he's credited with
people call him the father of country rock, and the
Eagles ebulated that model, but he added R and B
influences also to the mix that he called cosmic American music.
You know, the Eagles also mixed in R and B
with country and folk and rock and pop. Graham was
(08:47):
just a lot of fun. Unfortunately he was an alcoholic
and he hung out with He quit the Britos who
went to live with the Rolling Starns in the south
of France when they're like, I'm not sure what album
they were making. But he tried to keep up with
Keith Richards. And the truth is, nobody has ever kept
up with Keith Richards as far as staying up in
(09:07):
doing things that perhaps would be advisable to do for
very long. So Keith's still with us. And Graham died
at twenty six, you know, and tragically, but brilliant guy.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
And it's so important, I think is generations advance to
keep you know, folks like Graham's name and his music
and his influence alive, don't you think I do?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
And I have to give credits to Amy Lou Harris,
who pretty much took on that the mantle of doing that.
You know, she's kind of been the curator of Graham's
legacy by recording every song pretty much that he wrote
that you know she liked, and I mean she recorded
almost all his stuff and so she's definitely one. And
(09:57):
there's there's a lot of bands that have emulated in
some way, but Ammy has kept his actual catalog and
actual songs alive, you know. And I just saw her
the other day at Linda Ronstatt tribute and she's still
she's still doing that. God bless her.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Well, you mentioned Linda Ronstadt, so obviously your career and
the Eagles were so intertwined with Linda. Talk about those moments, which,
as I'm asking you the question, I'm such a fan
of yours and your music and Linda's music, I have
chills asking you the question. What was it like being
(10:36):
with Linda and collaborating with her?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Well, it's been great. So, as I said, I've joined
the group that was already on Capitol Records in late
nineteen sixty seven, and Linda Ronstatt was signed to the
same label, same producer, same a and Argyll and so
he's that producer started using me on Linda's sessions, which
was the Stonempone, Linda ro Onnsett and the Stone Ponies.
(11:02):
So I played on Stone Ponies Records actually in nineteen
sixty eight, and then she started doing well as a
solo artist, and I was in her touring band and
continued recording with her. But I was in a touring band.
We were actually living in hotels in New York City
the summer of sixty nine when Woodstock was happening, and
(11:25):
we're playing clubs in French Village and surrounding areas. And
then I left and joined the Flying Brido Brothers, and
then the other soon to be Eagles, Don Hanling, Glen
Fry and I think Randy also were then in Linda's
band after me. So some say we all came from
(11:45):
Lindi's band, and we did, but not all at the
same time, you know, But we were all in the
same musical community in LA, which actually was very similar
to the Nashville community back then, you know, West La.
The Trouevia or Club, the Ashbury Club, and all the
other clubs around that had been folk clubs and they
(12:05):
became kind of a little bit electrified, but they still were,
you know, two hundred, two hundred and fifty seat showrooms,
showcase rooms, little mini theaters. It served drinks, you know,
and there was a whole bunch of them. It was
just a network of clubs you could play in the
(12:26):
local area. Of la, which of course is huge, but
you could hone your craft, and some people had a
record deal, some people had a publishing deal, and we
all just in her rocket, you know, And that's how
the world there was at that time, and in Ronstatt
was always Linda was always part of it.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
What a what a gem she is? Huh my god?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, amazing. I mean actually, when I first started playing
with her doing shows, I was the main harmony singer,
and she sings so full voice and loud, like no
restraint that I had to let my voice open up
or I would have said it like a pipsqueak mouse
(13:08):
next to her. And so it was really wonderful to
sing with her, you know. And she was unrestrained with
her voice and just such a natural talent, you know.
But what a what a gift to be able to
sing with her.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I love it. I love it. I love how everything
has come full circle in that Henry Dilts is part
of your new work here in terms of his brilliance.
I love Henry. He's been on the podcast a couple
of times and he's one of my favorites. Obviously. He
goes back to some Eagles history there in terms of
(13:47):
his work and cover art and everything. Can you take
me back to some of that work that he did
with the Eagles and what that was like then? Sure?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Okay, So Henry was not a studio photographer. His whole
thing was to go on location, whether that was in
la but to go somewhere that there was some background
that was interesting, and he put the people in front
of that. But in the case of the first Eagles album,
So I got to tell you, this was the business
(14:20):
plan for that photo shoot. Okay, We're going to go
to the Troubadour Club and we're going to close it down.
We're going to wait till they close it one point
thirty in the morning. Then we're going to get in
our cars and drive one hundred plus miles through Palm
Springs to the Upper Desert to Joshua Tree National Mania.
But we're not going to go in the front gate.
We're going to go in this backway through this neighborhood
(14:42):
that goes out in this that leads to a little
mountain about ten miles in that had an old barber
chair sitting on the top of it. Okay, So we
get there and then we light a fire and it's
high desert. It's cold. We're at five thousand feet and
nobody had winter calt or anything. So we're just we're
like freezing, and they light a fire and then the
(15:06):
art director who was with us, not Henry, but he
just he had brought some payoti buttons, so he just
started started making payot tea. So we sat up the
rest of the night trying to stay warm by the fire,
drinking payot tea. And then the sun started coming up,
and you know, in photography, there's a golden hour in
the sunset time for maybe ten fifteen twenty minutes, also
(15:29):
in the morning, so we're using the golden hour at
first light at five point thirty in the morning. They
stand us in a group huddling together and we all
work like this because we're freezy, and you know, like this,
and that's the photo of us. That was the That
was the business plan of how to get a great
a quick hopping fut.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Everything happens for a reason, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah? Apparently.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
So what was it like? Had you had you stayed
in touch with the ny over the years.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yeah, I talked to him, I don't know, a few
years ago. Of course, there's been documentaries so the art
so the photo that's the cover of this album, we
actually did it was Henry and the art director Gary Burton,
who did all the Eagles stuff too, so album covers together.
(16:22):
Henry the photographer, Gary the art directory. Anyway, he also
participated in this and we I had the idea of
doing a photo after dark with the city lights of
La down below. But we started out in Malibu and
the city lights looked about this big, so we went
farther into town. We went on an expedition that night
(16:44):
too to find a spot where city lights were really bright,
and we had to go all the way into Hollywood
a point of the canyons onto a lookout spot and
did that. So anyway, but I made that cover for
an album that was to come out forty five year
years ago, and it never did. We didn't finish the album,
so hey, I paid for it back then, so we're
(17:06):
using it.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
I love that. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
So you've always had tremendous musical curiosity and diverse tastes.
Is there anything new that you've just discovered that you
want to share from this curiosity.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Well, there's a lot of different styles I think on
the record, and the only criteria was I was trying
to write good songs, you know. So there are a
lot of styles I've played and studied, and so they
seem to come out when they're needed based on, you know,
what the idea for the song is. And sometimes I
(17:58):
start a song with the guitar riff and you know,
progression and it's kind of like an instrumental almost with
a melody and plug words, and other times that you know,
I started with words, but I just kind of pull
something out of my head that fits with it. There's
a lot of different styles, you know that sigle this
out now now too late to be cool, I mean
just a little. It's a rocker, kind of stoneesy. But
(18:22):
there's a couple of ballads, you know, and there's an
acoustic jazz song on there called Everyone's Quirky with upright
bass on it and just and there's a national steal
body guitar, you know, kind of acoustic blues. There's a
lot of different feels and flavors and you know, vibes.
(18:44):
So that's who I love that, you know, it's like
the central theme is you know, it's it's just it's
me doing it. And there's songs I wrote and in
one side larked. You know, that's it. That's the only criteria.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Tell me about the song, too many memories.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Well yeah, people seem to have related it to be
mostly about the Eagles, and that that's because that's what
they know about my life. But I wrapped the Eagles
in nineteen seventy five, and I you know, I've had
a whole full life doing all kinds of things. You know,
I have a forty five year old son, I'm happily
married now and I've gosh, I've done so much traveling
(19:27):
to all the places in America and Canada that are
in between all the big cities that the tours go to.
Because when you get to a certain level of touring,
you go it's this big circuit around the country. You
play all the arenas and same hotels, same airport, same venue, backstage,
and you go, wow, I've been here, you know, thirty times.
(19:50):
So it was great to get out and go to
all the places up in New England and you know, Montana,
end up in the Yukon territory, Alaska. I've traveled a
lot and done a lot of different things, and so
when it says too many memories, I was just the
second versus I've lived many lifetimes in a single go,
(20:11):
you know, in a single lifetime. I've lived a lot
of different places, done a lot of different things, and
warn different hats in a way, you know. And so
it's not that there are too many memories, but there's
things that It's probably more that there's still some things
that have that bothered me or that bothers a person,
and then you know, we need to we need to
(20:32):
take care of that and clean it up, you know.
And so the song, the conclusion of the song is
just finally, just face all the shadows and let it
all go like melt like fog in the meadow, you know,
just let it go, just let it dissolve. Focus on today,
be happy, don't forget to smile. You know.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
I get a sense of real contentment though when I
listened to the music you know from.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
You, Well, that's that's good. I think that's good. There's
enough people that are full of angst and expressing that
and I don't know that the world needs to be
encouraged to have more X so you know, I mean
simple things like let's enjoy today, be present here, get
out of the past, get out of the future, and
you know, just live today and don't forget to smile
(21:23):
because it doesn't cost anything.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
You'll be playing at Americana Fest in September, which is
an amazing event. I'm told I've never been to Americana Fest.
Is this your first time ever attending Americanafest and playing?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Of course, yeah, formally, but as the Americana Music Association began,
it started small at most things too, it's it's it
seems like most styles of music now are called Americana
if they don't know what else they call it. Lots
of styles that were called something else before, country rock
or whatever, folk rock, bluegrass, you know, many things are
(22:05):
now just limped in the Americana umbrella. And that's fun.
It's probably good for everybody. Yeah, So the Americana Music
Association has been part of that has grown up in Nashville,
and so I've been around it and you know, the
people involved with it from the beginning. I've not attended
it before formally, Like now you buy a pass for
(22:26):
the whole week. We used to just be a night
or two, but I'm really looking forward to it. It
is kind of home base, anarogous.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
And you'll be taking people through not only the new music,
but also through your career, won't you.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yes, the show's relatively short, it's like less than an hour,
a little less than an hour. But yes, I'm going
to play at least three Eagle songs, and I'm going
to do one that I wrote with my brother Tom Leden,
and then we show it Tone Helely and gwn Fry
and they completely re rub the lyrics except for the
(23:03):
opening line, so it's still it still starts the same
as my brother and my song did, but it's called
Hollywood Waltz. And and what happened after the Eagles record
is buck Ownes recorded it. So it's like, how do
you get a cut with buck Owns? You have the
Eagles record it?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
First train leaves here this morning. Yes, will that be
something that will people will get to hear?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, But I've just I've dropped the key one whole
step two half steps from E, D and D because
it's it's more comfortable down there. I did. I did
it every night in the history of the Eagles tour
and you know, ten years ago, but that was in
the key of E and I decided D is more relaxed,
(23:50):
and so it's in DNAW and I got a version
to take it easy. That also is, you know, in
a key that suits my voice. It's like my take
on it. So yeah, those songs for the moment, and
then later maybe some stuff from Dillard and Park or
Flyin Burrieder Brothers later when I can do a longer show.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
You know, what was it like bringing that song Train
to the Eagles, because obviously it had its own life
before it was a song from the Eagles and.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
You right, So I was in this group called Dirt,
Dillard and Clark with Doug Dillert, great banjo player, and
Gene Clark, who had been really the main writer in
the early verbs. And Gene was a brilliant songwriter. He
could he could do it. Few people can. Which has
come to rehearsal one day, here's something that wasn't finished,
(24:43):
and come back the next day with a complete song,
and you could sometimes you come back the next day
with a couple songs. So anyway, I'm credited with co
writing Train. I think all I did was contribute the
chords for the B section or the chorus. So when
they came to the early the Eagles, actually we weren't
writing that much yet and so the first album we
(25:04):
were all wanting to contribute something and Don Henley and
I were a witchy woman for that album. But I
can I offer trainer you shure this morning for me
to sing and they were, yeah, it's cool. So that's
how it happened. But it's probably my favorite song off
of that Jordan Clark album that we had done earlier.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Oh, it's such a great song. What do you think
of this revolution that's going on right now in terms
of these young guns of bluegrass that are on the scene,
And who are some of your favorites of that group
that has kind of emerged and brought bluegrass into the mainstream.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Well, Chris Stapleton notably, who's transition right out to become
basically a superstar. I mean, and Chris Stapleton is such
a great singer, but he was the lead singer of
a bluegrass group heared called the Steel Vibers in Town.
Billy Strings is, like, I guess, the latest phenomenon, and
(26:10):
he's a uniquely gifted guitar player, and he's expanding fast
remarkably a guitar player. So a lot of respect for
those guys. You know, I'm not sure I know the
names of all the people who are exploring that minding
that vein right now, but bluegrass is a really good
training ground for singers, songwriters, you know, players. Obviously, you
(26:35):
have to learn to play your instrument really well, and
a lot of people, if they keep progressing with their instrument,
they go kind of beyond blue grass and start blending
it with other stuff jazz, Marc O'Connor and fiddle, did
that bail of fleck on banjo thirty years ago or more?
You know, there's there's a really it's a really rich
vein of of American music to explore, and you can
(26:59):
cross pollinate it with wherever you want. So it's cool.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Bernie. I'm so grateful that you took the time to
be on taking a walk, and I'm so grateful for
the music that you continue to give us that makes
us feel so special and so great, and it's just
amazing and an honor to be with you.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Was it very kind word, Scus. It's been a pleasure
to be with you too.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
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