The American country singer Don Henley called his “hero”
Throughout their tumultuous, impossibly successful journey to the upper echelon of American rock, Don Henley and the Eagles explored a wealth of different avenues of artistic inspiration, from the folk-slanted stylings of Linda Ronstadt to the soft rock that made them stars. For Henley, in particular, though, the realm of country music was never too far away.
One of the oldest and most beloved music forms in American history, and as integral to the culture of the US as apple pie and oil wars, country music tends to bleed through into a variety of different scenes and genres.
Even the abrasive realm of punk has had multiple flings with country music over the years, so it shouldn’t be all that surprising that the comparatively mellow stylings of the Eagles and Henley tend to share something in common with the pioneers of country music.
After all, Henley was born and raised in a small town in Texas named Gilmer, where country music tended to rule the airwaves – it would have been an impressive feat if the songwriter had managed to escape his Texan beginnings without being bitten by the country bug. Surprisingly, though, Henley’s all-time favourite country artist is not a fellow Texan. In fact, he does not hail from the south at all.
California, being the primary stomping ground for the Eagles, has always boasted a particularly diverse music scene, and that includes a strong country contingency, of which one figure was a particularly glimmering jewel, according to Henley. “I would still listen to that music in California,” he once recalled. “I mean, Merle Haggard, may he rest in peace, has always been one of my musical heroes.”
One of country’s most influential figures, Haggard was born in California back in the 1930s, but his family roots were in the southern state of Oklahoma, with his parents being part of the ‘Okies’ who relocated to the West during the great depression. Regardless of his roots, though, Haggard’s extensive and illustrious output has always spoken to Don Henley.
During a separate interview with BBC Radio 2 back in 2019, Henley once again heaped praise on the pioneering songwriter. “My absolute favourite country singer of all time is probably a gentleman named Merle Haggard,” he shared. “[He] has a voice that is just like gold to me. It’s one of the greatest voices of all time, I think.”
That voice was also backed up by incredible skills as a songwriter, which led Haggard to completely revolutionise the country music scene from his earliest releases back in the 1960s. During a time in which many young people, like Henley, were moving towards the era of psychedelic counterculture and far-out rock and roll, it was voices like Haggard that helped to keep the future Eagles songwriter somewhat grounded, as well as inspired.
If we were to delve into every songwriter or performer that Haggard inspired over the course of his extensive career in country music, we would be here all day. It does, however, speak to the sheer breadth of his talents that his country output could inspire one of the most successful rock bands in American history, in the form of the Eagles.
