The country singer who brought Eagles back together: “I was looking around like ‘Guys, come on’”
The Eagles have never been that far away from country music. They had already become known as the forebearers of country rock before they had even broken up, and by the time they did call it quits after a benefit gig at the start of the 1980s, the beginnings of classic rock kept their spirit alive on the radio while Don Henley and Glenn Frey started making their biggest solo hits. Although they all held onto their chops as a rock and roll band, it took one country artist to make them all settle their differences long enough to reunite.
For the first years following their breakup, though, it was going to be a cold day in hell before any of them started working with each other again. Despite Henley having the biggest solo success in the beginning, Frey was always the one pushing back against the reunion, even autographing a picture of a middle finger addressed to fans who were calling for any type of reunion.
Because, really, was there any reason for Frey or Henley to get back in the group? It may have been sad to see Timothy B Schmitt only have a few years in the limelight, but since Joe Walsh was busy with his own solo career, none of them needed the money when songs like ‘Boys of Summer’ and ‘Smuggler’s Blues’ were giving them the kind of success that they could live on for a while.
At the same time, Henley was going through his own set of problems behind the scenes. Outside of getting sued by Geffen Records after wanting out of his contract, the vocalist put together a charity to help save the forest areas in America known as Walden Woods. While Henley would arrange benefit gigs with the proceeds going to fund the preservation initiative, what better way to get people involved than putting out a record?
So when the idea for the album Common Thread was put out, the lion’s share of artists came together to cover Eagles tunes, one of which was Travis Tritt’s version of ‘Take It Easy’. Since Tritt’s take on the tune was gaining traction on country radio, he needed a video to go along with it, and after years of badmouthing each other in the press, Frey thought now was the right time to get all of them back together.
While the band don’t sing on the track at all, it’s a joy to see them shooting the breeze and remembering all of the good times again. In the background, though, Schmitt wanted to see if they could keep it going, saying, “There was a part of the video where there was a little bandstand. I was looking around like, ‘GUYS, COME ON!’”
It may have taken a few more months for the band to get the ball rolling, but once they started rehearsals for what became Hell Freezes Over, everything locked in perfectly again. Outside of the new takes on ‘Hotel California’ and ‘Desperado’, hearing Frey and Henley tap back into that old magic on tunes like ‘Learn To Be Still’ and ‘Get Over It’ wouldn’t have been all that out of place next to Tritt’s music on the radio.
But the cover of ‘Take It Easy’ was far from their last flirtation with country music. By the time the band shut the door on their legacy on Long Road Out of Eden, they had reached the point where they could stand alongside the mainstream country acts of the 2000s like Brad Paisley and teach all of them how country rock is really done.
