The “most talented” musician Don Felder ever worked with
When Don Henley and Glenn Frey first put together the Eagles, there was no room for anyone to be merely passable at their instruments. They had gone through the wringer working with Linda Ronstadt, so if they were going to make a bid for stardom, everyone had to look great, play great and be able to collaborate well with the rest of them, even if it meant being told what to play. But even when being a part of that tight ship, Don Felder felt he didn’t come close to scratching the surface of what rock and roll could do.
Before Felder even got in the band, though, he was already miles above what the rest were used to. Bernie Leadon had a great knowledge of bluegrass and country guitar playing, but when Fleder came down to lay down licks on ‘Already Gone’, his nickname of ‘Fingers’ wasn’t given to him by accident. He had one of the best tones that anyone could have asked for, so when that was paired with Joe Walsh, they created the perfect marriage that most rock bands could only dream of.
While the guitar duo could work in tandem for minutes on end, like on the solo to ‘Hotel California’, there would always be limits on where they could go. As much as Felder liked the idea of being a singer on the same level as Frey or Henley, nothing was going to find its way onto an Eagles record that wasn’t 100% perfect, so when Felder found his vocals wiped from ‘Victim of Love’, the resentments only started to grow.
And since no band is known for taking the high road every single time they make a record, Felder’s departure after one horrible gig in Long Beach was the official end of the band. Everyone else was reeling over where the hell to go next, but Felder only saw this as an opportunity for him to work with new people. If he wanted to make something a little more musical, he knew he needed to see other giants at work.
Despite the electricity of playing with Walsh, though, Felder always felt a kinship playing with Tommy Shaw of Styx, saying, “Tommy Shaw is probably one of the most talented triple threats that I know. I have the ultimate respect for people that can write, sing and play. Tommy is just a monster at that. And for him to be able to have the guitar dexterity and talent, to be able to play all those solos on the end of the harmonies and everything, and be able to sing [is impressive].”
While Styx might not have been the coolest band to listen to back in the day, it’s hard to really deny the chops that Shaw had during his prime. For all of the dopey storylines that Dennis DeYoung had in store for them on albums like Kilroy Was Here, Shaw was always the rock and roll spirit of the band, either bringing some edge to the group next to James ‘JY’ Young or coming in with that signature high harmony on ‘Lady’.
For Felder, getting to jam with Shaw later in life may have given him flashbacks to working with Leadon all those years ago. Shaw was always rock and roll down to his core, but in between playing with Styx, hearing him play bluegrass music in his solo career and strumming away on a mandolin fit a lot better with the country-rock playing that Felder had turned into his wheelhouse.
But for musicians of Felder’s generation, it was never about the type of music that someone played. It was about making the music you felt in your heart, and even if Shaw was a world apart from what the Eagles were doing at the time, it’s a lot easier for someone to recognise a musician doing it purely for the love of the sport.
