The one singer Don Henley said embodied America: “There is so much in that voice”
There are hardly any other artists more proud of their American roots than Don Henley.
There are definitely hints of everyone from The Beatles to the Stones in the way Eagles made a lot of their records, but when listening to some of their greatest records, it was clear that they were coming from the same school as the biggest names in American music, whether that was Brian Wilson’s harmonies, the jangle of The Byrds, or the storytelling of Hank Williams. But Henley knew that some artists have their heritage practically baked into every note they sing.
Then again, it’s not like Henley doesn’t have that musical superpower in small doses. There are plenty of times where he has tried to make departures on his solo work, but there’s always going to be that subtle rustic quality in his voice that goes back to the days when he was first singing with Linda Ronstadt and learning how to make rock and roll masterpieces with Glenn Frey. But country was never too far behind them, either.
Whereas most people were listening to the bands on American Bandstand, Henley was listening to The Louisiana Hayride growing up, where he was introduced to some of the biggest names in both country and rock. There would be Elvis Presley making his debut on the station, but it wasn’t out of the ordinary to hear him played on the same stations that Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn called home.
That’s because where Henley grew up, there weren’t as many parameters around musical genres. It was important to keep everyone’s musical diet balanced, so it was natural for someone to hear a little bit of country, soul, rock and roll, and maybe the occasional jazz song if they were feeling fancy. But those Americana tunes that Henley served up on albums like Cass County wouldn’t have been possible without people like Dolly Parton.
Compared to the other country singers of her generation, Henley was always shellshocked at the amount of lived-in experience the godmother of country had in her voice, saying, “There is so much in that voice. She’s a petite little person, but when she opens her mouth to sing, and that voice comes out, you hear her region of America, and you hear the suffering and the hardship, and you also hear the love and the compassion. There are so many colours and textures, and meanings encompassed in that voice. It’s just all there.”
Parton might not be thinking in those terms all the time when she’s singing one of her songs, but there are some great moments in her discography where that raw honesty bleeds over into her material. A song like ‘Coat of Many Colours’ does have a very simple idea to bring across, but the message of someone being proud of their heritage, even when facing hardship, is the same kind of mentality that all Americans should have when they go out into the world.
And nowhere is that more evident than when she’s singing with other people. Although Henley has turned his voice into one of the greatest instruments of his generation, there’s something about hearing him next to Parton that almost makes his voice even stronger, as if she sprinkled a little bit of pixie dust on his pipes when working on a song like ‘When I Stop Dreaming’.
So while people like Billy Joel have described Eagles as the American counterpart to The Beatles, Parton deserves the kind of distinction that’s granted to people like Chuck Berry and Little Richard. It’s been a long time since the country music scene has sounded like her, but that’s only because she’s paved the way for so many women to come in after her.
