The 1980s singer Don Henley called the best country vocalist: “One of the greatest”
Half of the music Don Henley made is practically a love letter to American music.
He never wanted Eagles to be defined solely as a country rock band, but when you listen to a lot of his best songs with his bandmates and his solo career, he knew that there was something there that dated all the way back to the days when the US was first pioneering what the popular song was supposed to be. He could still make earnest rock and roll when he wanted to, but as Henley has grown older, he has come to appreciate how the country music world has embraced him over the years.
After all, half of the big names in country music had pulled a lot of their greatest tunes from what the Eagles had been doing. Travis Tritt’s version of ‘Take It Easy’ was what helped the band get back together in the 1990s, but even in the modern age, there are people like Brad Paisley who are more than happy to talk about the massive impact that Hotel California had on them when they first heard it. And if you look at how Henley got to California, the country connection wasn’t by accident.
Kenny Rogers had given him his first big boost when he was still gigging in the band Shiloh, and when he first hooked up with Glenn Frey in Linda Ronstadt’s band, a lot of what they were singing came from old Hank Williams. So if they could make those country rock songs work so well, who’s to say that Henley couldn’t do the same thing when working on some of his later projects, like Cass County?
There were plenty of people trying to make bro country at that point, but Henley was reminding everyone where a lot of those old country tunes came from. A lot of the greatest musicians that worked on the record with him came from the old guard of country, like Merle Haggard and Dolly Parton, and while all of them brought their A-game and then some, Henley was honoured at the prospect of working with Randy Travis.
Getting to the level of recording ‘Desperado’ with Johnny Cash was already an honour, but Travis was a much different kind of singer. His slice-of-life style vocals wouldn’t have been out of place anytime in Nashville, and while Willie Nelson sounded like the musical equivalent of a warm hug whenever he sang about his troubles, Travis had the sound of a father sitting the listener down and telling them about the facts of life.
And while Travis wasn’t in the best of health when Henley was recording with him, he was more than happy to lend a hand when singing along to the song ‘More Life’, saying, “I’m so happy for him. I love the guy, and I think he’s one of the greatest voices in country music. That song really touched me. [His wife] Mary is taking good care of him — they’re lucky she’s in his life.” But even after having a stroke, Travis’s voice never left him over all those years, either.
Both he and Henley knew that the key to keeping up a great voice is knowing his limitations, and even if Henley isn’t reaching for those same high notes every time he sings, you can feel the compassion in both of their voices more than anything. They loved singing the kinds of songs that had a lot more depth to it than just a catchy tune, and when you hear Travis sing some of his old tunes, you get a sense of every single year that he has lived in the way that he talks about everything from his connection to his family to his unwavering faith.
Henley can get more bluntly honest about some of his problems with the world, but Travis is one of the few people out there who could make him see the true beauty that music can bring people. There are plenty of artists who can use their songs as a way of expressing their beliefs, but sometimes all a song needs to do is tell you a story about real people to hit you right in the chest.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Classic Rock Newsletter
All the latest Classic Rock content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.