The one musician that couldn’t handle joining Eagles: “I don’t know what it’s like”
Being a member of the Eagles isn’t something that anyone took lightly when they joined.
Glenn Frey and Don Henley were the ones who were steering the band through every single adventure that they went on, but whenever they started working past Hotel California, everyone had to understand that it was more about business whenever they went out on the road and knowing their place in the group. So while a lot of people can claim to have turned in time with the band, the role of being a country-rock legend isn’t something that everyone is cut out for when they first join.
Because, really, how can they at this point? Even though Frey is no longer with us, it was going to be a lot for someone like Vince Gill to fill his shoes whenever he performed with them. Sure, the man is one of the best guitarists in country history and could have easily played circles around the rest of the group if he wanted to, but when you look at his role in the band, he knew he needed to serve the song and never even acknowledged the fact that he was a country star half the time.
So if that’s what he was feeling now, it had to have been a head trip for someone like Timothy B Schmit when he first joined the band. Randy Meisner was known as one of the key pieces of the band for a long time, and when he decided he had had enough, Scmit at least knew that he was filling someone else’s shoes. He did have to go through a lot of bullshit, like being yelled at by fans, but ‘I Can’t Tell You Why’ was proof enough that he was good enough to be a member of the band.
When you look at the band post-reunion, though, it gets a little complicated talking about their relationship with Don Felder. Felder should be one of the premier members of the band for what he gave the group, but after one too many times of going through legal disputes, they were going to need someone to help fill out what they were doing whenever those harmonies in ‘Hotel California’ came up during their show.
And while Steuart Smith wasn’t a superstar by any means, he was the right man for the job whenever Henley came around to the idea of making a new record with the band. He and Frey could still write a great tune, but it was Smith who helped push some songs over the finish line, whether it was giving that little lift in a song like ‘Waiting in the Weeds’ or making ‘Business as Usual’ sound less like a Henley solo song.
The band was certainly indebted to Smith when he eventually went on tour with them, but the guitarist said that he could have never imagined being treated the same as his fellow musicians onstage, saying, “Playing [‘Hotel California’] is like jumping into a spacesuit. I’m one part hired gun [and] one part collaborator. I’m one of the guitar players, you know, but I’m not an Eagle. I don’t know what it’s like to be one of those guys.”
Though Smith could say that he’s been with the band longer than some of the mainline members of the band at this point, the fact that he’s humble about his beginnings is all fans could ask for. No one would have wanted him to take the glory that Felder had, and whenever he plugs in live, he understands that everything needs to be note-perfect if it means doing justice to those classic songs.
So while ‘one of the guitar players’ isn’t exactly the most glamorous job title for someone to have in a band, Smith is at least a legend in the hearts of the people that matter most in Eagles’ camp. He was one of the reasons why they could keep going, and now that Frey has left the stage for good, it’s important to have those people who were able to say that they knew him when working on the band’s final bow.
