The singers Don Henley called the best in the business: “As authentic as you can get”
Don Henley was never comfortable fitting in one genre for too long. From day one, Eagles always got the reputation of being one of the greatest voices in country-rock when they graduated from playing the Troubadour in Los Angeles, but Henley and Glenn Frey always envisioned themselves as part of a great rock and roll outfit that picked from all kinds of genres. Then again, there are always going to be moments when someone’s roots get ahold of them when making their future classics.
When combing through the band’s discography, Henley was far from a country singer in the purest sense of the word. He had experience singing some of the greatest tunes of the time with Linda Ronstadt, but his voice could do a lot of things compared to someone like Johnny Cash. If you listen to tunes like ‘Wasted Time’ or ‘Life in the Fast Lane’, he could do everything from straight-ahead rock and roll to soul music, so there was no reason to paint himself into a corner.
And once he began his solo career, he only continued to grow as a songwriter. Not many people were all too happy seeing their heroes from the glory days of rock and roll being smothered in keyboards, but listening to tracks like Building the Perfect Beast and The End of the Innocence, Henley sounded as good as he ever did singing tunes like ‘New York Minute’ and ‘All She Wants To Do Is Dance’.
Even when approaching his album Cass County, what Henley was doing was far from the same country-rock he was doing back in the day. Americana might be the best word for it, but as far as Henley was concerned, these were simply the kind of tunes that he had grown up listening to, and now that he had some years under his belt, he felt it was his time to make his own takes on writing songs in the classic American mould.
But for him, that meant getting the right people behind the glass, and he felt that getting Merle Haggard and Dolly Parton helped give the record some credibility, saying, “I called up most of my favourite singers. The people on this album with me I consider to be the best in the business. They have the most authentic voices, they sing in tune, [and] they’re all good people. Merle Haggard is about as authentic as you can get, along with Dolly Parton.”
And while Mick Jagger does stick out like a sore thumb compared to the other country musicians on the record, he came to play when performing on the tune ‘Bramble Rose’. Keith Richards may have had reservations about Jagger doing country music in the Rolling Stones, but listening to how he shreds the harmonica, you would have sworn that Jagger was born in Mississippi from how he performs on the track.
But even with an album loaded with a million guest stars, Henley is still one of the brightest stars on the record. He comes dangerously close to getting outshined when Parton shows up for ‘When I Stop Dreaming’, but considering how many years of wear and tear he has put on his voice, the fact that he could pull off a song like ‘Praying For Rain’ is the reason why he was nicknamed ‘Golden Throat’ back in the day.
Then again, it was never a competition whenever Henley brought in some of his favourite singers. He only wanted to make the best record that he could, and Cass County still holds up as a love letter to a version of American music that seemed to be forgotten far too much in Nashville.
