New Interview: Don Henley: A pretty fly guy

[Perfect Little Sister]

I also wonder why Glenn doesn't do more leads.

This is the only one I can comment on. During the two shows last August, Glenn played way more lead guitar than I've seen him play. At one point he sat at the piano and joked about not being used to it as he shook his hand. Then he turned his hand up and made it "complain" at him. Later, I mentioned to Scott Crago (we ran into him in a lounge) how much I had enjoyed seeing Glenn play and he said they, too, had enjoyed it as he usually doesn't. It wouldn't be surprising if these guys find it a bit painful to play these days. Thirty-five plus years of playing would give anyone carpal tunnel or any other repetitive use injury. Using the foot pedals on the drums likely sends shooting pains thru Don's back. I, too, have a back injury and the kind of motion required for drumming would do me in.

[Freypower]

I think part of the price Glenn pays for the leadership is allowing Don to do interviews and say what he likes. Glenn, meanwhile, maintains dignified silence.

Regarding the drums I agree with Brooke. Don is credited with drums & percussion. He should be playing them. I at least would like to know which tracks he played on. He played drums in both the HITW & How Long videos. He is capable of doing it.

Glenn doesn't play lead guitar. He just doesn't. I don't know why either, but that's it.

No, Don's songs are not more 'important'. But a lot of the times they SOUND more important, whether they are or not. And because Glenn's songs are so simple and low key.... well....which songs will gain attention. Some things have always been the same.

Don seems to have allowed his new partnership with Steuart to suddenly develop at the expense of the band and it appeared that Glenn let this happen, because the once great 'Henley-Frey' partnership is now in name only.

[scottside]

Glenn never was a lead guitarist per se, but he did play lead on at least one song on every Eagles album right on up through HFO. He may play some lead on the new album as well, but I really can't pick out anything distinctly belonging to him. I do hear some nice R&B riffs on some of his songs though so he's not only playing acoustic everywhere.

As for Don's songs being more important, as a huge GF fan, I played LROE for the first time with much trepidation. I was really afraid that Glenn's music would be either minimal in quantity or substandard in quality and I was really pleased on both accounts. While I have to say that I think Don has two of the best songs this time around in LROE and WITW, I think he also has some of the worst. Glenn's music is to a large degree different from what I was expecting. The instrumental is just beautiful and his guitar playing on it is far from shabby. It kind of reminds me of something Randy Newman might compose in parts.

As for the others, YANA is more folky than country which is different, SOMEBODY while not a classic, is one of the album's best rockers. I really can't say that I'm disappointed in anything he turned in. However, I will concede that I wish he would go for more upbeat material generally. He has been pigeonholed as a lightweight by many because he does mostly ballads. There's nothing wrong with that, but I think if some of the Eagles more radio-friendly songs were rockers sung by him, he'd be more respected. Just a hunch...

[Brooke]

Well, what I meant about Glenn not doing more lead guitar parts was (and I'm showing my ignorance here ) was more "lead guitar solos". Sorry for not clarifying that. And maybe he does more than we know. The liners in the new cd just don't tell us much. Sadly. I wonder how we will ever know just who does what where? Maybe Glenn steps back to let the other guitar players have their day in the sun since he is, after all, one of "The Gods"!

Oh, and welcome scottside! Thanks for your input!

[sodascouts]

Glenn never was a lead guitarist per se, but he did play lead on at least one song on every Eagles album right on up through HFO. He may play some lead on the new album as well, but I really can't pick out anything distinctly belonging to him. I do hear some nice R&B riffs on some of his songs though so he's not only playing acoustic everywhere.

As for Don's songs being more important, as a huge GF fan, I played LROE for the first time with much trepidation. I was really afraid that Glenn's music would be either minimal in quantity or substandard in quality and I was really pleased on both accounts. While I have to say that I think Don has two of the best songs this time around in LROE and WITW, I think he also has some of the worst. Glenn's music is to a large degree different from what I was expecting. The instrumental is just beautiful and his guitar playing on it is far from shabby. It kind of reminds me of something Randy Newman might compose in parts.

As for the others, YANA is more folky than country which is different, SOMEBODY while not a classic, is one of the album's best rockers. I really can't say that I'm disappointed in anything he turned in. However, I will concede that I wish he would go for more upbeat material generally. He has been pigeonholed as a lightweight by many because he does mostly ballads. There's nothing wrong with that, but I think if some of the Eagles more radio-friendly songs were rockers sung by him, he'd be more respected. Just a hunch...

I didn't realize that about Glenn doing at least one lead on each album, although I do remember him saying something one time about the bassists always wanting him to play lead on their songs, lol. I agree that Glenn's work here is top caliber, but that it would be nice to hear more rockers. He has said somewhere that his voice is more suited to ballads, but I think he underrates his own ability to rock. Heartache Tonight, Smuggler's Blues, Heat Is On - these were all immense successes. Obviously he's got somethin' goin' on there.

P.S. Welcome, scottside! Glad you've started posting!

[sodascouts]

I'm very disappointed that Don seems to have abandoned the drums. He is the Eagles drummer and he should play them more often than not. I wonder if he plans to play them on any of the new songs at all? He never mentions his "bad back" in any of the interviews, although, I don't think any of the interviewers have asked him about it. I understand that he might want to do something a little different once in a while, but still.

Apparently Don now sees drumming as a tiresome obligation. Kind of sad.

I'm also disappointed that Joe has been sidelined and Stuart has taken over as lead guitarist. Maybe Joe just can't cut it anymore as far as writing and performing new songs. Maybe the old ones are all he can handle these days. They are so ingrained in the memory that they are second nature to him. Yes, I know he put on wonderful shows with the James Gang last year, but did he do anything new? I hope it's not the case, but why else? I also wonder why Glenn doesn't do more leads. Are they just going to let Steuart take over, even though he's not an Eagle? He's fantastic, but are they just being lazy?

I'd hate to think Joe has "lost it" - and I really don't think he has. Even if he's not songwriting like he used to, I find it very hard to believe that he can't even play a short, relatively simple solo like that on How Long.

I guess if Glenn, who's supposed to be in charge, doesn't care about all this stuff, who am I? He seems to have given Don the go ahead to promote as he sees fit!

I think he probably cares, and Don did say something about not wanting to be specific about which songs he thought were not up to snuff because it would "break up the band again." I just think that Glenn takes care of these matters in private... as I wish Don would.

[scottside]

Thank for the welcome....glad to be here!

A few other points of interest: I missed Glenn when he played in New York state this past summer, but did I not hear something said about an R&B cover that he was going to put on his next solo album? I thought that he had commented on that during one or more of his shows. I just wonder why he didn't do that with the Eagles since he essentially sings three covers of his eight contributions anyway....and it would've been upbeat!

As far as lead guitar, Glenn probably defers to the others because they are more acccomplished in that department than he is. Not to diminish his talents as a lead player because I've always loved his solos, but that's probably why the Walshs and Felders and Smiths will do most of the fancy fretwork.

Joe probably plays a lot less than we all expected he would because most of the music is more up Steuart's alley, I'm sorry to say. It's not that Joe couldn't play that stuff because he could. I think he is just a real team player (much like Glenn in that respect) and would get the country guy to play the stuff that calls for that kind of sound. The fact that there's not a whole lot of rocking going on this time around more or less puts Joe in the rhythm guitar role. Glenn seems to mostly be playing acoustic parts which he's been doing more and more of these days.

[sodascouts]

A few other points of interest: I missed Glenn when he played in New York state this past summer, but did I not hear something said about an R&B cover that he was going to put on his next solo album? I thought that he had commented on that during one or more of his shows. I just wonder why he didn't do that with the Eagles since he essentially sings three covers of his eight contributions anyway....and it would've been upbeat!

Yes - he's played a song called "I'll Come Runnin' Back to You" for the past two years now, starting with the 2006 "Prelude to Obscurity" shows. At Niagara Falls, he said that he would like to record it for an album, but that it wasn't going to make it on to the Eagles album. Apparently it was in the running for a spot, but was ultimately rejected. He joked that he could release it onto his own solo album called "Prelude to Obscurity" as well, lol. Recently, there was talk of him doing a big band album as his next solo project though, so I'm not sure the song will ever see the light of day outside of his concerts.

Joe probably plays a lot less than we all expected he would because most of the music is more up Steuart's alley, I'm sorry to say. It's not that Joe couldn't play that stuff because he could. I think he is just a real team player (much like Glenn in that respect) and would get the country guy to play the stuff that calls for that kind of sound. The fact that there's not a whole lot of rocking going on this time around more or less puts Joe in the rhythm guitar role. Glenn seems to mostly be playing acoustic parts which he's been doing more and more of these days.

That's true. It's just that seeing Joe kind of standing there while Steuart played the solo at the CMAs was a bit of a shock to the system. I wonder how much he'll do live when/if the Eagles tour?

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Welcome from me as well, Scott. Glad to have you here on The Border.

With regard to who plays what instruments on the album, I do wish that there was more detail included about this in the album credits. Maybe they didn't include this because it would highlight how much of the instrumentation was provided by non-band members. As far as Don playing drums or Glenn and Joe playing guitar solos/leads, even if they did play them on the studio version of the songs, of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that they will play them live. However, I will add this. I definitely don't understand Joe's seemingly reduced role in the band nowadays. I saw him in Atlantic City this past August, and trust me, the man can still play the heck out of a guitar.

[JoeFan]

I think it's unfair to assume that because Joe is not playing lead he has "lost it." Like scottside says, perhaps he is simply letting Stuart do what he does best, Joe doesn't need to have himself as the centre of attention all the time.