The artist that Don Henley played “hundreds of times”
(Credits: Alamy)
Every artist needs to do their homework before they even think about getting up onstage. Regardless of how many hours they put into listening to their favourite songs, it’s a completely different animal trying to put as much emotion into a track whenever it’s time to deliver it to people. Don Henley has often talked about trying to put that emotional heart into every Eagles song, but he admitted that working with Linda Ronstadt was something he almost knew better than the band.
When Henley first moved to California, he had already been developing his own take on the country-rock sound. Gram Parsons may have helped found the genre with The Byrds’ later material, but by the early 1970s, artists were starting to add a bit more western twang to music, with Henley even getting scouted by Kenny Rogers.
Even though the anti-commercial song title ‘Simply Little Down Home Rock and Roll Love Song For Rosie’ didn’t do Henley any favours in his old band, Shiloh, he was much better suited to playing behind Ronstadt. Her vocal slowly became one of the most powerful voices on the scene, and she seemed to light up the room every time she graced the stage at the Troubadour.
While Henley had an affinity for Ronstadt’s music, he knew every one of her tunes, saying in History of the Eagles, “I was looking for a job. Glenn [Frey] introduced me to [manager] John Boylan, and I auditioned at this house in Laurel Canyon. I had listened to her records hundreds of times, so I knew the songs backwards and forwards. I learned a lot from Linda. That was a very formative experience for me.”
It’s one thing to be able to play songs like Hank Williams’ ‘Lovesick Blues’, but there were only going to be so many places that Henley could go from there. He had been the leader in Shiloh, so becoming the background vocalist was a much different animal, usually harmonising with Frey while Ronstadt powered her way through tracks like ‘It’s So Easy’ and ‘You’re No Good’.
After one too many shows, though, Henley knew that something else was waiting for him other than just being a background vocalist. He wanted a band, and Frey would be the one to help him get there. Despite being from Texas and Michigan, respectively, Henley and Frey were joined at the hip musically and figured that it would be better if they worked on their own material.
Even though it probably hurts to see any Eagles member walk out on you, Henley remembered that Ronstadt was completely fine with letting them leave the nest, saying, “She was incredibly gracious, as was John Boylan. They weren’t resentful or anything. They were supportive, as a matter of fact.”
The duo did end up taking a few songs with them, though, eventually padding out their debut record with tunes like ‘Nightingale’, which had to be lowered to accommodate Henley’s voice. It would take a few years before the Eagles turned into a country-rock powerhouse, but it’s fair to say that without Ronstadt, they would have still been playing at the Troubadour.
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