History of the Eagles Part One Page #4

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was virtually through either

performing there onstage

or in the bar, you know?

I'm telling you now, baby

And I'm going my way...

I was just started managing Linda then,

and Linda was going to be a star

- That voice as big as a house.

There wasn't anybody in the room

that cared about anything but that voice.

I'm gonna say it again...

One night, we're down at the Troubadour,

and John Boylan comes to me -

he's managing Linda Ronstadt -

and he says, "I'm taking Linda on the road.

"We need guys who can sing. You want

to play rhythm guitar and sing?"

I offered him 250 a week, and he took it.

I went back to him, I said,

"Can you give me some of

that money right now?"

I think he gave me 50 bucks.

And then I found Don from

this band called Shiloh.

I heard him playing at the Troubadour.

I'm coming down...

I was looking for a job. Glenn

introduced me to John Boylan.

I auditioned at this little

house in Laurel Canyon.

I had listened to her

album hundreds of times,

so I knew the songs backwards and forwards,

and I guess I passed the

audition, because I got the job.

I got a feeling called the blues Oh, Lord

Since my baby said good-bye

And I don't know what I'll do

All I do is sit and cry Oh, Lord

I've grown so used to him somehow

But I'm nobody's sugar momma now

And I'm lonesome

Got the lovesick blues.

I learned a lot from Linda.

It was a very formative experience for me.

And she could hang with the guys, you know.

She could drink tequila with the

rest of us and hold her own.

Saving nickels, saving dimes...

It was really very ad hoc.

We had a station wagon,

put the gear in the back.

We'd all get in it and drive

to the college and play there.

As a cost-cutting measure,

band members had to share

rooms in those days, so

Glenn and I were roommates.

- What did you guys eat?

- I had a bowl of Rice Krispies.

'Ladies and gentlemen, Linda Ronstadt. '

It's funny. I seem to get people at a

critical stage in their development

and they build their chops.

I mean, there's nothing that gets your chops

up better than playing every single night.

If the same thing happened to everybody

That just happened to me...

Linda and John Boylan really

like the way Henley and I play,

really like the way we sing

with her, and they start to get

a vision of putting together a

super group to back up Linda -

the best of the new country-rock musicians,

and we were going to be part of it.

I remember talking with Don, and Don said,

"Well, you know, I'd rather, like,

just be in a band with you. "

And I said, "Well, yeah, me too.

"You know, I'd rather just

be in a band with you. "

So, we went to Linda and said, "You know,

we really appreciate everything

you've done for us, and it means

a lot, and we love playing with you,

but we'd like to have our own band. "

If you won't be with me someday...

Now, you know, I think a

lot of people, you know,

could get miffed by that,

say, "Well, wait a second.

"I brought you out here, you know.

"I gave you a paying job

when you couldn't afford

"your own drinks at the Troubadour

bar, and now you want to quit?"

Smile...

Linda was extremely gracious about

the whole thing, as was John Boylan.

They weren't resentful or bitter at all.

They were great.

They were supportive, as a matter of fact.

There you go and baby

Here am I

Well you left me here

So I could sit and cry...

They started talking about

putting a band together,

and we told them they

should get Bernie Leadon.

I was in several bands in

LA Early on, I met Linda.

Then I worked with Dillard & Clark -

Doug Dillard, banjo player, and

Gene Clark from the Byrds.

And so, now I'm in an

offshoot of the Byrds world,

and then that turned into an

invitation from the Burrito Brothers

from Chris Hillman to come join

them for their second album on A&M.

Since we got the older

guys to show us how

I don't see why we can't

stop right now...

And I was still in the Burritos,

but they had lost Gram Parsons,

and it had changed, and I wasn't

that interested any more.

Bernie was a very

accomplished banjo player,

and he could also play guitar in

what we called the Bindi lick style.

It was pioneered by a fellow

named Clarence White.

And then Glenn told me about

this guy named Randy Meisner who

had been in a band called Poco.

Randy could sing really high,

and he also played bass.

It's a good morning and

I'm feeling fine...

So, Glenn just kind of asked me one day

if I'd be interested in

starting a group with him.

And he had Henley and Bernie.

That was the first Eagles.

So, the plan was that Glenn and

I would try to recruit Bernie

and Randy, and then we would

all go to David Geffen and see

if he would give us a recording contract.

In the '70s, Asylum Records

was considered the LA sound -

Joni Mitchell, Crosby,

Stills, Nash & Young,

Jackson Browne.

David Geffen, who started Asylum,

is our patron, you know.

A Medici, Medici of rock'n'roll.

It's a very artist-oriented company, and

whatever they want to do, we support them.

If we believe in them,

we'll stick with them,

whether they make it or not.

Jackson was our conduit to David Geffen.

He was the first guy to get signed

by Geffen's new Asylum Records label.

So, we all walk in Geffen's

office, and we basically said,

"Here we are. "

Bernie Leadon just boldly says to Geffen,

"Well, do you want us or not?"

They were dying to sign with me.

I think they were very

ambitious, particularly Glenn.

Glenn wanted to have a hit band.

I loved the way Don sang.

You know, we all had hopes for it.

All of a sudden, we were

signed to Geffen's new label.

They sent us back to the drawing board.

They said, "You guys need to

go and rehearse some more. "

They said, "You know, you need to write some songs.

You're not really ready to record yet. "

So, they packed us off to Aspen, Colorado.

It could have been worse.

There were people who were way

higher than any of us had ever been.

It was a Wild West wide-open

town at that point.

MUSIC:
"Tryin'" by the Eagles

We played at a club up

there called The Gallery,

which was located right at

the foot of Aspen Mountain.

Tryin'

Got to keep on tryin'

Tryin'...

We didn't have a big catalogue

of our own tunes at that point.

We were just getting started.

We needed to learn how to play

together as a band, and we did.

The moon is a weeper

The sun is your clown

And his way of lovin'

Is holdin' you down...

And then it was like, "OK,

we need to make a record.

"Who are we going to get to produce it?"

We wanted to shoot as high as we could.

Glenn Frey came up with

Glyn Johns as an idea.

Glyn Johns was a name that kept

popping up on records we loved.

The first time I heard them was in Aspen.

I was not at all impressed, really.

THEY PLAY GUITAR DUE I thought they were confused.

Glenn Frey wanted to be

in a rock'n'roll band,

and Bernie Leadon, on the other

side, was one of the greatest

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