The Eagles are about to fly again without a musician widely viewed as its leader and chief musical architect. Surviving members have turned to one family member and one longtime friend to help it through this transition: Deacon Frey, the 24-year-old son of Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey, who died last year, and country music star Vince Gill.
The quintessential Southern California country rock ensemble formed in the early 1970s in Los Angeles and is set to headline a two-pronged, bicoastal festival: Classic West and Classic East, alongside Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, Earth Wind & Fire, the Doobie Brothers and Journey.
Deacon Frey and Gill will divvy up lead vocals on the songs Glenn Frey sang with the Eagles.
“While I was still in shock during some interviews after Glenn passed away, I did say that I thought that was the end of the band,” Don Henley, 69, said recently after rehearsals for the upcoming festivals, set for July 15 and 16 at Dodger Stadium and July 29 and 30 at Citi Field in New York.
“But I reserve the right to change my mind. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.’”
To hear Henley — and Gill — tell it, it’s the prospect of keeping Frey’s songs alive that has motivated the decision to move forward. “In my mind, I always thought I’d have made a good Eagle,” said a smiling Gill, whose 21 Grammy Awards make him the most awarded male country artist in Grammy history.
Sitting in the same backstage dressing room next to Henley and Deacon Frey, he continued, “But in a million years, I never would have seen this coming. It’s pretty surreal. I turned 60 recently, and to get to be a part of this amazing legacy of songs, that’s the greatest part of all this for me”
Deacon Frey performed some of his father’s songs at a private memorial service held not long after Glenn died January, 18, 2016. “After he saw Deacon at that service, Don always said, ‘If there’s ever going to be a gig for all of us, I would want Deacon to be part of it,’ ” Irving Azoff, the Eagles’ longtime manager, said in a separate interview. “It was the natural thing.”
The idea of Gill came up when he was at the Kennedy Center Honors program in December saluting the Eagles.
“I think with Glenn’s passing, there was also a natural legion of Eagles fans out there who weren’t ready to let go,” Azoff said. “To me, the fans and the legacy and everything was saying, ‘It doesn’t have to be over.’”
Henley said he’s heard more positive than negative response since word first surfaced earlier this year about the Azoff-designed Classic West and East festivals.
“Bringing Deacon in was my idea,” Henley said. “I think of the guild system, which in both Eastern and Western cultures is a centuries-old tradition of the father passing down the trade to his son, and to me, that makes perfect moral and ethical sense. The primary thing is I think Glenn would be good with it — with both of these guys. I think he’d go, ‘That’s the perfect way to do this.’ ”The strong family factor is impossible to miss. “They came to me with the idea, and it’s been really great,” Deacon Frey said. “You guys are like my uncles. It’s another family we would have been missing [if the band did not continue].”
His mother, Cindy Frey, was beaming after seeing her son emerge from his first major interview following the rehearsal. Not surprisingly, given what a sports hound Glenn Frey was throughout his life, she turned to a baseball metaphor to capture the moment.
“Every day you show up and they give you a new ball,” she said.
Added Henley, “He doesn’t have to do this forever. Someday, if he decides to write his own songs and have his own band, we’ll be the first to support him. But this is a good way to break in.”
Much about the Eagles version 2017 still hasn’t been finalized. Henley described the upcoming festival appearances as “experiments.” “We’re just going to see how it goes,” he said. “We have every reason to believe it’ll go just fine. Then it’s Irving’s ball.”
- Los Angeles Times