The Best Country Band That Never Was

My wife and I were eating dinner last night, and we had The Eagles Greatest Hits Volume 1 playing. The blue one with the painted skull on the cover. It's an awesome CD and if you don't have it in your collection, you should.

As we were listening to songs like "Take It Easy", "Lyin' Eyes", "Tequila Sunrise", and "Peaceful Easy Feeling" my wife said to me, "these songs are more country than a lot of the stuff that is out now, by far."

"Without a doubt," I reply. "If the Eagles were to hit the scene today, they would be on country radio. Look at A Thousand Horses, The Cadillac Three and Parmalee."

"Why aren't they now?" she asked.

"Because the perception is that they are a Classic Rock band, and people still think of them that way," I explain.

"Hmmmm...doesn't make sense to me", she says. "I hear steel guitar and banjo in The Eagles music. I don't hear that in Aerosmith, Van Halen or Led Zepplin. I just hear great songs that sound country to me (meaning the Eagles)."

She's right. The Eagles music is a fusion of country and rock. That's how Don Henley and Glen Frey planned it when they started out. Country music was much different back then, and The Eagles didn't fit that mold. Long hair, contemporary lyrics (back then), a reputation for partying (Joe Walsh), and a sound that didn't really have a "format" at the time. They ended up being played on Top 40 radio at a time when Top 40 actually meant the top 40 songs on the chart. You would tune in to your favorite station and hear songs from Debbie Boone, Grand Funk Railroad, Barry White, The O'Jays and in some instances The Beatles, Aerosmith and Led Zepplin.

Eventually the music separated out to different formats, and because the Eagles were still  a little too "out there" for country, they ended up on rock leaning stations. If a country station plays the Eagles now, they get comments like "if I want to hear classic rock, I'll listen to a classic rock station!" (yup...got that one myself when playing Lyin' Eyes on a country station. I think it's one of the most country sounding songs I've heard). Yet, you can play Alan Jackson's cover of "Tequila Sunrise" or Clint Black's cover of "Desperado" and no one says a word. In fact, we get requests for them now and then.

It's confusing to me. I guess I'll stop trying to figure it out, and continue to listen to The Eagles in my private collection and not try to make them fit in a format populated by country bands or artists that wear skinny jeans, have long hair, tattoos and sing about girls and drinking Fireball.

The Eagles - The greatest country band that never was? I think so.

(left) The Eagles
(right) A Thousand Horses