In Memoriam: Randy Meisner - Founding Eagles Band Member (1946-2023)

We bid farewell to a true legend of the music industry, Randy Meisner, founding member of the iconic rock band, the Eagles. On Wednesday night, in Los Angeles, Randy passed away at the age of 77 due to complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, leaving behind a legacy that will forever echo through the annals of rock 'n' roll history.

Born on March 8, 1946, Randy Meisner's journey in music began in the vibrant streets of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, where his innate talent and passion for the art of music started to bloom. As destiny would have it, Randy's extraordinary abilities on the bass guitar and his smooth, velvety voice soon caught the attention of other aspiring musicians, leading him on a path that would change the course of popular music forever.

In 1971, along with Glenn Frey, Don Henley, and Bernie Leadon, Randy Meisner played an instrumental role in forming the Eagles, a band that would go on to become one of the most influential and successful acts in the history of rock music. With his distinct harmonies and exceptional bass playing, Randy's contributions to the Eagles' sound were immeasurable, helping to shape the band's unique blend of country, rock, and folk into a captivating symphony that touched the hearts of millions.

Throughout his tenure with the Eagles, Randy Meisner's talents shone brightly, enriching the band's sound on hits such as "Take It Easy," "Peaceful Easy Feeling," "Take It to the Limit," and many others. His performances brought a sense of warmth and depth to the group's music, leaving an indelible mark on the hearts of fans across the globe.

As with any great journey, Randy's time with the Eagles eventually took its own course, and he pursued a solo career in the late '70s, releasing albums that continued to showcase his incredible artistry. Despite the ups and downs life threw at him, Randy's dedication to his craft and his love for music remained steadfast, earning him admiration and respect from fellow musicians and fans alike.

Beyond the stage, Randy Meisner was known for his humble nature, gentle spirit, and his genuine kindness towards others. He cherished every moment shared with his family, friends, and fans, always grateful for the love and support he received throughout his illustrious career.

As the Eagles stated in their heartfelt tribute, Randy Meisner's passing is a profound loss to the world of music. His legacy will endure, inspiring countless musicians and fans to follow their dreams and to seek the magic of music within their hearts.

Today, as we mourn the departure of a cherished musician and cherished soul, we celebrate Randy Meisner's remarkable journey. Though he may have taken his final bow, his music will forever soar, resonating in the hearts of those who found solace and joy in his extraordinary talents.

Rest in peace, Randy Meisner. Your memory will forever remain a precious melody that lingers on, forever entwined with the sound of the Eagles' timeless music.

Nashville's Brightest & Best Contribute To Upcoming Elton John/Bernie Taupin Tribute Album (Hear Chris Stapleton's Contribution Here)

Artist: Various
Album: Restoration: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin
Label: MCA Nashville
Release date: April 6, 2018

A bevy of country and Americana artists are paying homage to the 50-year collaboration between Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin with a collection of new interpretations of a dozen of the team’s biggest hits and many less-familiar selections.

Restoration — curated by John and Taupin, respectively — will be released April 6.

The country-Americana-themed disc that Taupin has supervised features Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert, Don Henley and Vince Gill, Kacey Musgraves, , Miley Cyrus, Chris Stapleton, Rosanne Cash and Emmylou Harris, Little Big Town and several others.

John, 70, said in a statement. “We have so many great artists doing our songs, it's quite incredible.”

Added Taupin in the same statement, “Because of our love of all kinds of music, we’re not stuck in one genre. From day one we borrowed from everything that’s good about American music — whether it’s blues, country, gospel, pop, pure rock — everything got thrown in the mix. I think that’s why our music over the years has been so varied.”

“’It’s always a huge compliment when an artist loves your song enough to take the time and effort to rework it,” said John. “As songwriters, Bernie and myself are thrilled when singers we admire and respect as much as those on Restoration choose to add their own unique twist in the process. It means that our music is still relevant and ultimately that our songs continue to reach new audiences. We’re humbled and thank them all for their generosity."

The album, subtitled “Reimagining the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin,” sets the stage for the recently announced “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour that John has proclaimed to be his final concert tour, which begins Sept. 8 in Allentown, Pa., and is scheduled to take three years to complete with 300 stops on five continents.

The albums also precede a two-hour, multi-artist network television special filmed in New York recently in conjunction with the 60th Grammy Awards ceremony and slated to air April 10 on CBS.

“Elton John: I’m Still Standing — A Grammy Salute” will include live performances by album participants Cyrus, Cara, Lambert, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Sheeran, Smith, Little Big Town and Maren Morris as well as John Legend, Kesha, Shawn Mendes and SZA.

John and Taupin met in 1967 through an ad in England’s New Musical Express, which brought the composer and lyricist together and started one of the most successful songwriting partnerships in pop music history.

Restoration Track List
1. "Rocket Man" – Little Big Town
2. "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" – Maren Morris
3. "Sacrifice" – Don Henley and Vince Gill
4. "Take Me to the Pilot" – Brothers Osborne
5. "My Father's Gun" – Miranda Lambert
6. "I Want Love" – Chris Stapleton
7. "Honky Cat" – Lee Ann Womack
8. "Roy Rogers" – Kacey Musgraves
9. "Please" – Rhonda Vincent and Dolly Parton
10. "The Bitch Is Back" – Miley Cyrus
11. "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" – Dierks Bentley
12. "This Train Don't Stop" – Rosanne Cash and Emmylou Harris
13. "Border Song" – Willie Nelson
 

Sheryl Crow Announces Early Spring Release Of Be Myself

Artist: Sheryl Crow
Album: Be Myself
Label: Warner Brothers
Release date: late March or Early April

Be Myself, has been cut with her Nineties collaborators Jeff Trott and Tchad Blake, the team responsible for hits like "My Favorite Mistake" and "Everyday Is a Winding Road." In an interview with Rolling Stone, Crow talked about the upcoming project, a bit of a departure from her pure country record.

"I really wanted to get back to how I got started on my second record and third record," Crow says. "I wanted to revisit that sound and that feeling. It was a complete blast and the most effortless thing I've ever done."

"It began with Jeff and I saying, 'What would complete this?'" she says. "We both said, 'Tchad Blake!' I thought in a million years he wouldn't come over because he lives in Wales and I haven't seen him in 15 years. But I emailed him and he said, 'When do you want me there?' He flew over and stayed with me in an apartment over my garage. Every day at 5 p.m. we'd drink a Guinness. He went through cancer treatment a year ago, and so we both had that in common. It felt profoundly sweet having him and Jeff here."

 "As you get older you start making records that are more calculated and you're trying to compete with what you've done and not repeat yourself," she says. "You get more methodical and more analytical about the music and that doesn't necessarily make it better. I wanted to have the feeling I had when I made my first two records, which was like being a kid playing with my friends and writing about whatever came to mind."

What might be even more exciting, however, is the nugget in the interview that Crow has a second album that she's hoping to have out by the end of the year that includes some legends in it.  She has a project in the works collaborating with the likes of Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Kris Kristofferson and many others. Johnny Cash's estate has allowed her to cut a virtual duet with the Man in Black on "Redemption Day," a songs of hers he covered toward the end of his life. She hopes to get the album into stores near the end of the year.

New Early 1970's Live Eagles Concert Recording To Be Released- With An Assist From Jackson Browne

Artist: Eagles
Album: Lives of Outlaw Men: Live Pop Gala 1973 & California Jam 1974
Label: Iconography
Release date: January 13, 2017

With the death of Glenn Frey last year, the future of the Eagles remains cloudy at best. But fans can look back this next year rather than look forward with the release of a single album featuring live performances from the early 70's- many with contributions from Jackson Browne.

Shortly before the worldwide release of Desperado in April 1973 the Eagles, while touring Europe, performed at the Sporthal de Vliegermolen in Voorburg, Holland on 10th March. Recorded for a Dutch TV broadcast, the band played a rip-roaring set for 50+ minutes, including a storming 11 minute version of the classic, debut album cut "Witchy Woman." Don Henley and Glenn Frey wanted the band to break away from the country rock style and move more towards a harder-edged sound, and turned to Bill Szymczyk to produce. Requiring a rawer guitar sound, the band brought in Don Felder, a guitarist who had jammed backstage with them in 1972 when they opened for Yes in Boston. The Eagles played at the California Jam festival in Ontario, California on 6th April 1974. Attracting more than 300,000 fans and billed as "the Woodstock of the West Coast". Portions of the show were telecast on ABC television in the United States, exposing the Eagles to a much wider audience.

Felder missed the show when he was called away to attend the birth of his son, but Jackson Browne filled in for him on piano and acoustic guitar. The group played a short 20 minute set at the festival and these tracks are also included on this project.

Interview Flashback - Second Acts And Next Chapters With Jessica Harp

I have been blessed to write contributions/reviews/interviews/opinion pieces for several country music and roots-oriented websites and publications over the years including Saving Country Music, Nashville Scene, Country California, Country Weekly, American Noise, The 9513 and Engine 145. As a regular contributor to the last two in that list, I did close to a 100 interviews with different artists- and since both of those great sites have come down, I will reprint some of those interviews here to give them a home in perpetuity. This interview was originally published in January 2010 on The 9513.

Jessica Harp is hoping for that rare successful second act in music. Don Henley did it after the Eagles. John Fogerty managed it after Creedence Clearwater Revival. Paul McCartney pulled it off twice after the Beatles and Wings. 

And while no one would compare the placement of Harp in music history with some of those legends, the comparison does underscore the difficulty of finding success as a solo artist after success in a band. Richie McDonald and Randy Owen have shown that impressive credentials as lead singers in bands like Lonestar and Alabama don’t always translate easily to successful radio play or album sales as individuals. 

For Harp, this next chapter in her career comes after a wildly successful first album in 2006 with then pop-star Michelle Branch under the band name of Wreckers (a shortened form of the band name “The Cass County Homewreckers” given to the girls by Branch’s husband). The band’s first and only album, Stand Still, Look Pretty, included the Billboard number one single “Leave The Pieces.” They would go on to win a CMA for Best Vocal Duo Of The Year and a Grammy For Best Duo or Group Performance for that same single. 

Fast-forward to 2009 and Harp has had a solo single called “Boy Like Me” that has reached the Top 30 and a brand new single that has just been released called “A Woman Needs.” This latter single is the title of her to-be-released album this next spring. 

The 9513 got a chance to sit down with the lovely songstress and talk about the new album and life after the Wreckers. 

Ken Morton, Jr.- You have a brand new album that will be coming out in the coming months- tell me about the new project.

Jessica Harp- The album doesn’t have a date quite yet, it’s the new single that’s coming out soon. The album isn’t actually going to be out until early spring. It’s sort of been pushed back. It was supposed to come out in September but my record label went through a bunch of changes and it ended up getting pushed back. The record is coming out early spring, but the new single is coming out called “A Woman Needs” which is the title track for the record. It has actually been shipped to country radio so people can start to hear it. I just shot the video
for it and that will hit CMT in January. 

KMJ- Is the overall album finished and in the can or are you still working on it?

JH- Nope, it’s been finished for awhile. I would have loved to have it out a year ago, but you know how things go in the music business. It’s slow going. It’s hurry up and wait. 

KMJ- Sonically, what can we expect from the album in influences and music?

JH- I would say that for anyone who listened to me when I was in The Wreckers, I think The Wreckers sort of had a folk-country influence to it, this record is
definitely straight up more modern country. What I really love about the record is that Jerry Flowers produced my record and he’s an up and coming producer. A lot of people don’t know this, but there are about five producers in Nashville that are incredible producers but they do everything you hear on the radio. I loved having someone with a fresh set of ears produce my record because while it’s very much modern country, it sounds very fresh to me. 

KMJ- I recognize Jerry’s name as the bass player in Keith Urban’s band- did you meet him while you were on tour with Urban as part of The Wreckers?

JH- Actually, my husband and Jerry have been friends for years. When we were going on tour with Keith, my husband said, “You have to write with Jerry. He’s an incredible writer.” And Jerry and I started writing and clicked and really hit it off. He wanted to get into producing. He took a chance on me and I took a chance on him and I’m really proud of what we came up with together. 

KMJ- What I’ve heard so far is decidedly more upbeat and more energetic than what we heard from The Wreckers. Did you make a conscious effort to write songs and pick songs that had more energy to them?

JH- Definitely. I would never knock The Wreckers at all. I love that record. But I definitely experienced a country festival of 30,000 people and had a set of a bunch of sad sappy songs. One of my biggest goals when putting this record together was making a record that would be a blast to play live. 

KMJ- I know you’ve written all but three of the songs on the upcoming record. How important was it for you to tell your story on this album versus look for outside songwriters?

JH- It’s always very important. I’m a singer but I’m also a songwriter and I always have been. It’s kind of cheesy, but my songs are kind of my personal journal. They’re my little diaries. They’re very autobiographical. I like to let people know who I am through my music. If I’m going to cut an outside song, it has to be a song that I think that I could have written or something that I’ve experienced. Because when I go into that vocal booth, I have to mean it. It’s very important that there’s a lot of me in any given song or record. 

KMJ- When you’re going through catalogs on songs that you didn’t write yourself, what specifically were you looking for- what kind of songs would catch your attention?

JH- One of them was “Boy Like Me.” That was a song that Jerry wrote and played for me early on and I just loved it because it was fun and sassy and I hadn’t heard anything like that before. I wanted to cut that one. Another one was a fun up-tempo throw your hair back type of song that I thought would be geared towards a live setting. The other one was a ballad that knocked me off my feet. It’s a beautiful and incredible ballad that I can completely relate to and feel like it was something I could have written. I listened to 300 to 400 different songs while writing for the record and preparing for the recording process. Those were the three that stuck out for me. 

KMJ- I know there’s a certain Country Music Hall-Of-Famer that’s on the record with you too, isn’t there?

JH- Yes! Vince Gill was quite kind in agreeing to come play on my record. I met Vince when The Wreckers played the Opry and he was hosting. He was actually a Wreckers fan and like the record and mentioned that he’d like to collaborate someday. After I started working on my record, there was a song called “Homemade Love” that we had cut that I felt would be just perfect for Vince to sing on. I was at an awards show and sort of tracked him down and stalked him. (Laughing) “Do you remember when you said you want to collaborate? Would you still like do that?” He was gracious enough to come in and sing on it and it made the song all that more special. 

KMJ- Do you have any favorite songs or tracks on the album yet?

JH- I think that one is probably one of my favorites- not only because Vince is on it, but because it was one of the first love songs that I’ve written that I didn’t was cheesy. I’ve always had a difficult time writing love songs. It’s a lot easier writing the sad songs. I really love that song. Also, “A Woman Needs” is special because it’s about women finding their own place in life and finding their path. I can really identify with that. It really sums up the theme of the record for me. 

KMJ- The Wreckers was more melancholy in theme. This new album seems a little feistier. Is that more representative of who you are as a person?

JH- Yes. I wanted people to see different sides of me. And while there are some of the sad heartbreak songs, there are definitely more feisty songs. That is definitely a piece of my personality. I wanted people to see all sides of me as an artist as well as a songwriter. 

KMJ- What do you have planned in touring or promotion as we get closer to the album’s release?

JH- I don’t have anything set in stone yet. I’m waiting for the new single to get up and going. But I’ll definitely be touring next year and I would imagine by the spring I’ll be hitting the road. That will be the point in time we start going and won’t be home for a year. We’ll be busy. 

KMJ- You need be spending time with your husband now while you can, right?

JH- Definitely. We’re enjoying a little downtime. 

KMJ- I’ve got a Wreckers question for you. Are you still in contact and communicate regularly with Michelle Branch at all?

JH- Absolutely. Absolutely. We’re label-mates and proud of each other and proud of each other’s records. That was a long friendship so there’s no way we couldn’t follow each other’s lives and careers closely.

KMJ- I have one last question for you- and this one is meant to be a little open-ended. What is country music to Jessica Harp?

JH- Country music has always been- and it’s probably why I was drawn to it at such an early age- songs about real people and real things. They’re songs that are easily relatable and songs that mean something to people. Growing up, being a country music fan, there were always a number of songs that really meant something to me. As a songwriter, I’ve always felt like Nashville and country
music were my home. 

New Austin City Limits Music Live Performance Music Videos From Don Henley

New Music Video From Don Henley and Dolly Parton- "When I Stop Dreaming"

New Music Video From Don Henley- "Take a Picture of This"

New Projects From Don Henley, Bucky Covington & Toby Keith

Artist: Don Henley
Album: Cass County
Release Date: 9/25
Label: Capitol Records

"I'm associated with California a lot because of that other band that I play in, but I really and truly was born and raised in Cass County, Texas," Henley said last month during a private listening party in Nashville. "I'm a Southerner and a Texan. I have ancestors in Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia. So this is a natural progression for me. It's not me trying to do the 'Don Henley country album.' It's who I am and where I come from." 
Track listing:
1. "Bramble Rose" (with Mick Jagger and Miranda Lambert)
2. "The Cost of Living" (with Merle Haggard)
3. "Take A Picture of This"
4. "Waiting Tables"
5. "No, Thank You"
6. "Praying for Rain"
7. "Words Can Break Your Heart"
8. "That Old Flame" (with Martina McBride)
9. "When I Stop Dreaming" (with Dolly Parton)
10. "A Younger Man"
11. "Train In The Distance"
12. "Where I Am Now"

Artist: Bucky Covington
Album: Happy Man
Release Date: 7/14
Label: Independent

“This project means a lot to me as an independent artist,” Bucky says. “The good part is that there’s no one telling me what songs to pick, and the bad part is no one is there to tell me what songs to pick or paying for making the music, so all the risk is on me. That said, I hope everyone loves it as much as I do!”

Track listing:
1. “I Feel Ya” (Eric Mallon, Ruben Estevez, Jason Afable)
2. “Girl You Get To Me” (Dale Oliver, Serg Salinas, Michael Harter)
3. “I’m Saying Something” (Matt Warren)
4. “Somewhere Looking Beautiful” (Bucky Covington, Dale Oliver, Dan Couch)
5. “Buzzin” (Brad Hull)
6. “Happy Man” (Shannon Lawson)

Artist: Toby Keith
Album: 35 MPH Town
Release Date: 10/9
Label: Show Dog Nashville

Brandy Clark, Bob DiPiero, and Shane McAnally penned the collection’s debut single, “Drunk Americans,” and songwriters Pinson, Scotty Emerick, and Rivers Rutherford also have cuts on the new project.

Track listing: TBD

Don Henley To Release Cass County Soon

While it doesn't have a release date yet, Cass County, the upcoming country release by Eagles frontman Don Henley certainly looks intriguing with guest appearances by Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Ashley Monroe, Dolly Parton, Lucinda Williams and Trisha Yearwood.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Henley described the name and title background on the record, "I'm associated with California a lot because of that other band that I play in, but I really and truly was born and raised in Cass County, Texas. I'm a Southerner and a Texan," he said. "I have ancestors in Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia. So this is a natural progression for me. It's not me trying to do the 'Don Henley country album.' It's who I am and where I come from."

“There’s a lot of Texas on this record. There are Cass counties in nine different states. But my Cass County is in the northeast corner of Texas, near Louisiana and Arkansas. It is a musical and cultural crossroads. Growing up there, I listened to the radio from Shreveport, the KWKH Louisiana Hayride. That was my country-music education.”

Music Row's Bobby Karl attended a listening party in Nashville this week and described some of the songs, "He first played the Tift Merritt song “Bramble Rose,” a mandolin waltz featuring Henely, Mick Jagger and Miranda Lambert. The breathtaking, steel-soaked ballad “The Cost of Living” co-stars Henley with Merle Haggard. “Take a Picture of This” has the throb and lush melody of a classic Henley solo outing. The Martina McBride duet “That Old Flame” rocks like a No. 1 stone smash. Trisha Yearwood is the harmony singer on the power ballad “Words Can Break Your Heart.” The Louvin Brothers chestnut “When I Stop Dreaming” drew loud applause for its arrangement as a duet with Dolly Parton. The shambling, stately, steady “Praying for Rain” has a chorus choir featuring Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Ashley Monroe and Yearwood. “Train in the Distance” is a rootsy, autbiographical outing with a background vocal by Lucinda Williams."

In a separate interview with Music Row's Beverly Keel, Henley went on about his guest stars, "I chose people whose work I respect, musically,” Henley commented, “people who can really sing when called upon to sing. I was flattered and flabberghasted when all of them said yes. People that I admire, that’s the kind of people I wanted on this record. It’s been 15 years since my last solo album: I believe in quality over quantity,” Henley said with a chuckle. “We started working on this record in 2010. I worked on it in between Eagles tours. The record’s been done for about a year now,” except for mixing and remixing its tracks. Henley co-produced it with his frequent songwriting collaborator Stan Lynch, who rose to fame as the drummer in Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers."

JD Souther To Release Tenderness On May 12

Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, iconic musician and actor JD Souther releases his new album Tenderness via Sony Music Masterworks. Produced by Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Madeleine Peyroux, Melody Gardot, Herbie Hancock), the album will be available on May 12, 2015 and supported by select tour dates across the country and internationally.

JD Souther is both a legendary and mysterious figure in American popular music," says Chuck Mitchell, SVP of Sony Music Masterworks. "He's a self-described 'classicist' who, in his new work, draws a through line between the first great songbook of Porter, Kern, etc., and his own generation's massive impact on the art of the song. The result is an album that brings a new and fresh perspective to this amazing singer-songwriter's contributions."

Now there are many ways to listen to music, and my intention is, as always, that each song tell its own story," adds Souther.  "However, Tenderness is designed as a set.  I invite you to enjoy it this way."

JD Souther proves once again why he's an American treasure," says Irving Azoff, the music industry icon whose company manages Souther. On Tenderness, Souther balances his pop and jazz sensibilities paying particular homage to his earliest influences, the geniuses of the 20th Century Great American Songbook, while maintaining the signature qualities that have made him one of the true contemporary giants of American song. Souther is best known penning countless hits for the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Roy Orbison, James Taylor, Don Henley, George Strait, Trisha Yearwood, Brooks and Dunn and others; while establishing a cult following as a performer with the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band and as a solo artist.

As an actor, he has appeared in the TV Shows Thirtysomething and Nashville, among others. A passionate animal lover and advocate, JD is also involved with Best Friends Animal Society.

Track Listing:
   • Come What May   

   • Something in the Dark   

   • This House   

   • Let's Take a Walk   

   • Dance Real Slow   

   • Show Me What You Mean   

   • Horses in Blue   

   • Need Somebody   

   • Downtown (Before The War) 

Linda Ronstadt's Duets Scheduled For April 8 Release

Rhino Records is bringing together 14 of Linda Ronstadt's biggest collaborations with the likes of Aaron Neville, Emmylou Harris, Don Henley, Frank Sinatra, James Taylor, Dolly Parton and James Ingram along with a previously unreleased collaboration with Laurie Lewis, for a new collection that was created with help from Ronstadt and her longtime manager, John Boylan.  Duets will be available on April 8.

The album will arrive just days before Ronstadt is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 10. The honor recognizes her role as a pioneering female artist and pays tribute to her exceptional musical legacy, which has earned 12 Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music Awards and one Emmy. Last year, Ronstadt released her best-selling memoir Simple Dreams and also revealed that she had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which left her unable to sing.

Several songs on this collection are also Grammy winners. Ronstadt won her first in 1976 for a cover of Hank Williams’ “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love With You)” that featured Emmylou Harris and appeared on what many consider her masterwork, Heart Like a Wheel (1974). Another Grammy-winner featured on Duets is “Somewhere Out There,” which Ronstadt recorded with James Ingram in 1986 for the soundtrack to An American Tail.

Duets also includes two of her most successful collaborations, both of which feature Aaron Neville. The Grammy-winning songs “Don’t Know Much” and “All My Life” originally appeared on Ronstadt’s triple-platinum album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind (1989).  In 1976, she and Don Henley sang the Warren Zevon-penned track “Hasten Down The Wind,” which was the title track to Ronstadt’s Grammy-winning, #1 album. It was her third consecutive million-selling album, an accomplishment no other female artist had achieved at that point.

Duets also spotlights a number of Ronstadt’s more recent collaborations, like “Sisters” with Bette Midler, which appeared on Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook (2003). That same year, Ronstadt partnered with Carl Jackson on “The New Partner Waltz,” for the Grammy-winning tribute album Livin’, Lovin’, Losin’: Song of the Louvin Brothers. Duets also includes three tracks from Adieu False Heart – a Grammy-nominated album Ronstadt recorded in 2006 with Cajun-music singer Ann Savoy – including a cover of the 1966 hit, “Walk Away Renée.”

Track Listing
1.                  “Adieu False Heart” with Ann Savoy
2.                  “I Can’t Get Over You” with Ann Savoy
3.                  “Walk Away Renee” with Ann Savoy
4.                  “The New Partner Waltz” with Carl Jackson
5.                  “I Never Will Marry” with Dolly Parton
6.                  “Pretty Bird” with Laurie Lewis*
7.                  “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You)” with Emmylou Harris
8.                  “Hasten Down The Wind” with Don Henley
9.                  “Prisoner In Disguise” with J.D. Souther
10.               “I Think It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” with James Taylor
11.               “Don’t Know Much” with Aaron Neville
12.               “All My Life” with Aaron Neville
13.               “Somewhere Out There” with James Ingram
14.               “Sisters” with Bette Midler
15.               “Moonlight In Vermont” with Frank Sinatra

Don Henley To Release Cass County In May

The Eagles' Don Henley has announced that he will release a country music album in May called Cass County. The album is named after the Texas county where Henley was born and raised. The original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Stan Lynch, and Henley have been working on the album for three years and are finalizing the track listing now. Sixteen songs are in the can.

Speaking to Andre Gardner of WMGK in Philadelphia, Henley disclosed that the record, Cass County will be released in May. Henley said the album “leans towards country. Some of it’s traditional country, some of it is what you might call alt-country, and I’ve got a lot of interesting guest vocalists and musicians on there with me. I made a lot of the album in Nashville. Some of it was recorded here in Dallas and some of it was recorded in Southern California. I’m pretty pleased with it.”

Songwriter Andrew Gold Passes Away

Country music lost another one of its magical songwriters when Andrew Gold had a heart attack and passed away at the age of 59 Friday, June 3rd. Gold wrote hits for Trisha Yearwood and Wynonna Judd, for whom he co-wrote the #1 single "I Saw The Light" with Lisa Angelle, who he later produced in her own right. He toured with The Eagles, played on records and toured with Jackson Browne. He produced, wrote, sang and played with James Taylor, Don Henley and Linda Ronstadt. In addition, he produced singles for Vince Gill.

Gold was best known as a solo artist for his 1977 hit ‘Lonely Boy’ and 1978’s ‘Thank You For Being A Friend’, the later became the theme for the hit TV series The Golden Girls that ran from 1985-1992. Gold continued in TV writing the theme song for ‘Mad About You’ known as ‘Final Frontier’.

Don Henley Of The Eagles Finalizing Solo Country Record

Don Henley has always had one foot in the world of country music. While the Eagles may have been one of the best examples of country-rock, few of their songs made their way onto country radio. Until their latest album, "Lyin' Eyes" was the only record by the group to make the country top forty.

In between legs of the current Eagles tour, Henley has been busy in the studio recording a distinctly country album, mixing covers with original material. Co-producing is Stan Lynch, former drummer for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. He recently talked to the San Francisco publication called Diablo:

"Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is one of my favorite bands of all time. I've known those guys for many years. Stan is one of my best friends, my son's godfather. We work together often and are currently co-producing my next album, which will be a collection of country songs, originals and covers. He's another quasi-redneck who is amazingly gifted and has a killer sense of humor. His dad was a professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and Stan lives on a sheep and timber farm, east of there."