The Eagles plan to finally release a new studio album later this year, but if Bernie Leadon was asked to rejoin the group he helped found in 1971 with Glenn Frey, Don Henley and Randy Meisner, he figures his answer would depend on the offer. “When I was in the band we formed a legal partnership—even Steven,” says Leadon from his home in rural Nashville. “Given that, I don’t think anybody would be comfortable if I came back as anything other than a partner. I don’t see it happening in the current setup.”
Just 24-years-old when The Eagles formed, and already one of the chief architects of the Southern California country-rock scene, Leadon could play anything with strings, and it was his guitar, banjo, mandolin and pedal steel that put the country in The Eagles. But four-and-a-half years of nonstop touring and recording was more than Leadon had bargained for, so he split after making One Of These Nights. He’d played, written and sung on four Eagles LPs, and shortly after his departure Asylum Records released The Eagles’ Greatest Hits (1971-1975)—which could easily have been subtitled, “The Bernie Leadon Years.” Today it is the best selling album in the history of American music.
In 1977, he and Michael Georgiades did a record together called Natural Progressions, and throughout the ’80s and ’90s Leadon’s handiwork can be heard on albums by Chris Hillman, Emmylou Harris, Marty Balin, John Hiatt, David Bromberg, David Crosby and Nanci Griffith. He even joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for a spell. And all along he continued to write, but for one reason or another he didn’t release another record with his name on it until the Ethan Johns-produced Mirror came out on Leadon’s Really Small Intertainment label this March. Johns’ father Glyn had produced the first two Eagles albums, and Leadon and Ethan have been friends ever since (“I’m sort of like his uncle,” says Leadon).
Like his work with The Eagles, Mirror features Leadon’s gentle voice guiding equally gentle rockers, with folk and country inflections throughout. Numbers such as “Hey Now Now,” “Center Of The Universe,” “What Do I Owe?” and “God Ain’t Done With Me Yet” (with Emmylou on harmony vocals) make it ripe for early Eagles enthusiasts. For old fans that discover Mirror, the question becomes whether or not he’s got another solo outing in him. “My business plan did say, ‘Just release a solo record every 27 years,’” Leadon chuckles, “but it would be hard to get 10 released that way.”