Right before the Eagles played the final encore of their two-year, 109-date History of the Eagles tour in July 2015, Glenn Frey walked up to guitarist Bernie Leadon and gave him a big hug. Leadon is the band’s founding guitarist, and co-writer of many of their early songs, including “Witchy Woman,” but he left in 1975 following an infamous backstage fight where he poured a beer on Frey’s head. And now here they were embracing following their first tour together in 40 years.
“He said, ‘It’s been great having you out here, and it’s not over,’” says Leadon. “And then he hugged me again and repeated it. We then walked onstage and played the last encore of the tour.”
In a better world, this would have marked the beginning of a new chapter of Eagles history where all the original members returned to the group for a series of albums and tours over the past decade. In this world, Frey died from pneumonia just six months later, and founding bassist Randy Meisner died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2023, having not toured with the band since his departure in 1977. Don Henley is now the only OG member still in the fold, though guitarist Joe Walsh and bassist Timothy B. Schmit have both been in the band since the Seventies.
Leadon has been on the sidelines throughout the last decade of Eagles history, but his time on the road with the group between 2013 and 2015 reignited something inside him. He began writing songs, including “Too Many Memories,” releasing next week, for the first time since his 2004 solo LP, Mirror.
“Too Many Memories” is a tender piano ballad about coming to terms with the past, and finding contentment in the present. “Too many memories of another life,” Leadon sings. “Too many memories/And it cuts like a knife.”
The lyrics came to Leadon in a sudden flash about three years ago. “I’ve lived many lifetimes in one lifetime,” he says. “I’ve lived in five or six different cities in America, on both coasts. I’ve had a lot of different experiences. And the conclusion to the song is that I need to let it all go and melt like rising fog off the meadow. Ultimately, I do think we do have to let a lot of stuff go. We need to let resentments go.”
The song was produced by Glyn Johns, whose history with Leadon goes all the way back to the first Eagles album in 1972. They maintained a close friendship after Leadon left the band, and worked together on a series of albums in England. Last July, Johns visited Leadon at his home studio in Memphis. “He was supposed to come and do a John Hiatt record, and it didn’t wind up happening,” says Leadon. “And one day he was like, ‘Maybe I’ll just come over and we’ll do some recordings anyway.’ And we did like eight songs in five days.”
They were joined at the session by bassist Glenn Worf, drummer Greg Morrow, and keyboardist Tony Harrell. “We did it all together, sitting in one room, looking at each other, listening to each other,” says Leadon. “And we did it all analog, which forces you to make decisions. There’s a discipline that happens when you record that way.”
Leadon isn’t sure when he’ll release the other songs or cobble them together for an album, but he is booked for a rare solo show at Nashville’s City Winery on Sept. 12 as part of AmericanaFest. He’ll be backed by his recording band at that show and center the set around their new material. But going forward, he hopes to put together a more expansive show.
“The last Eagles tour that I was on was the History of the Eagles,” he says. “I think I should kind of do history of Bernie, and do some early stuff, some [Flying] Burrito Brothers, and some early Eagles.”
In the past, Leadon has limited the Eagles songs in his solo sets to ones he wrote and sang, like “Hollywood Waltz,” “Bitter Creek,” and “My Man.” “I’m most comfortable doing things that I sang, but I recognize that the biggest hits are ones I didn’t sing,” he says. “But sometimes I created the intro or there’s an iconic solo or something.”
Plans might change, but he’s thinking about introducing songs that he’s never played outside the Eagles, like “Take It Easy,” into his set. “I’d play the intro,” he says. “But I’d tell the audience ahead of time, ‘Guess what? You’re going to sing it, not me.’ It would be interesting to try that because I bet half the audience knows the lyrics.
“I also might say to them,” he continues, “‘Hey, I’m going to do ‘Lyin’ Eyes.’ But I’m only going to do my part. I’ll sing the harmony on the chorus, but I’m not singing lead.’ That might be funny for a minute. I don’t know if it would be funny for a whole song though.”
Unlike many of his peers, Leadon hasn’t sold his publishing. That means he continues to derive income from their catalog, including the Eagles’ compilation Greatest Hits (1971–1975), which remains one of the top-selling albums in music history. “I came up during a point where the idea was you never sell your publishing,” he says. “And then people started doing it. But I’m glad I haven’t done it.”
Leadon lives on a farm near Memphis these days, and devotes much of his time to family, including four grandchildren. And thanks to the History of the Eagles tour, he now has a solid relationship with Henley, and the other guys in the band. He hasn’t been to the Sphere to see his former band in concert, but he’s not opposed to checking out a show, and maybe even guesting with them for a song or two, if invited.
But that’s not really where his head is at right now. “I’m just happy that my relationship with the band has been cleaned up,” he says. “We stay in touch. And everything’s great, honestly.”
