Too Late to Be Cool features a telling archival cover photo shot by Henry Diltz back in 1979. Both album and image took a long time to reveal themselves, and in the end – like that flashlight trained on his face by the carefully hidden art director Gary Burden – they both provide welcome exposure to the often-overlooked Bernie Leadon.
Of course, even when he was young, Leadon was never thought of as cool. That’s not to say he didn’t hold key attributes. Leadon proved to be a remarkably talented multi-instrumentalist during pre-Eagles tenures with bands like the Flying Burrito Brothers. Always passionate about his rootsy craft, he then helped define the early Eagles sound. Still, after serving as the country picker on their first four records, Leadon left when Don Felder arrived and they started leaning more toward rock. That spoke to his intense commitment to tradition but it certainly wasn’t seen as all that cool. Buck Owens ended up covering the Leadon co-written “Hollywood Waltz” from 1975’s One of These Nights. Cool, you know, but not cool.
Along the way, however, the culture kept moving toward Leadon. The Americana vibe he helped create back then holds far more resonance into a new century than rock music does. So, despite the title, Leadon’s rare new solo project is actually the sound of someone who’s reclaiming his own off-handed legend. It happened in a similarly offhanded way, too. Leadon might not have completed this first new music since 2004’s surprisingly rock-influenced Mirror if former sparring partner and bandmate Glenn Frey hadn’t called to ask him to sit in. Leadon ended up playing some 175 shows during the History of the Eagles Tour in 2013-15 – and he suddenly felt the creative itch. He built a studio and began working in an appropriately old-fashioned analog setting with early Eagles producer Glyn Johns, bassist Glenn Worf, keyboardist Tony Harrell and drummer Greg Morrow.
READ MORE: Ranking All 11 Bernie Leadon Eagles Songs
Leadon had amassed a backlog of around 100 ideas after more than two decades away. They chose wisely. Leadon didn’t write or co-write many Eagles songs, yet still contributed to a pair of acknowledged classics in “Witchy Woman” from 1972’s Eagles and “Saturday Night” from 1973’s Desperado. Too Late to Be Cool follows the same slyly impactful pattern – and, as with Mirror, it rocks more than expected. Leadon shakes his fist at the sky on the surprisingly Stones-y “Just a Little” before counseling us all to take the occasional calming deep breath on “Too Many Memories.” Despite their association with the area, none of the original Eagles was from southern California. Still, the Minnesota-born Leadon offers a winking reminder that he grew up there with the fun “Coast Highway.”
He shows he can still pull off a good yarn with “Go On Down to Mobile.” In the latter, Leadon sings: “I’ve lived many lifetimes in a single go,” and that hard-won experience gives him the latitude to dabble a bit in jazz on “Everyone’s Quirky.” But Too Late to Be Cool most often works in the now-timeless musical palettes that have defined Leadon – and, in no small way, the wider Americana movement – since he emerged as a key collaborator with ex-Byrds member Gene Clark decades ago in Dillard and Clark. Turns out, Bernie Leadon was cool all along.
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
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