YOUNG EAGLES FLYING HIGH

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Baby boomer life has a soundtrack.

We’ve heard it all from Elvis, The Beatles, Big Hair rock, punk, grunge, and Adele.

Then there’s The Eagles.

Not quite country, not quite rock, but able to nail either style with what?

Country Rock.

They weren’t the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, or Poco. You didn’t need some insider vibe to like Take It Easy.

In a strange warp in time you could hear three songs and start a new life, which was a pretty good idea in the early 70’s.

The three songs:Take It Easy by The Eagles.

Country Roads by John Denver.

Cosmic Cowboy by Michael Murphy.

Songs of longing and loss with just enough hope seemed just right.

There was something about long haired men and pedal steel guitars that bent country and rock toward a new audience. Me.

The Eagles touring for Desperado was the first concert I saw. And heard.

It was in the old Paramount on Portland’s main street, Broadway.

The band that would go on to sell more albums than anyone else in the 20th Century played a road show in an under 3000 seat venue.

And it wasn’t a sellout.

I knew one song, Take It Easy, and figured The Eagles as another one and done band, the answer to a quiz question of one hit wonders and where they went.

On a sparse, clear, stage in front of an Eagle backdrop, the lights went down and the drummer sang Desperado in a voice sweet enough to make you believe in better things.

Who was Glenn Frey?

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He wasn’t a Texan like Willie.

He wasn’t Harvard like Gram Parsons. He was a Detroit kid taking LA for a ride.

The Eagles played concerts like country performers. Instead of running around doing guitar leaps and slides, they stood in front of mic stands and let it rip.

With harmonies better than the Beach Boys and guitars tuned to work their way into our brains, they turned what seemed like traditional music into something new.

The choices for music fans seemed pretty clear in the early 70’s.

It was Motown, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, Rolling Stones, or The Eagles.

Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band, Allman Brothers, or The Eagles.

Joni Mitchell, Carol King, Carly Simon, or The Eagles.

For wannabe scruffs it was The Eagles.