Eagles
The Eagles came together in Los Angeles in 1971, initially as the backing band Linda Ronstadt assembled for her touring and recording, before founding members Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner struck out on their own. Blending tight vocal harmonies, country-rock instrumentation, and radio-ready songwriting, they became one of the defining and best-selling American acts of the 1970s with albums like 'Desperado' and 'Hotel California.' Their smooth, harmony-laden sound helped push the country-rock of the late 1960s into the mainstream of soft rock.
The four founding Eagles first played together in Linda Ronstadt's backing band around 1971, and she has been credited with encouraging them to form their own group. Her polished blend of country material and California rock, and the studio craft around her records, was the direct environment the Eagles' sound grew out of.
listen forPlay Ronstadt's 'Long, Long Time' and then the Eagles' 'Peaceful Easy Feeling' — hear the same unhurried country-rock ballad setting, the gentle acoustic-and-steel backdrop, and the smooth, aching vocal delivery riding over it.
Founding Eagle Bernie Leadon played alongside Gram Parsons in the Flying Burrito Brothers before helping start the Eagles, carrying Parsons' vision of a heartfelt hybrid of country and rock into the new band. The Eagles' earnest country balladry and their taste for pedal-steel-tinged laments trace back to the template Parsons had been building.
listen forThrow on the Flying Burrito Brothers' 'Sin City' and then the Eagles' 'Tequila Sunrise' — notice the same weary, close-harmony country ballad feel, the mournful lean of the melody, and the sense of country songcraft dressed in California rock.
The Byrds are widely credited as pioneers of country rock, and their 1968 album 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo' helped chart the path the Eagles would follow: chiming guitars, country instrumentation, and stacked vocal harmonies fused to rock rhythm. The Eagles built their early sound on that same marriage of country twang and bright, layered harmony singing.
listen forPut the Byrds' 'You Ain't Goin' Nowhere' next to the Eagles' 'Take It Easy' and listen to the easygoing country shuffle under the guitars and the way the vocal harmonies open up on the chorus — that loose, sunlit country-rock lilt is the through-line.