Country Music Blog: Eagles

Like a lot of people, I couldn't get a good seat at Stagecoach festival this year because I didn't buy a VIP seat. (In fact, I didn't realize there would be VIP seats.) So I spent most of the weekend milling around behind the throng of lawn chairs and blankets and wrote about the festival mostly from what I saw on the big screens. That's OK, too. At least I didn't have to walk as far to the barbecue contest. And I could easily hear music from the Eagles, John Fogerty, the Judds, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood and more.

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The Randy Rogers Band, one of the hardest-working and most energetic groups out of Texas, has turned in their new album to Mercury Records. I haven't heard the album yet, but I did have a chance to have lunch with them in Nashville a few weeks ago, so I asked them how they think it compares to their past work.

"If you've heard of our band before, and you expect things to be different - nothing's different," Rogers said. "The songs are better and hopefully the musicianship is better."

They recorded the album with Radney Foster over the course of a few weeks outside of Lafayette, La., and only included one outside song. For the most part, they tracked the whole thing live, and they wanted to capture the band's electricity in the studio. Now, they're back on the road, with an upcoming gigs at the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif., in May, where they'll be performing alongside The Eagles and John Fogerty. No doubt a few Creedence and Eagles songs used to be in their set list back in the day, before they built up their set list with original music.

Last year, they built their audience with a single and video called "Kiss Me in the Dark." They're hoping to film another video for the new album (the release date hasn't been set), while continuing to hit the road as hard as they can.

"I think our work ethic is as strong as it's ever been," Rogers said. "I don't think any of us have a problem with paying dues, if you want to call it paying dues. Because paying dues is what we love, which is playing music live and creating music and messing with the set list, and having fun at it."

Am I the only one who’s surprised the Eagles outsold Garth Brooks during the first week his new boxed set was in stores? After initial sales of 711,000 copies of the Eagles’ Long Road Out of Eden, their second-week total is 359,000 -- slightly ahead of Brooks’ first-week tally of 352,000 for The Ultimate Hits, which includes two CDs and a DVD. (Jay-Z’s American Gangster sold 425,000 copies to eclipse both Brooks and the Eagles.)

Selling 352,000 copies of an album in a single week is a remarkable feat these days, and most artists would love to claim such an achievement. But most artists are not Garth Brooks, and you have to wonder what his sales expectations were this time around. Scarecrow, Brooks’ last album of all-new material, sold 466,000 copies during its first week of release in 2001 to debut at No. 1.

“All-new material” is the key. Although The Ultimate Hits features 34 audio tracks and 33 music videos, only four of the songs are new. Many fans already own the other 30. During an August press conference in Nashville, Brooks said he still has no plans to offer his music as digital downloads. Part of his reasoning was that The Ultimate Hits would be sold for such a low price, it would be an excellent value. As he pointed out, downloading all of the audio tracks individually would cost around 34 bucks. Most retailers are only charging $12.99 for the boxed set, and that’s a genuine bargain for anyone who doesn’t already own the 30 previously-released songs. But what if you only needed the new songs to update your Garth library? The downloads would only cost about $4. I admire Brooks’ insistence that his catalog titles, such as No Fences and Ropin’ the Wind, be sold only as a complete album -- since that’s how he intended for them to be heard. However, greatest hits compilations by their very nature involve slicing and dicing an artist’s catalog.

The Ultimate Hits will sell steadily throughout the holiday season and eventually attain multi-platinum status. But if the Eagles could log such impressive sales numbers at this point in their career, imagine what would happen if Garth Brooks offered an album of all-new material.

The Eagles and Jamie Foxx are appearing on the CMA Awards show -- and this year’s Country Music Hall of Fame inductees are not. That decision has angered a lot of country music fans, and I agree that the new inductees should be given priority over the Eagles and Foxx. On the other hand, I also feel that the new inductees should be given priority over all of the acts appearing on the awards show. It’s important to honor Vince Gill, Mel Tillis and Ralph Emery on their phenomenal achievements.

The CMA Awards show is essentially a TV broadcast, and having Foxx perform with Rascal Flatts should widen the viewing audience and boost ratings. It’s hard to imagine younger viewers anxiously awaiting the Eagles but the band will attract some older rock fans who might not otherwise watch the show. If you think about it, the Eagles are likely to be remembered as one of the most influential acts in the history of country music. No, they didn’t cater to a country audience, and only four singles made it to the country chart. (The most successful, “Lyin’ Eyes,” reached No. 8 in 1975.) But their vocal harmonies and unique blend of country and rock created a distinctive sound that country singers, songwriters and musicians have emulated ever since “Take It Easy” hit the airwaves. In 1993, the band’s contributions were honored in Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, an album featuring Gill, Travis Tritt, Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, Brooks & Dunn and several others. And if you’ve seen a Little Big Town concerts during the past couple of years, you’ve probably heard their great cover of “Heartache Tonight.”

Instead of cutting the Eagles performance to allow the Hall of Fame members to be acknowledged, maybe the heads of the record labels in Nashville should toss a coin to decide which one of their newer acts they’re willing to delete from the CMA Awards show. If the deleted act is good and/or successful, they’ll be guaranteed a slot on the show the next year. And if they prove to be truly significant, maybe they’ll one day be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. If that happens, I’ve got a feeling they’d appreciate being recognized for receiving country music’s highest honor.