Eagles Cofounder Bernie Leadon Comes Full Circle With First Album In Over 20 Years

10-05-2025

Eagles cofounder and Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer Bernie Leadon is releasing his first new solo album in 21 years, "Too Late To Be Cool", this Friday, October 10th, and he revealed in a chat with antiMusic how the experience of creating the album harkened back to how the Eagles recorded their early albums with legendary engineer and producer Glyn Johns.

Bernie returned to the road with the Eagles a decade ago and he shared with antiMusic's Zane Ewton how that experience inspired him to reunite with Johns to create the new album and how the process mirrored how the Eagles recorded their early records with the famed producer.

When asked what got the ball rolling for the new album, Bernie explained, "I went out with The Eagles in 2013 through 2015 and we did more than 175 shows. That experience got my juices flowing. My chops were up and I was writing more. Through the years I've also collected a lot of recording equipment. So in the couple of years following the tour, I built a new studio to put all my recording gear in.

"The next step was inviting my friend Glyn Johns to record with me and. We had a bunch of songs to pick from. It's an analog studio, like the peak of 1970s, 80s and 90s analog recording. We recorded it to 2-inch tape, 16 tracks. Which sounds fabulous, right? Because it's a fatter, wider track. But it forces you to work quickly and make decisions as you go. You can't keep seven vocals and 53 guitars and sort it out later.

"Making decisions as you go, the mixing is much faster, and it gives us a fresher take on everything. You bring in great studio musicians and let them play. Many of the songs were first, second or third takes. You know when we got a good take right away.

"It sounds like four guys playing live in a room because it's four guys playing live in a room. And Glyn Johns is so experienced at doing this. That's how he started with those early records with The Who and the Stones. And all those early records with the Eagles.

"It's an entirely analog project made with great players on great gear, so it sounds great. I'm really happy with it."

Zane's conversation with Bernie will officially go live on Monday (October 6th), but readers can check it out early here.