Remember When Travis Tritt Helped Reunite an Iconic Rock Band?

In 1994, Travis Tritt recorded a cover of the Eagles’ classic, “Take It Easy”. At the time, he likely had no idea that his song choice would help reunite a band that had been apart for several years.

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Tritt’s version of the song appears on Common Thread: The Songs Of The Eagles. “Take It Easy” is just one of the many Eagles songs on the record, sung by artists like Clint Black, Trisha Yearwood, Brooks & Dunn, and more. But unlike some of the other artists, Tritt released his version of “Take It Easy” as a single.

When “Take It Easy” came out, the members of the Eagles had long since gone their separate ways, after Don Felder and Glenn Frey had an intense falling out in 1980 while on stage. The band members went on to pursue their own endeavors, and it could have been the end of the group forever, except Tritt had an idea that he wanted the Eagles to appear in the video for “Take It Easy”.

How Travis Tritt Got the Eagles to Reunite After Their 1980 Split

When Tritt had the idea to do the “Take It Easy” video with the Eagles, most people thought it was an impossibility.

“Off the top of my head, without even thinking about it, I said, ‘Hell, I don’t know. Let’s get the Eagles back together,” Tritt says on The Road You Leave Behind.

No one said anything at the time. But a few days later, Irving Azoff, the manager for the Eagles, opened the window of possibility to Tritt.

“A few days later, I got a call from Irving’s office,” Tritt remembers. “He said, ‘Look, I’m going to leave this up to you. If you can get Don Henley and Glenn Frey both to agree to this project, but you’re going to have to call them, and you’re going to have to ask them.’ So, I got on the phone.”

Frey said he would do the video if Henley would, and Henley said he would do it if Frey would. Which, in essence, leaves Tritt responsible for their reunion.

“After years passed, you really sort of remember that you were friends first,” Frey later recounts. “I just remembered how much we genuinely had liked each other and how much fun we’d had.”

In 1994, the Eagles released Hell Freezes Over, a live album. That record includes “Love Will Keep Us Alive”, a No. 1hit for the group. Frey passed away in 2016, with Vince Gill taking his place in the band’s lineup.

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