Having spent over six decades in the music industry, Don Felder has watched the genres change time and time again. And during that time, he left his own mark on the industry when he joined the Eagles during the 1970s. He was not only the lead guitarist but one of the songwriters behind “Hotel California.” His talents landed him in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Thanks to his years in the spotlight, the musician had more than enough stories, like the first time he heard Tom Petty and thought he was a knockoff of Bob Dylan.
Before Petty overtook the airwaves with “Free Fallin’” and “American Girl,” he was an aspiring artist looking to gain his footing. At the same time, Felder was teaching at Lipham Music. He admitted, “When I first met him I was teaching at Lipham Music, not getting paid but for every hour they would give me a $10 credit. So it would add up and I could use that money to upgrade my amp or my guitar or strings or stuff. Tom was like Stephen Stills — very enthusiastic.”
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Able to recognize the passion and talent Petty possessed, Felder decided to see one of his shows. “These two girls are standing next to me — why I chose to stand between two girls I’ll never know [laughs] — but they’re going, ‘Oh, he’s so great! He’s so this and that, and I love his voice!’ And he was kind of singing like Bob Dylan; that’s what was happening at the time, so he sounded more like a Bob Dylan knockoff than Tom Petty.”
The Only Advice Don Felder Gave To Tom Petty’s Band
While understanding that Petty was finding his voice, Felder saw the main problem to be not his singing, but the people he shared the stage with. “His two guitar players were horrible. I went to a rehearsal after that and said, ‘You stop playing when Tom’s singing. When Tom’s not singing, you can play. When he moves away from the mic, you can play and solo and do whatever you want.”
Giving the musicians a quick lesson on how to support the main act, Felder simply left. “I kind of helped them a little bit. Then I moved to Boston and we lost touch. I didn’t really hear about him until his first album came out a few years later.”
With both Felder and Petty eventually earning spots in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the two helped shape rock music for decades. From writing iconic songs to selling millions of albums, the legends left an undeniable mark on rock music.
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