Remembering When Eagles Went in a Rock Direction by Adding Don Felder in 1974

It’s rare to find a hugely successful band that hasn’t at one point in their career pivoted to a slightly different style. Such moves can help them stay ahead of trends. Or it can just be a case of changing it up to find their wheelhouse.

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Eagles made such a move a few albums into their career. That’s when they began to phase out some of their more overtly country elements in favor of more of a mainstream rock flavor. The addition of guitarist Don Felder to the band in 1974 helped cement that transformation.

Taking the Country out of the Rock

Eagles easily could have gone the “ain’t broke, don’t fix it” route when it came to their career path. Forming in California after they’d been backing up Linda Ronstadt, they immediately established themselves with their hit debut single “Take It Easy”.

Their first two albums sold pretty well. Eagles also knocked out several hit singles from those LPs. But they grew frustrated with their reputation as soft rockers with a country lean. They felt they had more muscular songs in them. And they wisely intuited that the listening public was heading in more of a rock direction.

As they were constructed at the time, Eagles didn’t really have the makeup of a band that could do heavier rock. The quartet realized they needed a shredder of a guitar player. Luckily, they were acquainted with just such a guy in Don Felder.

From Jamming to Joining

Don Felder, raised in Florida, developed a reputation in the early 70 as a sharp sideman. He also showed chops as a writer and producer. More importantly, at when it comes to this story, he had an in with Eagles thanks to his relationship with Bernie Leadon.

Leadon, one of the founding members of the band, was a fellow Floridian who had played in an early band with Felder. When Leadon relocated to California, he kept hounding his friend, who was based for a while in New York, to do the same. When Felder made the move, he and Leadon would get together occasionally with other members of Eagles and jam.

Felder found a gig in the early 70s as a guitarist in a band fronted by David Crosby and Graham Nash. The duo needed someone to replicate Stephen Stills’ CSN parts when they played those songs live, and Felder was more than up to the task. While that was a good gig, he soon received an offer for a better one.

Felder on Board

Eagles were recording their third LP, On The Border, when they came to the song “Good Day In Hell”. They called Felder in to see if he’d add a slide guitar part to the song. Liking what they heard, he was soon invited to join the band full-time.

Felder didn’t demur too long before accepting the offer. He was fully incorporated into the group by the time they recorded their 1975 album One Of These Nights. He’d soon write the music for “Hotel California”, the song that would boost the band into a higher pantheon of stardom as the rock heroes that they strove to be.

Photo by RB/Redferns