7/28/2019 Randy Meisner: Flies High Solo
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By Dave ZimmerFlrotos hV l{enry
Ex-Eagle
!-\ I]RINC THE FRANTICI I thtoes of the late '60s. this cil)I I
n.u.,rreo more nruslcransI I rl^. it rewarded. The situationI I
1"..'t chansed much since,I I g,,t back in Ib67. when the Bu{-l,f
ulo Springtield was just begir-ning to latch.onto a bit of
successwhile burning up the Whisky stage;across town a band aptly
calledThe Poor was barely surviving,A one-bedroom apartment served
ashome for the five members who, col-lectivelv, were earning barely
enor:gb
numerous live shows and the first fiveEagles albums, And now
that Meisner'sburgdoning solo career is tirking an up-ward swing
with the release of OneMore Sang (his second solo LP, but firstfor
Epic), it's clear that ihis scenic md-sical sojourn is far from
over.As a late October evening begins. in-side LA's Le Seur
restautant on a sur-prisinglv busy Monday, Randy Meisneris seated
and enioying a glass of winewhile.light from:a table candle
illumi-nates his boyish face and clear blueeyes. Fie smiles and
reflects, "It feels
with The Eagles, one or two of hsongs would appoar per album,
and Ielt good about his role as lrackup vcalist and bassist, But by
1977, Meisnreached a point where he realizedwas time for a
change,"l'd been singing mostly backgrounmy whole lifel' he
explain!. "And I fured I was missing something by nsinging out
more. Listening to DlHenlevl and.Glenn [Frey], I knewcould do just
as well ttr better. Thathe poirit when I .tarted thinkiabout
quitting The Eagles' I was 31time in your iife when you wantmake a
decision if you uant to reago for something. I wasn't gojngwait
until I u as 401'
So Meisner left The Eagles followithe band's summer '77 tciur
and, urgon bv musician friend trrrned producAlan Brackett, he
immediatel,v plunginto a solo projcct, Richie Constanalso helped
orrt with some initialcording in Brackett's smali studrrhere. Randt
recall
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Meanwhile. back in LA. Meisner.sand lawver were chekingcompanv
interest in Meisneibeqan nagging Randy to return toand record
another album. Even_Meisner did return and smure adeal with
portrait Records, - -\\'hen uord got out that Randyr4s back in
town, recordiniGarav came calling. Gaihad known Rand1. since
the'pocoand had since worked with peterin th-e strdio r"cording
Jamiiand Linda Ronstadt, H"e ialkedRandr.aborrt prodrrcing his next
ai-and Meisner q.as ai for it."Val had been uanting to producea
u-hile," Rand;- iays.'..So, hea lol of ideas about how I shouldthe
alhum "nd thu -r.i"iunihould uork qith:'Caray's firrt;;;-\ as that
Meisner team rrp wii-hEric Kaz.\l hen Val introduced me to
him,..savs, "I was frightened to death_[Eduards] uai the onlv
othert { uritren closell. with, Doinglirst helped mc break down a
feriBut Eric's such a pro. he madefeel comfortable right awav and
letjlrst express ml.thouehis."Eric ended rrp u orkin! a lot on
thehecause J don't Dla-v guitar vervand ca n't read or ri.riie
music. Buihrrm a melody to Eric, spit outand hed condense it
downl,emotional sonqs likeOn Fire'and "Deen ln-"side Mr.{fcatrrring
a hackgrcund vocalKim (larnes) resrrlled. and then-Garar called in
,one*.riterrrl.-\1endr \\'aldnran. she"added herand voice to
several "n.poriiion,best of shich. "Trouble Aheadl'al an enqaging
pace with amelodl. and stinqlne lvrics.rrritinq. thse
songs"l.ith'Eric\4 endr'.'l\leisn"r ta1.,].. I was ablea lot of
real feeling into the com-as opposed to just collectinglt's reallv
hard. as I forrnd out. tosonqs hr other people and enJ
rr ith a good alhuml'
lev and I in particular really got offl.Throughout,One More
Son!, Meis_ner s vocal perlormane dips into pureEagles and rereals
a richer, lowerrange as u.ell..'l tried to work past
anypreconceived limitations I'd previouslvset for nrlselfl' Randv
says. ..On th!tirst solo album. I hadn't had a lot ofexperience as
a lead slnger. .o I olavJit real safe. On One Mire Sone. I
iir_corrred. I could sing quite a bii lowerand still go up to m\:
real high loicethat- I guess. has become mi trade-mark:' .
high voice . , . like minej' Meisner re-members, "The band had
ren me playand f guess that was "nougt. t'ti"yasked me to
joini'Randy saw this as a chane to leavebehind the rather staid
Nebraska musi,cal enlironment. and no sooner hadNleiisner ioined
the Soul Survivors thanthe qroup headed for Los Angeles."For
musicians growing up in thel\lidwestl' Meisner says.,'Californiau
as the onla place 1.ou dreamed aboutbeing."Brit the realization of
this dream was
Mid:70s Eagles: t L-R ) Frey, Feltlzr. M?isner t rear),
L""i;,;;. i""l"u
did, however, include somematerial on ()ne More Song.fiichie
Fura.'s ..Anru.a.l Br?Randy relearned fiom-aof h.imself sinqine the
song withat the Trorrbadorrr in 6e). and aof Jack Te n,p"hin ,"ngs.
:.w'hltiand the ritle track.Broune. recording in thencxl to
\lqiqn.t at Rccord One,Randt record "One MoreThe composition s
k.rics paint aportrail of a plaveis lastuith his band. The
$;1y"rr6o,name Randr.has since given to hisband),thought_the song
war rightso uc sat down at the piano,a demo of it and adrled one
lvric.of packin' awal m, guitir.r il)ackin awa]. m]. bass gultar.
.'actual recording of tie song.Eagles mates Glenn Frey an"dHenlev
sang background vocalr.had just added some vocalto "Take It to the
Limitl.therecorded initiall! at the Forumset to appear. along with
otherEagles live materiai. on thes llpcoming in-concert
album..sessions iu hich Val Gmfbring abour; were the first
timeClenn and Don had sungin almost three r.ears.a eo.od
feelingl"Ranjy says.talked to eich other in a
of 1ears. I_itile srudces iin_Brrt u e've patched Ihinis up.
Itsinging together againr Hen_
I[tn**ffi. I .l r in Caye. Mary Vt ells,Chrrck Berrv and James
Brown filled 'llt wasn't easylgaving The Eagtesbecause we hadbecome
tike a realfamily,,a se:t unit,,'ejsner's rereptive ears. 'I "r",
;.;;;!o {o a James Brown imitation,..Randr reveals.. Br exploring
this type of vocalphrasing and range variation, Veisneraqrees that
his carlr. R&B influencesarc coming full circle.
initialh not a pleasant experienc. Asthe band attempted to
attmct some in-dustr! attention (wilh help from man_agers Charlie
Stone and Biian Creene.rtho were also handline BuffaloSprinqfield
and Sonny & Ch-er), all theSoul Srrrtir or: endcd up doing'was
los_ing money. Consequently, t"he bandchanged their name to The
poor. Soonther didn't have enough money to suf-port their road
manager, who went onto_uork for the Buffalo Springfield,. In'68.
when the Bulfalo Spririgfielddisbanded and Richie Furay'andJlm_.mY
Messina were putting together po-co. Randl Meisner got a call. The
roadmanager had remmmended Meisner toFurar'."\l hen I arrived at
their house foran auditionl' Randy recalls, .-TimSchmit was
playing. So, I auditionedright after him, A couple of days
later,ther called me back and said. '.Weq ant youl ". Meisner was
in Poco for about alear. during which he plaved numer_ous live.shms
lthe most -memorablew-ere at_ the Trou badour) and was a partof
Poco s first LP, Pickin' Iln the piices.''There rvere some real
good timesdilring that vear,'Meisner sivs. ..And Isau tlre
potential there,.but'we couldnev-er get heard by the right
people."What made Meisner's stay in poco ashort one was a direct
resull of an ,.u]-ljnratum'he gave. principallv to Mes_sina and
Fura1,. "l told them I u.antidto bc in the studio when thev
werenrixinel'Rand) says, 'l said, .IfI.m lntho group. I feel I
should be able tocome dow.n therei They said.No';that< uhen I
rlrrit.'. Brrt Meisner wasn't unemployedlong. Rick Nelson, who had
reen Ranclvplaving bass with Poco at the Trouba'.dour, rvanted him
to play bass in the
l\leisner's grandfather hbd heen aRussian classical violiniit
and, Randvrenrembers. "mr molher *.as alwawsinging arorrnd the
house, I think thefirst song I eyer learndd -".i.Hnr.r_comb' bi'
Jimml. Deanl' Wiih the ;A-tent of Ellis Presley and ConwayT$ itt\.
Meisner picked up lhe suitarand. he sar.s. "l learned a lot
of"theirsonq.. because thev all had onl1. threet'hordsl' At the
irrging of his highschool slital teacher. Randv switchedto bass.-lt
jrrst felt naluml.. Meisnersat.s."The bas u.as something I lell
secrrreu ith and I was able to ge1 a lot of feel_ing o[t of it."The
Thunderbirds and The Dvnam-ics rere the bands Rand1. loinei as
ateenager. "We played whalever peoplewanted to hear." he rccalls,
.'We r entthrough a Beatles phase, did someventures. some soul and
R&B stuff,'.The Dvnamics eventually made a tripout of Nebraska
to Denver for a talentcontest. shere a Denver_based bandcalled the
Soul Survivors spoiled Meis-ner. "Thq Soul Survivors had just
losttheir bhss player. and he had a real
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ne\r band he rvas forming. Meisnertook the job and also
recommendedthat Nelson recruit what was left olThe Poor. Along with
steel guitaristTom Brrrmley, this combination be-eame knou'n as the
Stone CanyonBand. Randy stayed with Rick Nelson& the Stone
Canyon Band for two al-bums, a tour of Army bases in Europe,and
selected club gigs in California.' "Rick's a very sincere person,
but,when I was with him, he was trying towrite for the media, it
seemed, insteadof just diing.his own thing;' Randy
sals of his tenure with. the band,After'brieflt, returning to
Nebraskain l!.)71, Meisner ivent back to the
tosether."' ;;.:i;r" rrith nlans now to build this"srrpcrgrorrp.
contacted quitaristBernie Leadon. who had recently part-ed ways
with the Flying Burrito Broth-ers. Once a line-up was set, David
Gef-{en stepped in" financing the band and'inking a record
deal'ivith the freshlyformed Asvlum label. But before doinganl
recoiding or Iive shows in LA, th;nwlv named "Eagles:'took off for
Aspen. Colorado- to hone their music.temporarill'playing as house
band at aclub in the resort tdwn. Clvii Johns, anEngiish producer
chosen to mastcr--itla tUi iecording of The Eagles''maiden. altrum,
wa$.inftially not im-pressed with what he heard, "We werea little
hard for himi' Meisner recdlls,"Too mrrch, rock and rolll'But
Ecgles, tecorded at .London'sOlt'mpic Studios in 1972'.displayed
abalanced blend of rock, folk and coun-try'. And uhen,.the album
hit the air-uares and record stores that summer,led hv the Clenn
Frey-J ackson Brownecollaboration "Take It Easy;'it flew upthe
charts.Frel and Henlev handled most oftn" ttiiti"g, and, ii4"irner
rumembets;"Glenn arid Don werc aird still are ateam-and a good
leam, But it $ ashard to get inside that team. I vasn'tt'xperidnced
drough s'ith u riting songsdt that point. Don and Cldnn, livingl
ith JacksonIBrow4e]and J.D. ISodth-erl'frr a while, had quite a
head startl'Fir en hefore The Eagles rsereformed. this sonquriting
ieam hadconceived a rock and roll outlaw con-eept album,
depieting.iockers as mod-'ern-day' "despetados." In 1973,
thisconcept berame rr rcalitl on vin1l.' "1 went to visit mv famill
in Nebras-ka drrring that periodi' Randl' sa.vs."\{'hen I came
back,tbeDesperado al.bum las all pl4nned urt.'I'd t1v torvork in a
song about something andhear.'Well, this one ue've got alread;-kind
o{ covers ihat: 'Certain Kind o{!'ool' l as u ritten in England
while werrcre recnrding. \\ r'rtaled rrp all nightand brrrned it
out. and that \\'a\ m\song on the albrtm.'
Easy Feeling' and the like; we gthem lhat and a lot more.'This
more concerted turn intoand roll uas not a direction counoriented
Bernie Leadon was interesin prrrsuing. \A hen Leadon leftEagles in
1976. Joe Walsh filled thecancr-. Besides his obvious
hard:edinstrimental and vocal contributto.The Eagles, Meisner says,
"'Joethe only girl, I could get crazy wanvmore. Bi then, Clenn had
sedoun a lot and he and Don wereting real .szrious about
everyth\4'alsh'came. in and we started dthe duck-talk acirjss the
stage. Heu as on pins and nrdles. thinkingwere going to trip over
the cordblow it."Whether I was. playing in fron60O00 or T.people;
it made no dience to nie. I.Iilost Eagles concertthis iunctrire
were in huge arenabasoball stadiums.] They"re allpedple. lf 1'ou
blot it, they unstand. If rorr do u ell, thel understalooPlaiing to
ihe greatest numbersthe most dollars is obviousll' not a ti\ ating
lactor hehind Randr Meisnnrrrsic. Otheru ise. he netcr u c,uld
hleft The Eugles. Brrl a lear after thelease of Hofel CaliJornia
and followa sumnler'?7 torrr. Meisnel leftlSchmit. tho eight vears
eailiertakcn over for Meisner in Poco. becThe Eagles' neu bass
plaver andharmonr'.inger."lt $ asn't easv leaving The EagRaridl
adnrits, "because rve hadcoire like a real famill, a set unit'for
nre to have stal ed anl longer wohave been going against a feeling
Itrr go rtith)'\\'hat does Me'isner think ofEaqles crrrrent
nrrrsic?"I can:t hear mj' high end,' hen ith a, smile, "l)ut it's
coming togetrrYhen torr lose a bass plaler vcbeen plaling u ith for
vears, it's harimnrediatell establish a tight contion $ ith someone
ne*,. It's a rnatteiearning u,hen f)on is going todown on the bass
drum, and whefill in. But Tinr's a great bass plaand has a iealll
strong loice. Iin loing fonlard to hearing their nex
Hour about Randv Meisner'sventure?"\\'hen I finished One More
Slast Augtrst. I was all set to stafi aner album right au,at," he
says. ':Ibuzzing so mnch from rvorking
tr []il]l] fflllii,{il:llll r " ^t verv consciotrs of'songsI I I
;'.'n'::"1:r u;lJ'i:;:t;l-lI r'a hear a song someone in thegrorrp
wrote that sounded too much'.9! ygul oy.!:
il:;r*:mfiillxii"-:,s.:*rifi i:T'';iilitllJ,,Ti:f*ilrilb
*[iln::",hi";;"fi':#tnefe'S nO One erenruall also pla'ed *itf.
nrg"r [,lq- lisrened. sometimei thev ciidn't] iiou l'm qetting sei
to go on the rCrrinn and the New tiiders). Randr
AsthesessionsforOnlheBorderlte-
inacoupleofmrrnthc.rrithThesilrcovering for you.
j;;.1'::*l'l*;l*,1l,li*"Ujli i#;iili.l";:lh, lh:",",,,",i:.i:t
l::;J1l.i;,Hil?;,li'iXXlltillf it WOfkS fftS ,;X.#; ,;";th';[;, '-
* - i*"a. u;;' *""i*a someone who could H,irr. g.iitu" ";J ;;;i
,i""rr c
wonderruiiiit: *lxffiriliitlri*:*! ni".iilr,*'";1{*,:*';ili;}{
Hffi"l1}}iyilfff:*';l1doesn't you can't
:1,:,$:l;i:,fl"gi,ffn:x1il,*,{ll;:
l],1'.1;,?Ti[",'i:l:i:',,*l!";"'*:ii
[:'u,il,l";"jjT,ll"lh",';l;;'cry on tomeone
i:llii.,lit:liiffi:f,:"i;,?fi.1::
l::,:i,"i"il'Hl'il5-?illil.l,:"-?i:i:,: ;:':;';i:i,,lli,T,l"ii"ln*
is evoretde's shou,lder," ''ro:1.H,:t*iffti*." R""du
:,1';:,;'J:'1,1,";"X T,;:'"" ii:"U fJ;
,';i;ti?il,11i'-1:illliyr"x3:togetiier with nnriit"dt't" guitarisi,
pov'eriul brand of'rock and roll. a ioi of resistance, it usualll,
doeGlenn Frev. and her drummer, Don The next albtrm. One oJ Thete
work irut. But u,hen I let things
fHenlerr.Frev,accordingtoMeisner,re- Mghfs (released in '75),
included a it's like I have no control over umembered hitching a
ride on Sunset I{eisner-Felder original, the churning happens, I'm
a believer in predestBoulevardfromRandyduringthePoco "Too Manv
Handsj' and the soaring I was given a voice. gifted withda.u."s.
Meisner stiil doesn't iemember Nteisner-Henley-Frey song. "Take It
To ents rvho brought it orrt of me, athe incident. brrt he'll never
forget this the Limitl' have no idea what makes cerSig. "This uas
the first tlme we really things happen. When I went baci'Ronstadt
lrated mv bass plavingl' stepped outl'Melsns sals. "The way
Nebraska the last time, I realizeRandrrecal).."shegavenr.somclooks
ThcEaqleslradheenPresentedupto couldntlivethatlife.lrealizedlhathat
could kill, It mav not havd worked that point. a lot,of listeners
came to ex- to be here. My nrusic is what I do,out *ith her, but it
sure got The Eagles pect drostly nraterial like 'Peaceful is where
I should be''' tr
28 NOVEMBERTOSO/BAM
