Don Henley and Shawn Colvin playing the Academy of Music on November 12th
Don Henley | Photo via https://www.facebook.com/donhenley
Shawn Colvin is opening for Don Henley on Thursday, November 12th at the Kimmel Center. The Eagles’ drummer and co-lead singer has a new country album, Cass County, and Colvin recently released Uncovered, a collection of covers of songs originally recorded by Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Graham Nash, Tammy Wynette, and others.
Henley’s recently released Cass County includes guest appearances by Merle Haggard, Miranda Lambert, Mick Jagger, Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood, Jamey Johnson, Alison Krauss, Vince Gill and Dolly Parton. It was produced by Henley and Stan Lynch, who co-wrote 11 of the songs on the album.
Writing about Cass County, NPR Music’s Chris Willman said:
Henley reportedly started recording Cass County years ago as a primarily covers-based project. The remnants of that approach are in the four bonus tracks sprinkled throughout the 16-song deluxe edition — none self-penned, all of them wonderful. The most notable of these is the Dolly Parton duet, on the Louvin Brothers hit “When I Stop Dreaming,” which finds Parton briefly stretching herself to become a raspy-voiced belter. If you’re foolish enough to settle for the standard edition, you do still get one cover — a contemporary one, of Tift Merritt’s “Bramble Rose,” with Lambert and Jagger joining Henley as the world’s unlikeliest superstar power trio. As the reissue of Sticky Fingers recently reminded us, Jagger is one of the world’s great underheralded country singers, and it’s a treat to hear him revisit his C&W “roots” here.
As for Henley himself, he’s 15 years removed from his last solo album, and seven years removed from The Eagles’ final attempt at a group record. So it makes sense that he’s finally left that ongoing garden party to head back to the desert. As Cass County proves, it’s fertile ground for him.
Below, watch Henley perform “Too Much Pride” from Cass County on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Go here for tickets and more information about the show.