Too Late To Be Cool – But Right On Time
By Randy Patterson, Boomerocity.com
Bernie Leadon has always blended musical brilliance with quiet humility. A founding member of the Eagles, a GRAMMY winner, and a musician whose touch shaped both rock and country music, Leadon has never chased trends. Instead, he lets the songs lead the way. Now, with his first solo release in more than two decades – Too Late To Be Cool – he’s showing that authenticity never ages.
“I live near Nashville – you know, it’s a good place to be for music. The musicians are also good and everything,” Leadon said with his trademark calm. After wrapping up 175 shows on the History of the Eagles world tour, he wanted to keep the creative momentum going. “I had a bunch of vintage recording gear, so I wanted to build a new building and put it in so it was like readily available and ready to use.”
That project took five years. “I also knew I’d need songs when I had a recording studio. I’d need songs to record,” he laughed. “Instead of just a couple songs a year, I started writing maybe 13 or 14, 15 songs a year.” When it came time to record, he called producer Glyn Johns.
The title Too Late To Be Cool came naturally. “I have no idea how I came up with it,” he admitted. “These things just arrive, you know.”
Still, the phrase holds deeper meaning. “The other meaning to the cool thing is being lukewarm or aloof or detached. It’s like too late to be detached, uninterested, standing aside, lukewarm. Be present and pay attention and live life and be involved.”
Leadon went old school, tracking the album live to analog tape. “Yeah, so it is true,” he said. “The reason we did it that way was because we’re all guys and we’ve always worked like that. But there’s a lot to be said for being, in this case, four musicians in the room together – we can see each other and listen and react in real time.”
Working with Johns brought that familiar chemistry. “We had the gear and we liked the sound of it, and nothing against digital, but there’s a complication factor that people get themselves into with digital… you can do 45 guitars and keep 15 vocals, and we’ll sort it out later in the mix. But then you get to the mix and you go, what were we doing?”
Recording on 16-track tape forced the team to commit. “You have to decide, first of all, is that the take or not? Everybody’s on it. In some cases, I did live vocals on three or four of these tracks. What’s on the record is the live vocal I sang when we did the track.”
The result is warm, intimate, and alive. “It hearkens back to an earlier type of recording,” he said, “but you have to have people that can play it now, live – like okay, one, two, three, go. Everybody plays great now.”
After decades in the business, Leadon still finds joy in learning and writing. “You always learn a lot,” he said. “I think I’ve learned a fair amount more about singing. The main thing is you have to tell the story in a believable way. The sooner you can get to it, the fresher it is and the more natural it is.”
He’s also refined his songwriting. “I think it’s obvious I’m a better songwriter than I was,” he said. “That’s not surprising, because I’ve had a lot more life experiences.” Writing, he added, “is like a little puzzle. The American popular song is only three, three-and-a-half, maybe four minutes long. But to try to be interesting musically, interesting lyrically, have a bit of wit… that’s the fun of it.”
Even the album art has a story. The cover photo – a silhouette of a young Bernie against city lights – was shot by legendary photographer Henry Diltz. “It’s a 45-year-old cover of (32-year-old) me with curly hair,” Leadon laughed. “We did a back cover that I shot myself just last month at 5:30 in the morning of the crescent moon and Venus right next to it. So it worked out perfect in that the front and back covers are separated, as I am from then, by 45 years.”
Leadon recently performed songs from the album at Americana Fest and is planning more shows. “We’re talking about some holiday dates and talking to an agent about dates probably in March, April, May timeframe,” he said. “So yeah, we’re going to do some shows.”
Too Late To Be Cool isn’t just an album title – it’s a philosophy. Leadon’s music blends heart, humor, and craftsmanship, reminding us that genuine artistry never fades.
The album is available now wherever you purchase or listen to music and the full interview is available on the Boomerocity YouTube channel, listen to it on the Boomerocity podcast, or visit Boomerocity.com.