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On the inside
an interview with Don Henley Joni Mitchell just completed an album of standards and then she did a second album which is comprised of her material orchestrated and done in the standard style. So I have some ideas about that. I might make a country album or a country/blues album. I’ve got all kinds of plans, I just don’t know if I’ll have the time to do it or not. [laughs] CM: Do you plan to work on more projects like the Walden Woods book project? DH: I’m always trying to raise funds for the Walden Woods Project. We still need to raise a $15 million endowment fund. It is a constant struggle for me. I don’t know if we will put together another book, but we do have other things in mind to try to raise that money. I also have an environmental project in Texas called the Caddo Lake Institute. That needs funding as well. CM: What is of concern to you regarding Texas’ environment? DH: Well, my utmost concern with regards to the Texas environment is the lack of consciousness and concern in the Texas business community and in the Texas Legislature. I just don’t see enough people being concerned. I think Texas still suffers from the frontier mentality. There are some people who think that there is still plenty of land and plenty of water, that we have unlimited space and unlimited resources and that is simply not the case. Texas, as we knew it, is shrinking and vanishing. Unfortunately, commerce still rules in Texas and any logical argument about health or the environment takes a back seat to commerce. I don’t know how much longer that is going to be allowed to go on, but it has got to stop. Houston has now surpassed Los Angeles as the city with the most polluted air in America. Texas as a state is the most polluted state and the most pollution-producing state in the Union. We have a government that is living basically in the Stone Age with regards to environmental concerns. We have an organization called the TNRCC which is the most blatant example of the fox guarding the chicken coup that I’ve ever seen in my life. When our governor claims to be an environmentalist, it is laughable, absolutely laughable. The chickens are all going to come home to roost pretty soon. CM: Are the Eagles planning to record and tour? DH: I don’t know the answer to that question. It’s a possibility. It has come up for discussion. As always with the Eagles, there is a 50/50 shot. It’s like trying to predict the weather. CM: What makes your latest CD different from your others? DH: I don’t know if it is unique. It still contains some of the same subject matter. I’d like to think that I’m a wiser person than I was 11 years ago. I would like to think that my insights are sharper and that my commentary is more concise. It covers a wide range of experience. It is really a yin-and-yang-type album. It deals with both sides of life. I think that there are things on there that people relate to. CM: What words of wisdom would you like to pass on to aspiring singers, songwriters, and musicians? DH: You have to work at it. The first thing is to try to develop some writing skills. To do that takes time. It requires observation, it requires soaking up the best parts of all the good things that have come before you. There are even songwriting classes that may have something to offer you. Songwriting at some level can’t really be explained — it is an intuitive thing. But I hear so many people try to write songs who simply slap down the first thing that comes into their head — it is rubbish! Every thought is not profound. Develop a love of words and of language and study the great poets and the great songwriters. The second thing I would recommend is to also get some knowledge and savvy about music business because, no matter how good you are or how talented you are, if you are going to be successful you are going to be in the world of business. And you are going to get royally screwed if you don’t know what’s up. If I had had the time, I would have become an attorney before I started making records! [laughs] CM: How would you like to be remembered? DH: [laughs] Just as somebody who cared about what he was doing. Somebody who tried to do good work and as somebody who used his good fortune to try to make the world a better place. Somebody who gave as well as took! I really look forward to coming back to Texas, the Mexican food out here [Los Angeles] is just not that good. It is a whole different ballgame. I’m looking forward to getting some good Tex-Mex and some good barbecue. For information, visit www.donhenley.com, www.caddolakeinstitute.org, www.walden. org, www.eaglesband.com, or www.don henleyfans.com. |
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