Don Henley started his stint as a solo artist back before "hell froze over" -- a reference to the Eagles' acclaimed Hell Freezes Over reunion album and tour after a 14-year hiatus -- that brought the group to Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium in May 1995. Thereafter he was a solo act, performing at what was then named Alltel (now Verizon) Arena in North Little Rock, and once again a member of the Eagles, who went on to play four more times in central Arkansas until the death of member Glenn Frey in January 2016 brought an apparent end to the most successful American rock band.
Arena General Manager Michael Marion notes that the last Eagles concert there, in July 2015, was the next-to-the-last live show the band ever did, as their tour ended the following night in Bossier City, La.
Don Henley
Opening act: JD & The Straight Shot
7:30 p.m. Friday, Robinson Center Performance Hall, West Markham Street and Broadway, Little Rock
Tickets: $99.50-$160
(800) 745-3000
And now Henley is back on the road, under his own name, but certainly not as a solo guy with an acoustic guitar. No, he reportedly has a 15-person band backing him on a variety of songs. He'll perform a mix of solo and Eagles' songs Friday night at Robinson Center Performance Hall.
Henley is known as much for his solo hits -- including "The End of the Innocence," "Dirty Laundry," "Heart of the Matter" and "The Boys of Summer" -- as for his singing and drumming in the Eagles. Henley has received eight Grammy Awards for his work in the Eagles and as a solo artist and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
Henley released his fifth (and first in 15 years) solo album, Cass County, in September 2015. The country-oriented CD features guest appearances from Mick Jagger, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Miranda Lambert and Martina McBride. The album takes its name from the Texas county where Henley grew up in the town of Linden. The county is just southwest of Miller County in Arkansas -- making Henley the member of the Eagles with the closest connection to Arkansas.
And yet there's another Arkansas connection, as Henley's band will include Little Rock native Milo Deering on steel guitar. (Deering is the brother of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial cartoonist John Deering.)
Opening act JD & The Straight Shot, based in New York, features Jim Dolan (who also owns the New York Knicks of the NBA) on vocals and guitar, Byron House on bass and Erin Slaver on violin and fiddle. The New York Post called Dolan's voice "reminiscent of Tom Waits and Randy Newman." The group, which released an all-acoustic album, Ballyhoo!, in January 2016, is at work on a new, seventh album; the first single is a ballad, "I Know, You Know, I Know."
Weekend on 01/19/2017