Maps of Music

Cass County (2015)

Where the lyrics of Cass County take you, and where it was really made.

Named after the East Texas county where Don Henley grew up, the album was made mostly in Nashville.

Key places

Recording location: Red Oak (Dallas) (2015)

Recording site Red Oak (Dallas) — The album's recording location list includes Red Oak near Dallas, Texas, and this point is placed at the listed building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording in Nashville (2015)

Recording site Nashville — Henley said the great majority of the recording was done in Nashville. This point is placed at the city centre, not at the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Cass County: fifth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Don Henley
• Released September 25, 2015, by Past Masters Holdings and Capitol Records
• Henley's first new solo album in 15 years, since 2000's Inside Job
• Album named after the East Texas county where Henley grew up

Background

• June 2015: Henley spoke about recording the album in Nashville, Tennessee
• Henley said he enjoyed making this record more than any record he had made in his career
• He credited the people who took part, saying the musicians were amazing and mostly funny

Recording

• Producers: Don Henley and Stan Lynch
• Engineers: Jeff Balding, Chris Bell, Gordon Hammond and Hank Linderman
• Additional engineers: Billy Chapin, Richard Davis and Tim Kimsey
• Mixed by Jeff Balding at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, and Opolona Studio in Los Angeles, California
• Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering in Portland, Maine
• All tracks composed by Henley and Lynch, except where indicated

Cover

• Photography by Danny Clinch; additional photography by David McClister
• Art direction and design by Jeri Heiden at SMOG Design

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Artist

Formation

• Born July 22, 1947 in Gilmer, Texas; grew up in Linden, Texas.
• Early band Shiloh formed in Texas; moved to Los Angeles in 1970 with Kenny Rogers' support.
• Met Glenn Frey in Linda Ronstadt's backing band; together they formed the Eagles in 1971.

Members

• Founding member, drummer and vocalist of the Eagles.
• Sang lead on "Desperado", "Witchy Woman", "Best of My Love", "One of These Nights", "Hotel California", "The Long Run" and "Life in the Fast Lane".
• After Glenn Frey's death in 2016 became the Eagles' only remaining consistent founding member.

Career

• The Eagles sold over 150 million albums worldwide, won six Grammys and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
• Solo debut I Can't Stand Still (1982); "Dirty Laundry" reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Building the Perfect Beast (1984) produced "The Boys of Summer", a No. 5 hit that won a Grammy and MTV Video Music Awards.
• The End of the Innocence (1989) was his most successful album; the title track reached No. 8.
• Solo albums: I Can't Stand Still, Building the Perfect Beast, The End of the Innocence, Inside Job (2000), Cass County (2015).
• Solo sales exceed 10 million albums; won two Grammys.
• Ranked 87th greatest singer of all time by Rolling Stone in 2008.
• Founded the Walden Woods Project in 1990 and the Caddo Lake Institute in 1993.
• Co-founded the Recording Artists' Coalition in 2000 to advocate for musicians' rights.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: 72 out of 100, based on 9 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews
• Rolling Stone's David Icke wrote that the album is meticulously crafted and sharply written, and free of neo-country additives
• PopMatters' Dave Heaton found that at its best the album fits the genre's traditions well, but at its worst leans on cliches and a lecturing sense of wisdom
• The New York Times' Jon Caramanica said the number and potency of guests sometimes make it sound like a tribute album, and noted that Henley, now 68, has a voice that has decayed nicely

Records

• Rolling Stone ranked the album number 20 on its Top 50 Best Albums of 2015
• Rolling Stone ranked the album number 2 on its Top 40 Best Country Albums of 2015
• Billboard 200 debut: number three; Top Country Albums: number one
• Top-selling album of the week in the US, with 87,000 pure album copies sold
• 259,400 copies sold in the US as of August 2016

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Stan Lynch, the original drummer in Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, co-produced the album with Henley and co-wrote the tracks.
• Caramanica wrote that the guests made the record sound like a tribute to someone not yet gone.
• Henley's remark about the sessions: the best thing was that most of the musicians were funny.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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