Originally Posted by
peepers59
So you want to hear some stories about Matt Frey, eh? Well...we had some great times. Matt and I were guitar players, my brother Scott was our drummer and Jim MacPhee was our bass player. Jim & Scott were experienced players and were the backbone. Matt and I were learning how to play guitar. Glenn had given Matt a beautiful guitar and a Fender Twin Reverb amp. We started playing up in his bedroom at the corner of Maplewood and Catalpa. It wasn't easy, but we muddled our way through "Sister Golden Hair" by America, "Turn to Stone" and "Walk Away" by Joe Walsh. Glenn taught "Big M" how to play "Take it Easy" but we struggled to play anything all the way through. Patience was not a strong suit for Matt and that led to some hostilities. But we held on to the dream of making it big and stuck to our guns. Keep in mind that my brother Scott was closest to Matt. I was older and more square. Matt was intimidated by me to some degree, I think. Matt didn't practice as much as us but he wanted the same results when we jammed. I wasn't afraid to call him out on that and we butted heads often. It's too bad. Matt slowly became "Glenn Frey's brother" and it was almost impossible to speak to him without some form of vitriol spewing from his mouth. He protected his brother from us when he visited by insisting we not speak or interact with him at all. No cameras, no questions! I remember Glenn coming home to visit his family in the spring of 1975. Glenn's hair was long back then, and he wore a shirt that had what looked like the FORD logo on it, but it said FART. Sure made us laugh. He rented a piano and had it delivered to Nel & Ed's house. We were invited over to hear him play a new song he had just written that was sure to be a hit. So there Glenn sat down and played "Take it to the Limit" for us and we were all speechless when he finished. Nel had tears in her eyes. My brother and I looked at each other and realized Glenn was very right. That song was going to be a hit!