The album is dedicated to Glenn Frey, who of course was your good friend from the sixties in Michigan.
About three months after he passed I did his memorial in L.A. That had about seven thousand people. Everyone was there — even [original Eagles bassist] Randy Meisner and J.D. [Souther] and Bernie Taupin. I saw everybody. About a month before that I got the idea of listening to some of my old songs, and I found I Knew You When and I thought, “Oh my gosh, this even sounds faintly like an Eagles song. This is perfect,” and I said: “That’d be a great title for a Glenn tribute record,” y’know? So when I saw [Frey’s widow] Cindy in LA I asked her, “Would you mind if I did that. It’s your legacy. I don’t want to mess it up.”
She said: “No, I’m sure it’ll be in good hands with you” and I said: “Okay, that’s what I’m gonna do,” and that was the beginning of it. I had I Knew You When, that was it. Then I started studying the old stuff and writing new stuff and recording a couple of covers, and a year and a half later it was done. I really took my time on it. It’s a little bit political, but most of it’s about Glenn.