Backup Band and Additional Musicians

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Happy belated birthday to Scott Crago. Hope it was a good one.

[sodascouts]

Happy 56th Birthday to Scott.

Is he 56? Time flies!

[shunlvswx]

Happy Belated Birthday to Michael Thompson.

Also Erica Swindell got engaged yesterday. She just posted on her Instagram. He's a cute guy. He's also a musician.

[Delilah]

Didn’t see this posted anywhere (ok I didn’t exactly search high and low ). This is a nice article about the guys who back the band members at concerts and on some of their albums. Discussed are John Corey, Scott Crago, Steuart Smith, Michael Thompson and Will Hollis.


Read More: Eagles Touring Members: The Band Behind the Band by Corey Irwin, Ultimate Classic Rock, July 11, 2020

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Thanks Delilah - That article has been posted before, but it never hurts to see things again.

I remember the article because the picture they posted of Michael Thompson is not him.

[sodascouts]

Poor Michael Thompson! His name is just too common!

[Scamp]

I think Stuart Smith is a great guitar player and works well with Joe, in fact he appears with Joe on his Vet's Aid concerts. Joe has been bring Stuart into his songs more and more. They play a lot of solo parts together but in harmony. It's easy to recognize Stuart in pictures because he uses a thumb pick which puts his right hand in a different position than those who use a regular pick. Stuart did a lot of guitar playing on the LROE album in fact Joe said that he did very little guitar playing and played mostly piano, keyboard and organ laying just solo parts and such.
I have a question about Stuart. Has anybody heard him sing? I've looked for YouTube with him singing, even backup, and can't find anything. expect guitar of course. He's played with so many others but just no singing. Just wondering what he sounds like and where he fits in the Eagles harmony. I noticed in the Forum Concert he didn't sing as much. Usually he sings on most all the songs, in fact Joe seemed to sing more than Stuart.
I love him and him and Joe on the talk box in "Those Shoes" I wish Joe would take Stuart on tour with him they look like they really like playing together. Joe really likes having another player to bounce off of. They complement each other so well.
I going to take some flack for this but I think Stuart is just as good if not better than Don. While Don is a great guitar player, he songs he writes seemed to involve guitar solos as the primary and singing as the secondary. Stuart, like Joe, is a musician who plays guitar. He understands how a band works and everybody has different part to play in the band.

[shunlvswx]

This year marks Will, Steuart, and Michael's 20th Anniversary of playing with the Eagles.

[thebagels]

Regarding Steuart's singing, I actually think he sings high vocals. The reason is because on this part in every Eagles arrangement of TITTL I've heard, the lower vocals usually drop out, but the higher vocals will harmonize "to the limit." Steaurt sings during this part.

https://youtu.be/ZJ7s5CQli44?t=191

Also, during SBR at the line "running like a child," there is a unison lead that is very high. Steuart sings during this part, but I don't hear another harmony.

https://youtu.be/SEUqyuxT1Qk?t=121

Steuart also sings the tenor part above Rodney Crowell when they perform together.

https://youtu.be/RjlyGATCyaE?t=650

I suspect that most of the harmonies are doubled by the backing musicians at this point. Sometimes I wonder if Joe is even on mic during harmonies based on the fact that Joe had a very unique way of singing harmony in the 1970s, but now I can't hear him sing at all.

[Scamp]

Thanks I know Joe sings the lower harmony. I have noticed when he sings with other artist he drops down and loses his rock voice, as I call it. When he sings lower he really sounds good but I noticed he loses his unique sound.
Well lets hope they can get out on the road soon, they're not getting any younger. Even Don says his voice is going so in someways the layoff may have helped. I haven't really heard any of the others singing during the layoff, Joe has done a couple things with Ringo.