This interview with Bernie’s Natural Progressions collaborator Michael Georgiades took place August 13, 2018 on The Jake Feinberg Show. It’s a fairly long interview and the parts relevant to Bernie starts about 56:00.
I found his discussion of how he met Bernie especially interesting:
Bernie’s band at the time was the Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons, Chris Ethridge, Chris Hillman, Sneaky Pete and Michael Clarke. Shortly after that, Bernie tells Michael he’s been rehearsing with a new band and he thinks it’s going to be pretty good. This new band turns out to be the Eagles.One day I’m sitting [in my house in Topanga Canyon] in this alcove we had and I’m playing my little Martin D28 and I hear this banjo playing off in the distance and it’s insane. I’m thinking, what is that? So I go to the kitchen door and it had a window in it and I see my girlfriend walking with this guy who’s got a banjo and they’re walking the distance toward the house and...he’s just wailing away, wailing. And he’s got cut-off jeans and some t-shirt or something, and I opened the door and go, ‘hey.’ June...says, ‘Michael this is our next-door neighbor Bernie Leadon’...I met him...he comes in and I offer him something and he says, ‘I’m in a band and we’re playing a noon concert at UCLA.’ Now I’ve known him at the most 10 minutes and he goes, ‘you want to go?’ I went, ‘yeah, sure.’ We went to that concert...
Michael also reveals he started writing songs with Bernie and recording demos from then on. After leaving the Eagles, Bernie gutted and re-built the studio of his house (which he had bought from Gary Burden who in turn had bought it from Neil Young), according to Glyn Johns’ standards. Johns produced and engineered Natural Progressions.
A couple of things I learned as well is that Bernie and Michael co-wrote “Life is a Game” which was recorded by Johnny Rivers on his L.A. Reggae album. Also Linda Ronstadt’s brother Michael, a musician who worked with Georgiades, died a couple of years ago. Bernie and Michael G. opened for Linda in 1977.
http://www.jakefeinbergshow.com/2018...des-interview/