Album Review: The Eagles, Donna Summer, Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, Randy Owen and Many Others Pay Tribute to Dan Fogelberg

Dan Fogelberg passed away 10 years ago this month.  His memory has been kept alive this year by a number of events, including the release of two new albums, ‘Live At Carnegie Hall’ (a previously unheard performance from 1979) and a tribute album that features a long list of musicians that loved Fogelberg’s music.

 

This episode of Documenting Popular Music takes a look at the tribute album and artist such as Garth Brooks, who performs “Phoenix” with Trisha Yearwood providing background vocals; the late Donna Summer, who sings an inspiring version of “Nether Lands” using the same backing track that Fogelberg used for the 1977 classic; Amy Grant and Vince Gill, who provide a duet on “Longer” that gives new life to Fogelberg’s biggest hit; Randy Owen, the legendary voice of the group Alabama – the best-selling country group of all time – sings “Sutter’s Mill,” originally from Fogelberg’s progressive bluegrass album ‘High Country Snows;’ Zac Brown and his band deliver a live version of “Leader of the Band;” and Fogelberg’s good friend Joe Walsh of the Eagles sings “Part of the Plan,” a song he originally produced for Fogelberg for the 1974 album Souvenirs. Fellow Eagles Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit sing backing harmonies for the new version of the song.

 

Other artists on the album include Michael McDonald, Jimmy Buffett, Boz Scaggs, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Richie Furay, the late Dobie Gray, Train, Fool’s Gold (originally Fogelberg’s backing band) and Casey James.

 

Included in this presentation is inside, background information from Fogelberg’s former record producer, Norbert Putnam, one of the tribute album’s co-producers.  Putnam explains how Brooks and Summer got involved in the project, which is a true labor of love from Fogelberg’s widow, Jean Fogelberg, also a producer on the album.  She has worked hard to create a celebrated year for her late husband, and the tribute album is the final, very satisfying piece to an eventful year.

 

You can hear more from Putnam about his relationship with Dan Fogelberg in the Documenting Popular Music episode ‘Leader of the Band -- Remembering Dan Fogelberg with Stories and Insights from His Record Producer’ released earlier this year.

Read the Show Notes at

http://oandfstudios.com/documenting-popular-music/

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Coming soon from Documenting Popular Music, a look at Gordon Lightfoot’s career with author Nicholas Jennings; a conversation with Merrilee Rush (“Angle of the Morning”), a look at TV theme songs from the 1970s that became Top 40 hits; and a biographical sketch of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2018.