It’s been too long since we’ve heard new music from Bernie Leadon. Leadon, of course, helped usher in Americana music during his days with the Flying Burrito Brothers and Dillard & Clark, and co-founded the Eagles, for whom he co-wrote “Witchy Woman” and “Train Leaves Here This Morning,” and wrote the send-off song “I Wish You Peace,” which appeared on One of These Nights, the final Eagles album on which he played. Now it’s a real gift to have Leadon’s first new album in 20 years, Too Late to Be Cool.
The album opens with the breezy, Caribbean-style rhythms of “Zero Sum Game,” with highly textured layers of guitar and B3 tumbling beneath Leadon’s clear baritone and the ethereal harmony vocals of the chorus. The atmospheric song meditates on loves lost and loves gained. A slowly meandering lead line snakes through echoing strums on the bluesy “Telescope” as it evokes our tendency often to miss that’s near us by looking far beyond us.
