Introduction
When guitarist Don Felder was invited to contribute to the Eagles’ third album On the Border, it only took one song—his slide guitar performance on “Good Day in Hell”—to capture the band’s attention. Felder recalls, “The next day after recording, I got a phone call from Glenn [Frey] asking me to join the band.”
From that moment forward, Felder became a key creative force within the Eagles. He co-wrote tracks like “Too Many Hands” and “Visions” for the 1975 album One of These Nights, and later helped craft two of the band’s most iconic songs: “Hotel California” and “Victim of Love.” His musical contributions also extended to The Long Run (1979), where he penned “The Disco Strangler” and “Those Shoes.”
Shortly after officially joining the band in 1974, Felder began composing songs for potential inclusion on future albums. One of those early efforts was a track titled “Move On.” With limited equipment at the time, Felder used a TEAC four-track tape recorder. Lacking a drum set, he improvised by placing a microphone on a cardboard box to record two minutes of percussion. He then layered in guitar and bass to build the musical foundation.
Felder remembers a piece of advice from high school friend and Eagles co-founder Bernie Leadon: “If you want to write songs for the Eagles, don’t write lyrics, don’t write melodies—just build a music bed with the song’s structure. Intro, verse, chorus, solo, chorus… lay the framework.”
Leadon’s advice carried weight—after all, he co-wrote “Witchy Woman” with Don Henley, a track from their debut album that charted even higher than “Take It Easy.”
Following that guidance, Felder shared a rough cassette demo of “Move On” with Henley. “He listened and said, ‘I really like that. Maybe we could call it Slide On.’ But to me, that name just didn’t feel right,” Felder shared. Ultimately, the band moved ahead with other songs, and “Move On” remained unreleased.
As the band began crafting One of These Nights, Felder continued to observe the songwriting chemistry between Henley and Frey. “In my opinion, Don and Glenn were the American Lennon and McCartney—a brilliant team,” he reflected, despite later personal and legal challenges that arose between him and the group.
Felder rejoined the Eagles in 1994 for the Hell Freezes Over tour, bringing together the classic lineup: Henley, Frey, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit. The Eagles were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. However, in 2001, Felder was dismissed from the band and subsequently filed a lawsuit, which was settled in 2007.
The Vault: A Musical Journey Spanning Five Decades
In the years following his departure from the Eagles, Felder continued to write and record. His first solo album, Airborne, was released in 1983. He collaborated with legends like Michael Jackson, Stevie Nicks, Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Barbra Streisand, and Alice Cooper. He also contributed to major film soundtracks, including Heavy Metal (1981) and Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). Later solo projects included Road to Forever (2012) and American Rock ’n’ Roll (2019).
It wasn’t until 2020 that Felder revisited the old “Move On” demo. After digitizing the original tape, he completed the song by writing lyrics and a melody, finally giving it the shape he had once envisioned. “I listened back to those old tapes and each one brought me right back to the moment I first created them,” he said.
Now, “Move On” serves as the opening track for Felder’s upcoming album, The Vault – Fifty Years of Music, slated for release on May 23, 2025. The album gathers songs spanning his five-decade career and features an impressive lineup of collaborators, including Steve Lukather, David Paich, Joseph Williams, and Greg Phillinganes from Toto; drummers Greg Bissonette, Brian Tichy, and Todd Sucherman; and vocals from Felder’s daughter Leah James and granddaughter Eva Jenner.
For Felder, The Vault is more than just a retrospective—it’s a celebration of artistic persistence. “I discovered how tough it is to write just the music without any lyrics,” he said. “But listening back, I felt compelled to finish these songs, to give them the life they always deserved.”