Bernie Leadon - Early Career

Early Career

Leadon (pronounced "led-un") was born in Minneapolis, to Dr. Bernard Leadon, Jr. and Ann Teresa Sweetser Leadon, devout Catholic parents of ten children. His father was an aerospace engineer whose career moved the family around the U.S. The family enjoyed music, and at an early age, young Bernie developed a keen interest in folk and bluegrass music. He eventually mastered the 5-string banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar respectively.

As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit, The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers would prove a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including a shy, 18-year-old mandolin player by the name of Chris Hillman (The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, The Desert Rose Band) with whom Leadon would have a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers would eventually ask Leadon to join the group upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963.

His stint in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers did not last long. In late 1964, his family once again relocated to Gainesville, Florida, when his father accepted a position as Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. Leadon attended Gainesville High School, where he met classmate and future Eagles guitarist Don Felder. Felder's band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist and future Buffalo Springfield & CSNY superstar Stephen Stills. Upon Leadon's joining the group, rechristened Maundy Quintet, they gigged locally, even sharing the bill with future Gainesville legend Tom Petty and his early band the Epics (a band that also included Bernie's brother, musician Tom Leadon).

A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967 to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group, Hearts & Flowers, was enticement enough for Leadon to move to California, where he quickly fell in with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band: their sophomore effort, Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded in 1968.

By late 1968 Leadon had befriended bluegrass/banjo legend Doug Dillard, late of the Dillards. While crashing at Dillard's pad, informal jam sessions with prolific songwriter and ex-Byrds member Gene Clark began to take shape and morphed into what would become Dillard & Clark, a seminal country-rock band who would lay the groundwork for the country-rock sound that would dominate the L.A. music scene for the next decade. In 1968, the group recorded their classic and highly influential LP, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark. The album featured Leadon's warm and distinctive backing vocals and impressive multi-instrumental work. The album's highlights include several compositions co-written with Clark, most notably the future Eagles staple (and somewhat of a signature song for Leadon) from their debut album, "Train Leaves Here This Morning".

Leadon left Dillard & Clark in 1969, eventually reconnecting with ex-Squirrel Barker (and ex-Byrd) Chris Hillman, who asked him to join his fledgling country-rock outfit, The Flying Burrito Brothers, a band that Hillman had formed a year earlier with fellow ex-Byrd, Gram Parsons. Leadon would record two albums with the group: Burrito Deluxe and the post-Parsons LP, The Flying Burrito Bros. After the latter album's release in 1971, Leadon had tired of the band's lack of commercial success and decided to leave the band to pursue an opportunity to play with three musicians he had gelled with while moonlighting in Linda Rondstadt's backing band that summer. He would strike paydirt with this next band, the Eagles, which would launch his career and the country-rock genre into the stratosphere.