‘Hotel California’ soars with salute to Eagles

The members of “Hotel California – A Salute to the Eagles” have only respect and reverence for the country rock band that left such a wealth of material to perform.

George Dickinson, representative for the quintet – which will return to the Palace Theatre in Myrtle Beach for a concert at 7 p.m. March 4 – said the tribute group has been rockin’ for about 30 years, soon after the Eagles broke up in the early 1980s.

Hotel California, named after one of the Eagles’ many hits in the 1970s and based in the Golden State, has kept “a primary focus,” Dickinson said, not on copying any Eagles show, but “doing their own” presentation with such a large catalog of music, “doing really great songs that everybody enjoys.”

Dickinson stays surprised at fans’ “tenacity” to absorb and feel moved by the song “Hotel California” as the tribute band has played it every night through its tenure.

“That just really kind of blows me away,” he said, grateful that people love the tune on its own echelon.

It’s one of the many hits on which Don Henley and the late Glenn Frey teamed up, in this case, with a band mate at the time, Don Felder. Besides Henley-Frey’s own pairings to compose such numbers as “Lyin’ Eyes,” “One of These Nights,” and “Desperado,” they also were joined in credits by fellow Eagles Joe Walsh on “Life in the Fast Lane,” Randy Meisner on “Take It to the Limit, ” and Timothy B. Schmit on “I Can’t Tell You Why.”

Other stars lending their talents on Henley and Frey composing collaborations included J.D. Souther on “Best of My Love,” and New Kid in Town,” and Souther and Bob Seger rounded out “Heartache Tonight.”

Dickinson said he sees Henley and Frey’s partnership in penning music in a league “a la” Sir Paul McCartney and the late John Lennon from the Beatles work in the 1960s.

Staying in step with the “presentation as a whole” of Eagles music, Hotel California “really tries to key in on” being respectful of such material, Dickinson said, and how “the sum is much greater than the individual parts.”

Continuing to “give credit where it’s due,” to the Eagles for their music and own sound, Hotel California strives to share “an honest interpretation” of the melodies in its own ultimate tribute.

“The Eagles not only wrote great songs for themselves,” Dickinson said, “other people cover their songs.”

He brought up Vince Gill’s recording in the mid-1990s of “I Can’t Tell You Why,” and how hearing that done so profoundly and with such homage paid, “You know it’s him and that it’s one of the Eagles’ songs.”

Look for Schmit, who sang lead on that originally, on Wynonna Judd’s CD just released by Curb Records – her first since 2009 – “Wynonna & the Big Noise.” He wrote, and plays guitar on, “I Can See Everything.”

Every Christmas season, too, a cover song by the Eagles fills radio airwaves, from a ditty the late Charles Brown in 1960, with “Please Come Home for Christmas,” and singing drummer Henley handled the lead vocals.

Contact STEVE PALISIN at 843-444-1764.

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "‘Hotel California’ soars with salute to Eagles."