GRAMMY Artist From Sacramento: Timothy B. Schmit Of The Eagles
"I'm just a white boy from Sacramento," Timothy B. Schmit sang on his solo song, "White Boy from Sacramento" in 2009. "I'm not too funky, or so I'm told."
Anyone who has heard the Eagles' classic "I Can't Tell You Why" might argue the "funky" point. The song wasn't aggressively funky, but had a laid back R&B groove that didn't really sound like anything the California supergroup had done up to that point. And it was funky enough that when R&B trio Brownstone covered it in 1995, they didn't change the arrangements very much.
But it's true that "funk" isn't the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the ageless bassist/singer. Playing in a number of bands in the '60s, his first taste of radio play was as a member of Sacremento garage rock band the New Breed, who had a minor hit with "Green Eye'd Woman" in 1965.
Towards the end of the decade, he auditioned for the bass player position in Poco, one of the first bands to combine country and rock, a hybrid that would dominate radio in the '70s. Schmit didn't get the gig, losing out to Randy Meisner. But soon, Meisner would quit the band -- to join the Eagles. So Schmit got the gig. While in that band, he wrote and sang on one of their biggest hits, "Keep On Tryin'."
Years later, in 1978, Meisner quit the Eagles after the Hotel California album and tour. For the second time, Schmit took Meisner's former gig, playing on the Eagles' final album before their breakup, 1979's The Long Run, the album that featured "I Can't Tell You Why." It was during this time that he won his first GRAMMY as a member of the Eagles, for "Heartache Tonight,"
After the Eagles breakup in 1980, Schmit worked as a bassist and backing vocalist for hire, doing studio work with Crosby Stills and Nash and his former bandmate Don Henley, and touring as a member of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band (legend has it, he actually coined the term "Parrotheads," the affection nickname for Buffett's fan base).
Of course, in 1994, hell froze over, and the Eagles reunited; since then they've won two more GRAMMYs (Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals in 2007 for "How Long" and Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 2008 for "I Dreamed There Was No War").
Tragically, with the recent passing of founding guitarist/singer/songwriter Glenn Frey, it looks like the last page in the book of the Eagles has been written; it's hard to imagine them going on without him. But hopefully, Henley, Schmit and Joe Walsh will work together again in some capacity.
But even if they don't, their career has been incredible: millions of albums sold, millions more tickets sold, and songs that are permanently in the public consciousness. And while Schmit is probably still "the new guy" in the band he's still done pretty well, for a kind of funky white boy from Sacramento.
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