Don Felder will release his fourth solo album, The Vault – 50 Years of Music, on May 23. The first single, “Free at Last,” can be heard below.
As the title suggests, the forthcoming album, his first for the Frontiers label, finds the former Eagles guitarist looking back on his long history in music, but with a unique twist. “I have, I’d say, hundreds of ideas….going back into the ’70s. For every Eagles song, I would write and record 15 to 17 song ideas,” he tells UCR. “One became ‘Hotel California,’ one became ‘Those Shoes‘ and another one became ‘Victim of Love,’ so I was always writing.”
“I went back and started listening to some of these older demos of mine and found what I think are some magical gems that I’ve re-recorded and reproduced,” he explains. “I also wrote some new songs to go with it as well. The recordings came out amazing and I’m really excited about it.”
“Free at Last,” he describes as “a heartfelt tribute to the freedom that awaits us beyond this life. It’s about shedding the burdens of this world and finding peace in the promise that one day, we will all be free at last.”
Listen to Don Felder’s ‘Free at Last’
Felder is joined on the upcoming collection by a number of guests, including David Paich, Steve Lukather, Joseph Williams and Greg Phillinganes from Toto, plus Gregg Bissonette (Ringo Starr, David Lee Roth), Todd Sucherman (Styx) and others. The album opener “Move On” is an example of one of the songs that comes from the earlier part of his career, dating back to 1974. Other tracks, including “I Like the Things You Do,” were among the new material Felder wrote especially for this project. The Vault also features a fresh recording of Felder’s “Heavy Metal,” the title track for the ’80s animated film of the same name.
Don Felder’s Tour Plans for Summer 2025
Fans will have ample opportunities to see Felder on the road this summer. He’ll be sharing the stage with Styx and the Kevin Cronin Band as part of the Brotherhood of Rock tour, which kicks off May 28 in Greenville, SC. The 40 date outing is presently set to wrap up Aug. 24 in Milwaukee, WI. “The amazing thing about this tour, to me is the catalog of all three of these bands,” Felder told UCR. “It’s going to just be hit after hit after hit. [In the past], we’ve had a little grand finale on some of the nights that we were feeling up to it, to kind of button up the very end of the show. So it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
READ MORE: Styx and Kevin Cronin to Play Entire Classic Albums on New Tour
Don Felder ‘The Vault – Fifty Years of Music’ Track List
1. Move On
2. Free At Last
3. Hollywood Victim
4. Last All Night
5. Digital World
6. I Like The Things You Do
7. All Girls Love To Dance
8. Together Forever
9. Heavy Metal
10. Let Me Down Easy
11. Blue Skies