Eagles Desperado album photo shoot – Dec. 18, 1972

The Eagles’ Desperado album photos were taken at the Paramount Ranch western film set in Agoura Hills by Henry Diltz, and Gary Burden was the album cover graphic designer. The album was recorded in London at Island Studios with Glyn Johns as their producer. Glyn had recorded the first Eagles album, too. (Bill Szymczyk would later take over as producer beginning with their next album which had already been started with Johns, On the Border.)

The Desperado album was released Apr. 17, 1973 and is their 2nd album. As a promotion, stagecoaches were used to deliver albums to radio stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, and Seattle. A photo of the stagecoach is below.

Paramount Ranch was destroyed by the Woolsey Fire in November 2018. Photos of the old west film set are near the bottom of this page.

“The gear they got really could have been worn by John Wayne because it came from the same rental place that supplied all the big movies. The band loved those clothes so much, they refused to return some of them, which must have cost David Geffen…”

Henry Diltz, photographer

Interviews:

Glenn and Randy are interviewed by Redbeard for “In the Studio with Redbeard” about this album and the On the Border album. Randy shares a funny story about the guys riding their horses. The Redbeard interview is on the Podcasts and interviews with Randy Meisner page on this website. Also, on this Desperado post (farther down this page) is the short video clip from the Laurel Canyon documentary of all four Eagles riding horses. And, there is a Cameron Crowe interview with Glenn Frey for a publication called “Zoo World” below.

Videos (short excerpts and clips):

Desperado trucker:

A desperado trucker held the office manager at Elektra Asylum Records in New York hostage for two hours on Mar. 20, 1980 until a New York radio station DJ played “Desperado” on the air for him. The New York Post did a 40-year follow-up story on the desperado trucker.

Henry Diltz remembers the Desperado photo shoot

This excerpt from Under the Covers with Henry Diltz and Gary Burden shows the footage of the Desperado photo shoot as it’s being filmed.

1999

Excerpt from the BBC documentary Hotel California: LA from the Byrds to the Eagles

Some comments by Henry Diltz, JD Souther, and Ned Doheny – Ned gave the book called The Album of Gunfighters to Jackson Browne which began the Desperado concept for the album.

2007

“Who Shot Rock and Roll” documentary with Henry Diltz

2012

“Library After Dark – A Conversation with John Van Hamersveld & Henry Diltz” at the El Segundo Public Library in California

Feb 13, 2020

Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, and Bernie Leadon

More readable song info farther down on this page

Photo used for album cover

Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, and Bernie Leadon

Desperado billboard on Sunset Strip and the photo used for the billboard

Randy Meisner, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Bernie Leadon

Eagles Desperado photos

Jackson Browne, Boyd Elder (in white coat), Randy Meisner, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Bernie Leadon

Bernie Leadon

Henry Diltz getting the shot he wants

Jackson Browne

Eagles Desperado album photo shoot
JD Souther and Jackson Browne
Eagles Desperado album photo shoot
JD Souther

JD Souther, John Hartmann, and Jackson Browne

Eagles Desperado album photo shoot
Don Henley
Eagles Desperado album photo shoot
Glenn Frey
Eagles Desperado album photo shoot
JD Souther and Bernie Leadon
Eagles Desperado album photo shoot
Bernie Leadon
Eagles Desperado album photo shoot
Glenn Frey
Eagles Desperado album photo shoot
Bernie Leadon

Randy Meisner

Larry Penny, Richard Fernandez, and Tommy Nixon

John Hartmann

John Hartmann and Glyn Johns

John Hartmann, Glyn Johns, Boyd Elder (on horse), Larry Penny, Tommy Nixon, and Richard Fernandez

Eagles Desperado album photo shoot

Henry Diltz

Eagles Desperado album photo shoot

JD Souther

Boyd Elder, Larry Penny, and Gary Burden

Foreground: Gary Burden
Background: Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey

A short clip from the Laurel Canyon documentary with Randy and the Eagles on horseback

Screenshots of Randy Meisner on horseback

Eagles Desperado album photo shoot
Eagles Desperado album photo shoot

“This shot of the Eagles was taken the day we did their Desperado album cover out in Agoura Hills. It never really got used in connection to the album art, but I’ve always really liked it. That day we all really went back to the 1800’s… a complete time warp.” per Henry Diltz

Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner

Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner

Eagles Desperado album photos

Standing L-R: Gary Burden, Larry Penny, Richard Fernandez, Boyd Elder, Tommy Nixon, John Hartmann, and Glyn Johns

Standing L-R: Gary Burden, Larry Penny, Richard Fernandez, Boyd Elder, Tommy Nixon, John Hartmann, and Glyn Johns

Standing L-R: Gary Burden, Larry Penny, Richard Fernandez, Boyd Elder, Tommy Nixon, John Hartmann, and Glyn Johns

Standing L-R: Gary Burden, Larry Penny, Richard Fernandez, Boyd Elder, Tommy Nixon, John Hartmann, and Glyn Johns

The photo chosen for the back of the album cover

Standing L-R: Gary Burden, Larry Penny, Richard Fernandez, Boyd Elder, Tommy Nixon, John Hartmann, and Glyn Johns
Dead on ground L-R: Jackson Browne, Bernie Leadon, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, Don Henley, and JD Souther

Boyd Elder, who is in the photos above, was the designer of the Eagles albums with the skulls on the covers. He received a Grammy nomination for the best album cover art for his artwork on the One of These Nights album.

The Odessa American (Odessa, TX) – Aug. 2, 1987

Boyd Elder albums 1

One of These Nights
Released June 10, 1975

Boyd Elder albums Greatest Hits 2

Their Greatest Hits
(1971-1975)
Released Feb. 17, 1976

Boyd Elder albums Very Best 2

The Very Best of the Eagles
Released May 10, 1985

This is a short film about the artist Boyd Elder. Boyd died Oct. 6, 2018 in Texas. He was a colorful character, so be prepared for some questionable language in a few places.

There are no accompanying articles, only the text below each picture. Since the Desperado album was released April 17, 1973, most likely these promos occurred right at that time.

Cash Box magazine – June 2, 1973
Randy Meisner is second from left, and Glenn Frey is third from right.

Billboard magazine – June 2, 1973

These two photos were taken when Glenn and Don stopped by WNEW-FM radio station in New York to promote the new Desperado album. The Eagles were in New York to record the concert at Central Park that was televised on the Good Vibrations TV show that aired Aug. 23, 1973. Radio station visits like this were necessary to promote their albums.

Eagles Desperado album photo shoot

Since the image of the back cover of the album (shown above) is really hard to read, here is the list of songs with the writers and lead vocals noted.

From Wikipedia

Cameron Crowe interviewed Don Henley and Glenn Frey about the history of some of the Desperado album songs – Aug. 2003

Eagles Desperado album photo shoot

From the book “Sound Man” by Glyn Johns – pg. 199

Cameron Crowe interviews Glenn Frey about the Desperado album

ZooWorld – Sept. 13, 1973
Zoo World was a bi-weekly music magazine published between Jan. 1972 and Jan. 1975 in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Cameron Crowe was a contributor.

The Cleveland Scene (Cleveland, OH) – May 3-9, 1973

“‘Doolin-Dalton.’ which opens the album, and ‘Outlaw Man,’ written by David Blue, outline the dimensions of this sort of personality in ominous fashion, setting the stage for an eventual, album-ending brouhaha.”

Eagles Desperado album photo shoot

Boston Herald (Boston, MA) – May 6, 1973

“With the release of ‘Desperado,’ the Eagles’ second album, the band has clearly established itself as ‘a cut above the rest’.”

Eagles Desperado album photo shoot

Staten Island Advance (Staten Island, NY) – May 6, 1973

Eagles Desperado album photo shoot

The Cleveland Scene (Cleveland, OH) – May 17-23, 1973

“But the Eagles aren’t mere imitators; they’re innovators in this colorful new genre of music, and their musicianship is comparable to few others.”

Eagles Desperado album photo shoot

Springfield Leader and Press (Springfield, MO) – May 20, 1973

“Listening to Randy Meisner wail, you are never sure if he’s singing about a guitar or a gun, and then you realize it’s probably both.”

Phonograph Record magazine – June 1973

“The fact that the cuts work individually as well as together is why Desperado stands out among the prolific country-rock albums around these days.”

Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA) – June 7, 1973

“In ‘Certain Kind of Fool,’ for instance, the song does not specify the object that the boy buys from the store window and practices with in the country until he is good enough to stand with the best. We assume it’s a gun, but it could just as well be a guitar.”

Eagles Desperado album photo shoot

The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, CA) – July 29, 1973

Circus Magazine – August 1973
Rock Stars Are Outlaws

pdf version

Pg. 44

Pg. 45

Pg. 46

“‘Desperado’ is ostensibly the story of Bill Doolin and Bill Dalton; it follows their development as small-time bandits, their flight from the law and eventual death in the archetypical Wesern showdown.”

The Indianapolis News (Indianapolis, IN) – Aug. 2, 1973

Vidette-Messenger of Porter County (Valparaiso, IN) – Aug. 23, 1973

Eagles Desperado album photo shoot
Cash Box magazine – Oct. 5, 1974
Eagles Desperado album photo shoot
The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) – Nov. 14, 1976
Eagles Desperado album photo shoot

Las Vegas Review-Journal (Las Vegas, NV) – June 18, 1977

The LA Times (Los Angeles, CA) – Sept. 30, 1979

garyburdenforrtwerk.com

Uncut Magazine – May 2007
The Henry Diltz photo shoot is featured in this 4-page article.
(Click on each image to enlarge. The pdf version is better for reading the text.)

Pg. 78

Pg. 79

Pg. 80

Pg. 81

Uncut Magazine – June 2013
UNCUT Magazine and the story of how the Desperado album came about
(Click on each image to enlarge. The pdf version is better for reading the text.)

Pg. 26

Pg. 27

Pg. 28

Pg. 29

“As a 21st birthday present, our friend and fellow musician Ned Doheny had given Jackson Browne a big coffee-table-type book of photos of the famous outlaws of the Old West. Jackson showed the book to JD and Glenn and suggested that they all collaborate on a song about some of these outlaws.”

Rolling Stone – June 10, 2016

The Tennessean – Apr. 22, 2022

Jim Ed Norman, a member of Shiloh with Don Henley, was the arranger and conductor for the orchestra who performed Desperado with the Eagles in 1973.

pdf version

Linda Ronstadt sings her version of Desperado with the Eagles on the Don Kirschner show in 1974

Randy made his own bootleg Desperado tape and then lost it at an airport.


Paramount Ranch old west buildings before fire destroyed them

Paramount Ranch destroyed Nov. 2018 by Woolsey Fire

“While the damage was still being assessed, officials confirmed that Paramount Ranch’s ‘Western Town,’ a landmark film location dating to 1927 that included a jail, hotel and saloon, burned to the ground.”

Woolsey Fire story from the Honolulu Star – Nov. 16, 2018


A Desperado trucker held the office manager hostage at Elektra Asylum Records in New York for two hours on Mar. 20, 1980.
40-year follow-up on Desperado trucker story

Central New Jersey Home News (New Brunswick, NJ) – Mar. 21, 1980

“Police said that during the episode, Rivera asked for a sandwich and wanted to hear the song ‘Desperado.’ The song was played on radio station WPLJ-FM, with disc jockey Jimmy Fink calmly announcing, ‘This is Desperado for the desperate trucker’.”

Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX) – Mar. 21, 1980

2 thoughts on “Eagles Desperado album photo shoot – Dec. 18, 1972

Add yours

    1. Thanks! A little while ago I remembered I had the video from Laurel Canyon, so I just posted that very short segment of the guys riding the horses.

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