Canadian singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Leif Vollebekk and Australian singer-songwriter/musician Angie McMahon team up once again (GDW featured their previous collaboration from Angie’s 2020 “Piano Salt” album) and have done the near impossible – they’ve made me “like” an Eagles song!
“My dear friend Angie and I spontaneously recorded … my favourite Eagles song when I was last in Australia,” Leif shares. “I love the orchestra on the original (it’s partly why I added an orchestra on “Revelation”) but it’s the blend of their voices that gets me on this song. I grew up listening to those gorgeous harmonies pouring out of my dad’s stereo.”
Originally written in a waltz tempo by Eagles bassist Randy Meisner, Leif’s smokey, raspy voice matches perfectly with Angie’s silky-smooth harmonies. This laidback approach to “Take it to the Limit” features their combined voices over a slowed down tempo and simple arrangements. This all makes for an enjoyable and majestic single.
“The artwork is a photo I took on a solo road from Colorado to Los Angeles, passing through the painted desert and the mystical Joshua Tree. ‘Put me on a highway / Show me a sign.’,” Leif adds. “You don’t know exactly what it means but you know how it feels. I feel this song has a little bit of the California magic.”
Sidenote: Randy Meisner, who recently passed away in 2023, was a reluctant star. His hesitance about hitting the high notes in live performances of this tune was apparently one of the reasons he eventually left the group. In memory of Randy, if country-rock is your thing, I also highly recommend checking out the first Poco LP “PIckin Up the Pieces,” which features Meisner before he departed to join The Eagles.
Photo Credit: Leif Vollebekk (cover) / Pile Of Trees (duo) / Nicholas Sutton Bell (headshot)
Steve Murphy is a singer-songwriter, author, and journalist based out of London, Ontario. An avid vinyl collector and audiophile, his personal collection of albums is wide ranging and in the thousands, including his two solo albums and six with his band Westminster Park.
