Timothy B. Schmit on Glenn Frey: ‘He’s Dead. It’s Unbelievable’

Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit opened up about the death of bandmate Glenn Frey in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. “He’s dead. It’s unbelievable,” he says. “It didn’t happen that long ago. Everybody is still processing it. But part of processing it is carrying on.”

“[The Eagles] haven’t done anything since he passed,” Schmit continues. “Nobody’s really doing his songs, unless there’s a tribute show once in awhile. But I do hear it on the radio. Just now, I stopped thinking about it every day, but I think about this whole thing often. When you started talking about it, I was startled to the fact that he’s really gone.”

The veteran singer-songwriter and former Poco member also said the Eagles will maintain their commitment to appear at this year’s Kennedy Center Honors show, held in Washington D.C.

“We were supposed to be there last year, and it was announced, but we had to back out because of Glen’s illness,” Schmit says. “We had no idea that his illness would get to a dire state, but it did. [The Kennedy Center] kept their promise and postponed until this year. We’re going to do it without him.

“If you’re honored, you sit up pretty close to the President, and watch the show, and watch other people do their take on your work,” he says of the event. “It’s unbelievable. Who would’ve thought?” The 2016 Kennedy Center Honors – also set to recognize Al Pacino, Mavis Staples, James Taylor and Argentine pianist Martha Argerich – will be held December 3rd and broadcast December 27th on CBS.

Schmit will release his fifth solo LP, Leap of Faith, on September 23rd. He recently debuted the album’s breezy lead single, “Red Dirt Road,” which pays tribute to the soil of Hawaiian island Kaua’i.

“There’s some rich, deep soil there,” he told Rolling Stone. “You have a good chance of growing a plumeria tree by just sticking a branch of a plumeria into the ground. It’s unbelievable. That was the motivation. It’s a song about trying to enjoy your life. You can go about your daily business and see it from sunup to sundown – and see it in the best light possible, too – and then just enjoy yourself.”

Additional reporting by Andrew Leahey