WHEN DON HENLEY WAS A BOY growing up in rural Texas, he used to listen to country greats like Hank Williams and George Jones on the legendary Louisiana Hayride radio show. For Cass County, his first solo album in 15 years, Henley went back to those roots, recording in Nashville with singing partners like Mick Jagger, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Miranda Lambert and Alison Krauss. “I got people whose voices move me, people whose music I respect,” says Henley. “They’re real singers who can really get the job done.”
Henley wrote songs for the album during the 160-mile drive between Dallas and his tiny hometown of Linden in Cass County, Texas, drawing inspiration from a landscape he describes as “where the Old South meets the West.” Co-produced by former Tom…
