Timothy B. Schmit: I didn't really think too much about being any kind...

When you're songwriting, it's like talking about your own life experience. When you're with a band, you have to compromise.

Timothy B. Schmit

band compromise talking

I grew up around music. My father was a professional musician. We used to have a trailer house that we travelled in. I've always loved music. Started out loving to sing to the standards and songs of the early 50s, then that interest shifted to rock and roll, Motown, folk.

Timothy B. Schmit

rock-and-roll song father

When I was about 13 or 14. I was in a Kingston Trio type group. We evolved into the New Breed. Our first song on the radio was "Green Eyed Woman," not to be confused with "Green Eyed Lady".

Timothy B. Schmit

trios confused song

I knew Glenn Frey. He called me up in 1977 and told me The Eagles were looking for a bass player, preferably someone who could write and had a high voice. That was me.

Timothy B. Schmit

eagles player writing

Actually touring solo is a little more difficult. It's more demanding than being under the "wing" of the band, no pun intended. It's more intimidating to sing in front of smaller crowds. The buck stops with me.

Timothy B. Schmit

crowds band wings

The two most mysterious things in our lives are birth and death. They are both miraculous events; one brings shiny, brand new life into the world, and the other snuffs it out like that. That person isn't there anymore.

Timothy B. Schmit

new life death world

It took me a while to get an electric guitar and a bass and amps and stuff. Playing the acoustic guitar was much easier and more affordable. But I was always listening to the radio and was interested in all the rock and pop music.

Timothy B. Schmit

me guitar music listening

I'm good at fitting in, and I think I'm fairly perceptive about moods and psychic environments.

Timothy B. Schmit

i-think about good think

I try to live in a state of being grateful as much as possible. I'm not always successful.

Timothy B. Schmit

live try always grateful

I've had a lot of people pass away in my life. I guess it's all a matter of how you deal with your mortality - and recognizing that you are mortal. I'm trying to see what a gift life is and how quickly it can be extinguished, without any warning.

Timothy B. Schmit

my-life you life people

I write songs; I record them. When I get enough, and it seems like a coherent piece, I call it an album.

Timothy B. Schmit

write get like enough

I'm not a big fan of file sharing. I mean, I've done it quite a lot for other people, where they send me the file, I do it and send them back. You don't get any back-and-forth and exchange and feedback when you do it that way.

Timothy B. Schmit

me you people way

My dad and I didn't talk much. Our relationship was OK but not amazing. So there I was, dressed up in my sort of uniform, the clothes my band was wearing at the time. He could tell I was I getting serious. I guess he knew I was going to go for it. So he told me how to handle myself professionally, not to take what people write about me to heart.

Timothy B. Schmit

myself me time relationship

Music's always been a big part of my life. Because of my father, I was always surrounded by music and musicians, and in school, I was in the chorus, and I played various instruments.

Timothy B. Schmit

my-life music life father

I got to see The Beatles a couple of times. In fact, I saw their last performance ever in San Francisco. The Beatles were massive to me - I learned so much from them.

Timothy B. Schmit

performance last see me

I play some places where the people are right at my feet, and you can see their expressions. It's kind of more like playing in your living room. It's almost easier to play in front of thousands of people in an arena scene, in some ways, but you don't get the personal contact.

Timothy B. Schmit

your you feet people

'White Boy from Sacramento' is just sort of a tongue-in-cheek autobiography. I hoped it came out a little humorous, but it's really all true.

Timothy B. Schmit

boy true just white

I was playing surf music with my band when a girlfriend of mine who had come from Los Angeles took me to a James Brown concert. That show really changed my whole outlook and thought processes, especially about music and different cultures.

Timothy B. Schmit

thought me girlfriend music

We all go through different mood changes. I'm just a person; I've got all those emotions going like everybody else, and sometimes it gets the better of you.

Timothy B. Schmit

better you mood sometimes

It seems like people are just dropping off the Earth. I suppose that happens when you get older. It's part of life. No one's getting out of it.

Timothy B. Schmit

you earth life people

I didn't really think too much about being any kind of pioneer. The truth is, I actually kind of caught onto a couple of really great coat tails in my career. The things were already moving when I got involved in both cases, really - Poco and the Eagles.