Don Henley doesn't move fast because he can afford not to hurry. He can spend the better part of a decade waiting out a record contract, labor on a 90-minute Eagles reunion for maybe half a decade, then take another eight years before returning with Cass County, his first solo album in 15 years and only fifth overall. That's the mark of a man who takes his time, but all that chronology pales compared to the true journey Cass County represents: a return to Henley's country roots, whether they lie in the blissed-out, mellow sunshine of Southern California or the Texas home that provides this record with its name.

In 1976, Elvis Presley was in an unusual position – he was still the King of Rock & Roll and could sell out arenas all across the nation, but Top 40 radio played him only as an oldies act, and his new material popped up on the Easy Listening and Adult Contemporary charts when it charted at all. Tired of working in the studio where scheduling pressures stifled his creative spirit, Presley converted his den at his mansion Graceland into a recording studio with the help of RCA's mobile unit. Working with members of his top-notch road band, Presley recorded the sort of material he wanted to try – songs that reflected his own maturity and that of his audience – and the home-recorded sessions would become the basis for two albums, 1976's From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee and 1977's Moody Blue.