‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’ songwriter Jack Tempchin will celebrate his friendship with Glenn Frey at holiday concert

Nov. 16, 2017 4 PM PT

Jack Tempchin dropped into a fast-food restaurant for a hot dog and walked out with material for one of the Eagles’ most famous ballads.

The singer-songwriter sat in the parking lot of a San Diego Wienerschnitzel and strummed notes on his Stella guitar for the last verse to “Peaceful Easy Feeling.”

The third single from the band’s 1972 debut album, “Eagles,” reached No. 22 on the charts and is still considered one of the group’s most popular songs.

Tempchin is hitting the stage 45 years later in celebration of his late friend, Eagles frontman Glenn Frey, and the song that connects them both, by playing special concerts around Southern California. A holiday show is planned for Dec. 2 at Mozambique in Laguna Beach.

“I did not think it was a love song or a hit because you don’t know if he winds up with the girl,” Tempchin said by phone from his home in Encinitas. “We were into pseudo-Zen and thought if something is gone that leaves your hand free to get something else. It was the attitude where you’re not so desperate.”

Tempchin, 70, wrote much of the song when he was performing at coffee shops around his hometown of San Diego. After one show, he had arranged to go home with a waitress but she never showed up.

Feeling stranded, Tempchin took a poster that advertised his performances and began writing lyrics on the back. He returned home to a communal dwelling he shared with other musicians and they talked about how love appears when you stop looking for it.

Tempchin thought back to a state fair where he saw a woman wearing turquoise earrings. He added the memory into the lyrics of the song’s opening: “I like the way sparkling earrings lay against your skin so brown.”

Some time later, Tempchin met Frey, who was in a folk duo, Longbranch Pennywhistle.

Anytime Frey and counterpart John David Souther came to San Diego, the musicians would stay with Tempchin at his communal pad, which included a backyard candle-making factory.

After the duo disbanded, Frey took “Peaceful Easy Feeling” to his new band, recorded and released it on their eponymous debut, “Eagles,” on Dec. 1, 1972.

“He was a stand-up guy,” Tempchin said of Frey, adding he was one of the “very few people in my life I can say was always honest and followed through. He was also the funniest guy, just a really fabulous person.”

Tempchin, who continued to write with Frey until the Eagles broke up in 1980, helped pen “Already Gone,” “You Belong to the City,” “It’s Your World Now” and “The One You Love.” He also wrote “Swayin’ to the Music (Slow Dancing),” a 1977 hit for Johnny Rivers.

In a tribute to Frey, who died last year at 67, Tempchin released his greatest hits on one album, “Peaceful Easy Feeling — The Songs of Jack Tempchin,” through Blue Elan Records.

The Aug. 25 release features 10 of their co-written songs performed as Tempchin’s own renditions. He shares both solos and duets with guest vocalists Rita Coolidge, Janiva Magness, the Byrds’ Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen.

One track on the album is a previously unreleased piece written with Frey, “Privacy.”

In celebration of his biggest hit, Tempchin was presented with a “Golden Wiener” for the 40th anniversary celebration on “Peaceful Easy Feeling Day” in San Diego five years ago.

“Who needs a Grammy or an Oscar when you have one of these?” Tempchin said at the time.