Dan Fogelberg wanted to go on tour, which wasn’t unusual. But this time, he did it in a way that no fan could have anticipated. He also marked one of his longtime dreams off the bucket list in the process.

The songwriter, known for smash hits like “Leader of the Band,” “Same Old Lang Syne,” “Longer” and “Hard to Say” was coming off of the release of two albums that had come out back to back.

1984’s Windows and Walls gave Fogelberg his 11th Top 40 hit, “The Language of Love,” while High Country Snows, released in 1985, found the artist taking a left turn, with a set of songs which found him working in more of a bluegrass vein, featuring a number of well-known players from the genre.

Listen to Dan Fogelberg’s ‘Mountain Pass’

He wasn’t done stretching his legs creatively. In the fall of that same year, he called up drummer Joe Vitale (Crosby, Stills & Nash, Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton) and let him know that he wanted to go out and play some gigs under the radar as a blues band.

Meet Frankie and the Aliens

“He hadn’t toured in a while, maybe a year, and he wanted to get his chops built up, his voice built up and all that,” Vitale tells UCR in a new interview. “So he got us all together, the same band that went on the road, and we went out for two weeks. We were called Frankie and the Aliens. We played all these bars and dives in Colorado. We got on a bus and just went from one nightclub or bar to the next. They were pretty funky, but the people were great. We would play for two and a half hours, and he would just build all his vocal traps and guitar playing… and a lot of people didn’t even know it was him.”

“They just thought we were some rock and roll blues band or something. Dan loved B.B. King, so we did a lot of blues and I got to see a whole other side of Dan,” Vitale adds. “I knew he was a great player, but I had never really played much with him when he was [playing in that way]. “We were doing, like, ‘Born Under a Bad Sign” and stuff like that. He could sing the heck out of it and play the heck out of it. That was a [great] two weeks and it was one of the most fun things that I ever did with Dan.”

As Vitale writes in his Backstage Pass memoir, fans got the best of both worlds for the last show of the tour at the Rainbow Music Hall in Denver. Ticket sales were slow for the chance to see an unknown blues band at the venue, which was markedly larger than the other stops on the outing, so management let word slip out that “Frankie” was Dan and the room was packed by the time they took the stage.

“We had a few fans shout requests for Dan’s hits, but in general, we felt everybody enjoyed seeing that side of Dan,” he explained. “Besides being a great songwriter, they were able to see him as a great guitar player. ‘Frankie’ felt that this band had made it. It was a great way to end the tour.”

Listen to Joe Vitale on the ‘UCR Podcast’

Dan Always Had a Great Band…But He Didn’t Need One

Bassist Mark Andes (Heart, Spirit, Firefall) echoes Vitale’s description of Dan’s abilities, both as a player and a writer. The pair played with him alongside longtime guitarist Robert McEntee and keyboardist Michael Hanna. All four musicians will reunite this weekend (April 18) at the Friends & Legends concert in Fogelberg’s hometown of Peoria, Illinois.

The evening promises a night of music and memories with guest vocalists Templeton Thompson and Sam Gay, plus a special appearance by Jean Fogelberg. Multi-instrumentalist Tim Harr, a Peoria native, will round out the lineup. Andes is looking forward to the experience and highlights that Fogelberg on his own, put on quite a show.

“I played with Dan and we had a kick ass little band. We were really tight, but [some of my favorite] memories of Dan playing live were solo,” he says. “Give this guy a guitar or an acoustic grand piano with a flower arrangement and the guy would bring down the house. He did not need a band. He knew how to get a great band together and we had many wonderful shows as a band, but the guy didn’t need one.”

Watch Dan Fogelberg Perform ‘Leader of the Band’

A Tribute for Dan in His Hometown

The Peoria Riverfront Museum recently opened a new exhibit dedicated to Fogelberg’s life and career. It offers an expansive look at his many talents, as the exhibition page details. The new show follows on the heels of the previous entry in their Peoria Plays America series, which featured a tribute to late REO Speedwagon guitarist Gary Richrath.

READ MORE: REO Speedwagon Reunite to Celebrate Gary Richrath

“Through a selection of his own artworks, objects, and instruments, this Peoria Plays America exhibition entitled simply Fogelberg, explores the public and private world of America’s most enduring cinematic songwriter,” they said regarding the presentation.

“Peoria-born Dan Fogelberg combined classical sophistication with folk-rock intimacy to create a timeless, cinematic soundtrack for the introspective moments of the American experience. A contemporary folk-rock troubadour, Dan melded reflection, honesty, and vulnerability into highly crafted filmic realism. Bridging the gap between folk, rock, and classical orchestration, his artistry was rooted in a deep reverence for melody and the written word.”

The Many Sides of Dan Fogelberg

Eric Mills, cofounder of the Fogelberg Foundation of Peoria, helped obtain the items and materials that are part of the new exhibit. He says that fans are in for a real treat. “There was such a treasure trove of things that that we brought back from Santa Fe,” he shares. “Jean Fogelberg actually lives in California, but she met us [on the way] and we met up in Santa Fe [which was appropriate], because that’s where Dan and Jean met to begin with.”

It’s an embarrassment of riches, as he detailed during a phone conversation. “We brought back, in my opinion, enough material for probably at least two, maybe three different exhibits.” Mills was happy they were able to get so many things to choose from for the current presentation.

Listen to Eric Mills on the ‘UCR Podcast’

“When it comes to his photography and his art and those kinds of things, he certainly is known for that, but his music always kind of outshone all of it,” Mills explains. “He did photography on on many occasions and shared that in different ways. But there’s a lot of his artwork and photography that’s never been seen.”

He Was Good With a Camera. Here’s Some Proof

Speaking of photography, legendary photographer Henry Diltz will be on hand as part of the Friends & Legends weekend, to present a selection of his Fogelberg shots on April 18. He’ll do presentations at 1pm and 4pm and will also meet fans and sign copies of his books after each one. He had plenty of praise to share about the songwriter’s non-musical talents.

“Dan was a renaissance man, you know? He did paintings — I think he painted one of his album covers,” Diltz tells UCR. “He photographed these beautiful photographs. I have a couple of them. He played classical piano, he played the guitar, he sang beautifully and he wrote amazing songs.”

“We got to be such good friends over the years. I mean, I did that album cover [for 1974’s Souvenirs] and then another album cover. When he finally moved to Southern Colorado and he would tour every year, before he went on tour, he’d invite me down for the weekend in Colorado. We’d hang out for the weekend and then we’d spend half an hour. He would sit and I would take a publicity photo for the tour. We did that half a dozen times. What a wonderful guy he was.”

How the Fogelberg Foundation Was Born

Mills and his cohorts helped to arrange a permanent memorial for Fogelberg that was officially unveiled during a big dedication ceremony in 2010. They had a tribute concert and donated the proceeds to a local cancer facility in honor of Fogelberg, who passed away in 2007 from prostate cancer. They eventually formed a proper 501c foundation and have continued to grow their efforts with various projects over the years.

Listen to Dan Fogelberg’s ‘Longer’

One of those endeavors found Vitale, Andes, McEntee and Hanna reunited in the studio to record new instrumental arrangements of some of Fogelberg’s material. The Minstrel: Melodies of Dan Fogelberg was released in 2025. “It was brilliant, really fun and really heartwarming, because you revisited stuff that you forgot, just how beautiful his writing was,” Vitale tells UCR.

“We’d like to grow the foundation into something beyond an occasional gathering with fans and and playing tribute songs [and the things we’ve been doing],” Mills shares. “We’d like to grow it into something maybe a little bit more meaningful, [including raising] prostate cancer awareness and testing and those kinds of things.”

“It’s amazing to me, the songs that resonate with people, and the reasons that they come up with for why those are important,” he says.

“We hope people can come and enjoy the exhibit, which will be open through mid-August. That’s the main focus, as much as the concert is going to be fun, having Henry Diltz here telling stories and the stuff we’re going to do. It’s the museum exhibit itself, that we’re focused on. We want people to come and enjoy that.”