Don Henley has revealed that Merle Haggard's 1980 album The Way I Am remains a favourite he returns to repeatedly, and one that directly shaped his own songwriting. The Eagles frontman has long resisted being pigeonholed as a country artist despite the band's roots in that genre, but in his later solo career he leaned back into the Americana and country influences he grew up with, working with artists such as Miranda Lambert and Martina McBride.

Henley singled out Haggard's voice as the one he had in mind while writing his own track "The Cost of Living", praising songs such as "The Way I Am" and "Life's Just Not the Way It Used to Be" as among Haggard's finest work, saying he can "listen to those songs over and over again". He credited having a specific voice in mind as a genuine aid to the songwriting process, and reflected that lasting musicians ultimately prioritise storytelling and song quality over chasing trends.