Photo: Myriam SantosFormer Eagles guitarist Don Felder is back with a brand-new album called Road to Forever, his first full-length recording since his acrimonious split with the group in 2001 and his first solo effort since 1983's Airborne.  Speaking recently with ABC News Radio, the veteran musician reveals that album came together at the same time he was writing his 2008 memoir, Heaven and ****: My Life in the Eagles, which not only documents his firing from the group but also the breakup of his long marriage to his first wife and other issues with which he struggled.

"I took those stories and experiences that I had gone through in the book and translated them into song," he explains.  "So, it's somewhat of a musical autobiography, the songs that are on this thing, but they're all very human experiences.  They're experiences of love, of love lost, of trying to regain the strength to actually try to love again and experience love again and the fear and panic that goes into that."

Felder admits that while penning the autobiography was therapeutic, writing and recording Road to Forever was even more so.

"I always find that it's much more cathartic to express myself musically and I can get so much more emotion in my music than I can in just the written word," he maintains, adding, "it also stimulates people when they hear this in the sense that they kind of vibrate at the same level emotionally to what's in the music of the song."

And while Felder says his experiences surrounding his exit from the Eagles influenced the songs he wrote for the album, he insists that none of the tracks are "aimed directly" at the group or any of his one-time band mates.

"I just thought that would be a low blow, and I don't need to vent that way," he says.  The guitarist notes that, rather, there's a more positive theme that runs through the album, explaining, "It's more about, we all go through life, whether we have childhood trauma and we become scarred through one thing or another…and we have to find ways…to really look at those things and find a way to heal ourselves so we can go on for the rest of our life with a smile on our face and happy in life."

Meanwhile, Felder's name emerged recently after a recent Parade magazine interview with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, in which the couple discussed the artists which they'd like to see perform at the White House.  Mrs. Romney revealed that she and Mitt were friendly with a member of the Eagles, leading some press outlets to speculate that she was referring to Felder, who reportedly played at a Republican National Convention event.  However, Felder says he's "never met Mitt Romney or his wife."  

He adds, "I think there was a misleading article…or some quote that he said that he had a friend in the Eagles.  Well, it obviously wasn't me."

As for his own political views, Felder tells ABC News Radio, "I am apolitical, to tell you the truth.  As a musician, I try to bring joy and happiness to people -- have them dance, party, have a great time.  And I think music is really, isn't bound by countries or politics or race or color or ***."Felder currently has a handful of upcoming U.S. shows scheduled in support of Road to Forever through a November 18 concert in Annapolis, Maryland.  Visit DonFelder.com to check out all of his tour dates.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio