![]() "I got asked to join the Eagles as a specialist, because they wanted some humor," he told Guitar World. With a successful solo career well at hand, and enough choice studio dates to keep any musician rich and happy, Walsh was recruited by the Eagles to replace guitarist Bernie Leadon in 1976. "I like to accept the energy involved in that first pass," Walsh said in Guitar World of his recording technique, "that's really where the magic is." In later years his searing guitar would be heard on Steve Winwood's "Split Decision" and Richard Marx's "Don't Mean Nothin'," both top hits thanks to Walsh's creative slide. Soon Walsh's talented ear and tasteful playing were popping up on other musicians' work, making him one of the most in-demand non-studio players. ![]() "I know I'm known mostly for my guitar work, but in terms of being a musician, there are other vehicles that I am quite capable of playing, and sometimes that ain't guitar. "I hear a lot of tones and textures and such," he told Jas Obrecht in Guitar Player. "I studied the blues through white English guys!" However, unlike his mentors Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor, Walsh was not restricted to just the guitar. "I'm a third-generation blues studier, and that's why I sound like I do," Walsh told Guitar World. Walsh's heavy sustain and nasty slide work may have seemed groundbreaking, but were actually just a natural progression. Rocke Grace and Joe Lala were added on keyboards and percussion for the album. The latter produced a Walsh classic, "Rocky Mountain Way," a stomping good-time rocker that featured an odd musical device called the "talk box," which transforms the human voice into a synthesized-sounding musical instrument. There he hooked up with bassist Kenny Passarelli and drummer Joe Vitale for 1972's Barnstorm and The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get in 1973. His dissatisfaction, coupled with his distaste for the tactics involved in the record business, led to his departure from the James Gang and a move to Colorado. "I got extremely frustrated being the only melodic instrument." "I saw myself being stereotyped almost into a heavy metal guitarist about 10 years before heavy metal came out, and I didn't like that," Walsh told Matt Resnicoff in Guitar World. Walsh capitalized on Townshend's style but found himself painted into a corner creatively. In 1971 the James Gang released Live in Concert, compiled from their foreign dates with the Who. Keith Moon's insanity would take slightly longer to show in Walsh's character, but it would become an equally identifiable trademark of the guitarist in the near future. The influence of Pete Townshend's style on Walsh's is quite evident in the thick power chords of tunes like "Walk Away" from the James Gang's third LP, Thirds. He taught me how to play lead-rhythm, and Keith Moon taught me how to break things," Walsh told Guitar World. In support of the record, the trio toured Europe in 1970 with the Who, a band whose members had a profound impact on the young guitarist. The James Gang followed up their successful debut the next year with Rides Again, a Top 10 LP that included "Tend My Garden" and "Fun #49," a Walsh tour de force. Walsh joined the James Gang in 1969 (replacing Glen Schwartz), the same year the group (with Walsh handling vocals and guitar chores, Jimmy Fox on drums and Dale Peters on bass) released Yer' Album and established themselves as "the most significant post-Cream power-trio strategy," according to John Swenson in The Rolling Stone Record Guide. Frankenstein-like experiments on his equipment. ![]() Walsh began to work seriously on his guitar playing while at college and complemented this with courses in electronics, enabling him to perform Dr. He enrolled as a full-time student at Kent State University for three quarters before switching to part-time studies. His three-year stint with the James Gang marked the beginning of a fruitful career that has seen nine solo LPs as well as three more with the Eagles in their final and most successful phase.īorn in Wichita, Kansas, in 1947, Walsh grew up in Ohio where he eventually learned to play bass guitar, performing in high school bands like the Nomads. But Walsh's fame has not come primarily through the work of others. ![]() King to Dan Fogelberg, from Rod Stewart to Graham Nash, countless artists have called upon Walsh's melodic playing to enhance their records. Joe Walsh's reputation as one of rock's premiere guitar craftsmen is highly understandable when one looks at the volume of studio work he has done over the past twenty years. Addresses: Record company -Warner Bros., 3300 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91510. Education: Attended Kent State University. Full name, Joseph Fidler Walsh born November 20, 1947, in Wichita, Kan.
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