The guitarist Joe Walsh considered all-important: “Who is this guy?”
Not every veteran guitarist is necessarily meant to get their time in the sun. The music industry isn’t known for giving trophies to those who have the greatest technique or anything, and even if someone isn’t the best at their respective instrument, it doesn’t matter if they happen to have some charm to them. That’s normally why some of the best guitarists of all time fade into the background, but Joe Walsh knew that this session player didn’t deserve to be overlooked by anyone.
Granted, most people interested in Walsh’s playing would have a hard time ignoring him if they tried. Outside of his fantastic lead lines, his wild stage persona was enough to put Keith Moon to shame, especially when he started to banter with the crowd or got crazed whenever he went backstage with the Eagles or with James Gang.
And you can hear that kind of lighthearted demeanour in the way he plays as well. Going through some of the best solos he performed, there’s some cheeky humour to how he puts together his lead lines, almost like he’s trying to make every tune an extension of his voice to some degree.
When he does decide to tone things down, though, most of his greatest lines are about more than shock value. Compared to the artists from his time who wanted to shred, Walsh understood what it meant to put the right guitar fill at just the right moment, and that came from dissecting what James Burton had been doing behind the fretboard.
Despite his resume including some of the biggest names in country music, any guitar aficionados would pick up any record if they knew Burton’s name was in the credits. Compared to the other country-adjacent artists who relied on pedal steel guitars or strumming cowboy chords, Burton’s touch on the guitar had everything to do with listening to the band, usually taking everything he could and putting it into a tasty lead line instead of some acrobatic run.
Although Walsh had etched a place into guitar history through his performance on ‘Hotel California’ alone, he thought the greatest appeal of Burton was how silent he was compared to his peers, telling Rolling Stone, “He was just a mysterious guy: ‘Who is this guy and why is he on all these records I like?’. His technique was all-important.”
But maybe that’s why his parts worked so well in context. Burton never tried to be one of the biggest names in rock and roll, and since he didn’t have to waste time signing autographs or giving interviews, he had a lot of time to listen, which meant that he could expand his craft without being a showman.
It’s not like Walsh is the only one, either. Keith Richards said that he would usually buy certain country records because he knew that Burton was going to be playing guitar on them. Whereas Walsh was known to be the kind of larger-than-life character that everyone knew him as, Burton is proof that sometimes it pays off to be the silent genius in the corner.
