The James Gang song that changed Joe Walsh’s life
Compared to many rock legends, Joe Walsh may be both overrated and underrated at the same time. For all of the celebrated moments in the guitarist’s discography, Walsh tends not to get as much credit for his more subdued playing, creating beautiful pieces of music that could hold up as standalone instrumental tracks if not given his signature approach to vocals or handing it off to Don Henley and Glenn Frey of the Eagles. While Joe Walsh has made strides to become the most well-rounded musician he can be, he admitted that one song changed everything for him.
Before Walsh had started working with the Eagles or ventured out into his solo career, he was still a budding musician making ends meet at school. Being one of the key witnesses to the Kent State shootings in the late 1960s, Walsh would later devote himself to music as his key emotional outlet.
Walsh let his personality show throughout every note he played whenever he picked up his instrument. Compared to artists who write solos in advance from back to front, Walsh always had a lighthearted side to his playing, matching his trademark sense of humour whenever he stepped up to the microphone.
Outside of his funny side, Walsh could throw down the gauntlet whenever needed. When forming his first group, the James Gang, Walsh turned in one classic solo after the next, giving the band momentum forward with his signature brand of bluesy flair and funky energy. While most of their material comprised various covers, one of their trademark jams culminated in their first major hit.
When stretching out on one of their songs, Walsh hit upon a guitar riff for the ages with the beginning of ‘Funk #49’. Indebted to the bluesy flair of Jimi Hendrix and the fury of Eric Clapton, Walsh had created a piece of music that provided the perfect soundtrack to the sound of hard rock arising out of Detroit.
Recalling the track’s genesis, Walsh credits ‘Funk #49’ with giving him a sense of direction when writing his own material, telling Rolling Stone, “Before we really started writing our own songs in the James Gang, we’d play covers, and then in the middle of them we’d go for a jam for four or five minutes. At some point, we had six or seven of those sections, and we didn’t need to cover other people’s songs anymore.”
While Walsh just envisioned playing his trademark brand of rock and roll to anyone who would hear him, one avid fan was Frey, who talked about loving the James Gang when he was still living in Detroit. By the time Frey had started flying high with the Eagles, though, Walsh’s status as a solo artist led to him joining the band for the album Hotel California, replacing founding guitarist Bernie Leadon.
Even though the band would have a wealth of amazing songs to pull from throughout their live set, Walsh’s section of the show would still contain ‘Funk #49’, with no one in the group able to resist the track’s groove. Walsh may have written many phenomenal songs after his first outfit, but the power of ‘Funk #49’ is pure inspiration distilled into four minutes.
