Joe Walsh’s five favourite singers
The Eagles were a band that never strayed far from history-makers.
When they first started putting songs out, they were turning heads because of how they managed to merge country and rock music. They went down a totally different route when Joe Walsh joined the band, as they focused a lot more on guitar music. One of their most successful records, Hotel California, was their most popular, and the guitar work of Joe Walsh was a huge contributing factor to the otherworldly appeal of that timeless record.
It was Glenn Frey’s idea to have Walsh in the band. He had started joining the band on stage for an encore, and after a few performances, Frey had started to realise just how great that collaboration could be. His only hesitation was that he didn’t think Walsh was the greatest singer, but he looked past that.
“We would come out and do an encore and Joe Walsh would come out and we’d do ‘Rocky Mountain Way’,” recalled Frey, “Then I start thinking, ‘Joe Walsh for Bernie Leadon?’. Okay, maybe the vocals won’t be quite as good, but boy, are we going to kick some ass.”
Frey has been quite harsh here, as Walsh had a pretty decent voice. Granted, he isn’t the best singer in the world, but he could hold a tune. However, Walsh never worried too much about his singing style as he was always surrounded by exceptional vocalists. He named five of these as the greatest singers in the world, but who were they?
Joe Walsh’s best singers of all time:
Don Henley and Glenn Frey
There is no doubt that Joe Walsh was an excellent addition to the Eagles. While the band had made waves earlier in their career by merging the genres of country and rock, Walsh helped them lean further into the rock side of things by making great guitar music and putting it at the forefront of everything they did. However, he didn’t join without trepidation; he was massively intimidated by the two, namely because of their outstanding singing ability.
“There was a lot of nerves,” he admitted, “I decided to hide behind all of my hangups with humour. I was completely in awe of Don [Henley] and Glenn. I was intimidated because they sang so good, and they were writing stuff that I could never dream of writing.”
Stevie Nicks
Walsh was never shy of singing the praises of Stevie Nicks, as he referred to her as both a national treasure and one of the greatest singers the world had ever heard. “She’s a national treasure,” he said, “Anything she sings, you immediately know it’s her. If it’s on the radio, you don’t change stations, you listen to it.”
The two were in a relationship for some time and made a lot of music together. Walsh’s musical style and Nick’s vocals really complemented one another, but their relationship was short-lived as they both struggled with addiction and felt it was best to part ways. Despite the break-up, Walsh still believes that Nicks is one of the greatest vocalists on the planet.
Graham Nash and David Crosby
When Joe Walsh left the Eagles, he started working on a number of solo projects. He had a good voice by himself, but it was always good to have a helping hand. This came in the form of Henley and Frey in the Eagles, while in his solo career, he had a helping hand from Graham Nash and David Crosby, as the two sang on his song ‘Family’.
“I’ve had a good run and David Crosby and Graham Nash said they’d love to sing on [my song] and anything that they sing on makes it special,” said Walsh, “I’ve known them for a long time and they’re good people and brilliant singers; I couldn’t have asked for more.”
