The musician who forced Joe Walsh to become a frontman: “I didn’t want to sing”
Becoming one of the lead singers in a band isn’t the easiest thing to tackle for any musician. It’s bad enough trying to play your instrument to the best of your ability whenever a show starts, but when you have to sing the songs too and show everyone the power of your voice, it can be one of the most stressful moments of any musician’s life up there. But for Joe Walsh, there was never an obstacle that stood in his way that couldn’t be handled with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour.
Throughout his career, Walsh has made it a habit of not stressing the little things whenever he played. Everyone could tell that he wasn’t taking himself that seriously when he sang tunes like ‘Life’s Been Good’, and whereas Don Henley was among the more serious members of Eagles, getting Walsh in there to be the crazy uncle figure was a much better balance than what they had before.
But it’s not like Walsh was some fly-by-night journeyman when he joined Eagles. He had been woodshedding his craft long before the band had ‘Take It Easy’ under their belt, and as the 1970s unfolded, he had already become a part of hard rock royalty, whether that was gifting guitars to Jimmy Page and Pete Townshend or getting the chance to jam with Jimi Hendrix for a few seconds.
At the time, though, Walsh was still remembered primarily for ‘Funk #49’ with James Gang. Although he had cut his teeth in his pre-fame bands like The Measles, James Gang was the first band where he had to do some serious homework. The power trio format meant having to hold up his end of the bargain, and outside of getting some new licks under his belt, there had to be words in the song, and the responsibility fell on Walsh to take centre stage.
Compared to the rest of the members of the band, Walsh remembered drummer Jim Fox being the one who convinced him to sing, saying, “They had heard I was hot stuff, so they asked me to join. I began to study the guitar like mad, buying records and reading all I could. I had a lot of catching up to do. I really didn’t want to sing, but Fox made me, and I went along. I’ve always been self-conscious of my voice. Not that it’s good or bad; it’s just…different.”
Admittedly, Walsh’s cadence is usually what makes or breaks potential fans when listening to him. There’s a definite squawk in his voice that makes him stick out compared to everybody else, but since most of his catalogue was about having a good time, hearing his voice hollering out those songs felt like he was the emcee of the world’s greatest party whenever he took to the stage.
That might have had to be toned down a little bit when Eagles called him up, but even with ballads under his belt, there would always be room for songs like ‘Rocky Mountain Way’ or ‘Funk #49’ in the setlist for him to flaunt his comedic chops every now and again. It might not have been as wild as Keith Moon or anything, but it did help give the band an edge that they needed at the time.
His voice isn’t going to win any awards, and he always worked better when harmonising with the rest of Eagles, but there’s hardly any major drawbacks to his voice, either. He’s not looking to be the next Freddie Mercury, and if you go into the song with the right mindset, it’s going to be a damn good time listening through his catalogue.
