About Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh became famous as the guitarist of the Eagles. Think, Hotel California’s guitar solo, half of which was played by him. He, among others, played in Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band (you know, that guy in the back from that little known band called the Beatles) and had a successful solo career while the Eagles was taking a break in the 1980’s. What I always found unusual about Joe Walsh was that he was everywhere. Once I saw him share the stage with Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. He was playing slide guitar and felt way out of place among the most technical guitar heroes of our time. But he was there. Joe Walsh certainly does not have the looks for stardom, he does not have the technique (forget Vai and Satriani, Eagles guitarist Don Felder also certainly plays better guitar). And while we are at comparisons, his vocals are, to say the least, also inferior to his Eagles colleagues. But there is just something about him that simply works, that gets him invited everywhere, that makes him the center of attention, the star on stage. I am fortunate enough to have seen the Eagles play live (unfortunately already without Don Felder). Joe Walsh was the biggest star on that stage. The Los Angeles crowd of the Staples Center simply went crazy when he walked out center stage to play a song from his solo times (which by the way was, by far, the shittiest song of the night - but none of that mattered). I don’t know what it is about Joe Walsh that makes him the star, but whatever he is doing, it works.
About the Eagles
As for his band, the Eagles definitely needs no introduction. Formed in 1971 and famous for incredible vocal performances, the band was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001. They have six Grammys though nothing highlights their importance as much as the Recording Industry of America’s honor of the group for Best Selling Album of the Century. (Yes, that is 100 years from 1900 to 1999.) This honor was given for their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) album. Ironically, Walsh did not play on any of the songs on this album as he only joined the group in 1975 after the departure of Bernie Leadon. Still, their biggest hit came after 1975 with Joe Walsh and Don Felder playing one of the most iconic guitar solos of rock and roll history in the six and a half minute single: Hotel California. The group released two albums with Joe Walsh with additional hit singles like the Life in the Fast Lane (co-written by Walsh), New Kid in Town, Heartache Tonight, The Long Run, and I Can't Tell You Why before disbanding in 1980 only to return to the stage as the Eagles 15 years later. And the band is still touring today. They released a double studio album in 2007 titled “Long Road Out of Eden. The album received a grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and nominated for three more including Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals for "Long Road Out of Eden" (the song with an epic Joe Walsh guitar solo). When founding member Glen Frey died in January of 2016 everyone believed this was the end of the Eagles. But Deacon Frey, Glen’s son, appeared with the Eagles on tour along with Country music’s legendary voice and guitar God Vince Gill. With big shoes to fill, it is difficult to imagine anyone to fit in this band and live up to the expectation. But if I had to name the most iconic background vocalist of all time, short of Eagles’ own Timothy B. Smith, the award would definitely have to go to Vince Gill. And, while I have not had the fortune of seeing this line up, I have it on authority that it works and works very-very well.
The guitars Joe Walsh plays
I never really associated any guitar with Joe Walsh. And it is easy to see why. A quick image search in Google turns up Les Pauls, ES-335, SG, Explorer, Epiphone semi-hollows, PRSs, Strats, Teles, even a Music Man here and there. But the more you restrict the search to recent photos, the more frequently you see Duesenberg guitars pop up in Joe Walsh’s hands. While the variety of these guitars are also diverse, Duesenberg did team up with Walsh for their first Alliance series instrument, the Joe Walsh signature model. Joe Walsh and Duesenberg set out “to build a guitar that meets the special tone which was hidden in his head“. The guitar is clearly based on the Duesenberg lineage of semi-hollow instruments (with the usual unbeatable Duesenberg updated bigsby style tremolo). This time the body is sporting a uniquely shaped double-cut. “The fretboard inlays spell his name in morsecode, referencing his passion for radio operation. The Tibetan Knot on the top between both pickups is a symbol of very personal meaning to Joe which he also carries as a tattoo.” Joe wanted his signature instrument to reflect his gearhead guitar tinkering personality that, in the past, resulted in guitars “with weird hardware finish mixes. For this reason the hardware of the Alliance Joe Walsh is a mix of nickel and gold.” The specimen available at Stageshop is a beautiful classic Gold Burst, but the model was also available in solid black. The neck is a medium D shape with medium-jumbo frets. “A Duesenberg LittleToaster pickup delivers transparent treble tone in the bridge position and the state-of-the-art noise-cancelling Duesenberg SingleTwin Mini gives clear classic neck sounds in any situation.” And yes, their gold highlights look truly weird with the neck pickup’s steel polepieces especially next to the chrome bridge. These visuals are topped off by the bi-color chrome and gold tremolo. So, if I am honest here, I don’t know what it is about this weird guitar, but much like his namesake’s stardom, somehow it works. Or what am I saying, it not only works, it is the star of the showroom and it is truly amazing.
If you wish to own a truly unique piece of Eagles gear, or you just share Joe Walsh’s quirky taste, you cannot go wrong by making this piece of functional art yours. At minimum, you owe it to yourself to come by and take a look in the Stageshop show room.
Levente Littvay (Communications) 2019