LITTLE ROCK — Joe Walsh is, to use a couple of his own song titles, just an “ordinary average guy” for whom “life’s been good.” Of course, Walsh is more than a tad better than ordinary and average at playing guitar, which has made life better than just good as the 64-year-old has made his way through famous stints in The James Gang and The Eagles, along with solo projects, plus recordings with Steve Winwood, Bob Seger, Lionel Richie, The Beach Boys, Warren Zevon, John Entwistle, Andy Gibb, Keith Moon, Dan Fogelberg and Rick Derringer.
Walsh is no stranger to central Arkansas, having performed here numerous times at Barton Coliseum while in The James Gang, by the Arkansas River with Former Beatle Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band and alongside fellow Eagle Glenn Frey, with The Eagles themselves in War Memorial Stadium and Alltel Arena and later when its name changed to Verizon Arena.
He returns with a band to headline a 9:45 p.m. Sunday show on the final night of Riverfest after the end of the 9 p.m. fireworks show.
And since The Eagles record and tour sporadically,Walsh finally found time for a new solo album - after 20 years since his last one. His new CD, Analog Man, is scheduled for release June 5. Jeff Lynne, of Electric Light Orchestra and The Traveling Wilburys fame, co-produced the album. The name, according to reports, refers to Walsh’s emergence from his “analog” past into the digital present.
“The last album I made was on recording tape and there were a bunch of knobs and now there’s a mouse and a hard drive,” Walsh told the United Kingdom’s The Daily Mail. “I’m learning, we’re all learning. There is no record business any more so you have the Internet to make people aware that there’s music available, and if they’re aware then they can find it but trying to figure out how to do that, like I say, is a long time sitting in a chair with your mind inside the Internet.”
Walsh credits his newfound focus and the completion of Analog Man to his having remained sober since 1995 and to his December 2008 marriage to Marjorie Bach (whose sister, Barbara Bach, is married to Starr).
One of the songs on the new album, “Lucky That Way,” is a new favorite for Walsh, who considers it asequel of sorts to his 1978 song “Life’s Been Good.” He co-wrote the new song with Tommy Lee James, who was introduced to him by Barbara Orbison, a Nashville, Tenn., owner of a publishing company and the widow of legendary singer Roy Orbison.
Walsh was born in Wichita, Kan., but grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and New York. He attended Kent State University in Ohio and was a student there during the incident in which four students protesting the Vietnam War were killed by National Guard gunfire. In 1968, he became the guitarist in the trio The James Gang, where he quickly established his reputation as a flashy, talented player. After three years, he left to form Barnstorm, another power trio, which released the album Barnstorm, along with an album that wascredited to only Walsh, The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get.
After a couple of solo albums, Walsh joined The Eagles in late 1975, replacing the country-rock-oriented Bernie Leadon and making The Eagles a more rock-centered band. When The Eagles broke up in 1980, Walsh went back to his solo career, and sat in with a wide variety of musicians and bands, in the United States and Australia. In 1994, The Eagles famously re-united, touring, then releasing the live album Hell Freezes Over.
In 2007, the group released its first new studio album in 28 years - Long Road Out of Eden.
In February, Walsh accompanied Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl at this year’s Grammy Awards show. On May 12, The Eagles were awarded honorary doctorate of music degrees from Berklee College of Music in Boston.
None of The Eagles is as active this summer as Walsh, who has 16 solo shows scheduled after his Riverfest show. Timothy B. Schmit has 10, while Glenn Frey and Don Henley have one each. The foursome will be back together as The Eagles on Nov. 17 at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Walsh told anIowa reporter in November that The Eagles would commemorate their 40th year together, referring to the band’s debut, not when he joined in 1975. (In the summer of 1972, The Eagles opened a show for Yes in Little Rock’s Barton Coliseum.)
Noting the rapid passage of 40 years, Walsh was asked for his advice for new artists, replying: “You can’t be a legend in your parents’ garage .... Get visible on the Internet, and play live. That’s the only chance you got, the way I see it.”Joe Walsh
9:45 p.m. Sunday, Miller Lite
Amphitheatre Stage, River
fest, Little Rock
Admission: three-day pass
es are $20.75 in advance
at area Walgreens; $25
online; $30 at gate
(501) 255-3378
riverfestarkansas.com
Weekend, Pages 41 on 05/24/2012