<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When I first joined a band called Cloudy and Cool<\/span>, <\/span><\/i>the other three guys in the band were all in the Air Force and stationed at K.I. Sawyer AFB just outside of Marquette.\u00a0 The lead guitarist \/ vocalist, Ray, was a Sargent and through his connections at the base, C&C were the house band at the NCO Club.\u00a0 After I joined, we enjoyed a regular three night stand at the NCO Club every month (and a host of special occasions like holiday parties).\u00a0 Ray, as I have mentioned in the past, seemed to know every rock and country song ever written.\u00a0 Because he had the uncanny ability to play any song requested, our job was to tag along with him wherever he went.\u00a0 He would turn around and say, \u201cKey of A, follow me!\u201d<\/span> and off we would go.\u00a0 If we repeated a song enough times and it went over well, it became a regular in our set.<\/span> \u00a0Others were simply \u2018one offs\u2019 that we played once and they never saw the light of day again.\u00a0 This went on for the two years I was in the band.\u00a0 About two months into my tenure in Cloudy and Cool, we renamed the band\u00a0 \u2018Knockdown\u2019 after the keyboard player got transferred to Thule, Greenland\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We added a couple of James Gang tunes to our set after playing them live the first time as requests.\u00a0 You will pardon me for not remembering the exact order of events, but our spontaneously learning a song on the fly happened so often, I can not remember which song came first.\u00a0 Either way, learning <\/span>Walk Away <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Funk 49 <\/span><\/i>threw me a curve.\u00a0 In both cases, Ray asked me, \u201cDo you know the words to <\/span>Walk Away <\/span><\/i>(or <\/span>Funk 49 <\/span><\/i>– the order doesn\u2019t matter as I ended up singing them both)?\u201d\u00a0 I had heard both songs plenty of times on the radio and when other bands played them, but my old band never played them.\u00a0 In those moments, the \u2018yes man\u2019 in me seemed to take charge:\u00a0 \u201cSure, Ray, kick it off!\u201d\u00a0 Knowing the first line and perhaps the chorus of a song is usually not a problem.\u00a0 Getting the rest of the verses out on the first run through is more of a challenge.\u00a0 Nonetheless, we did a credible enough job to send me back to the Jame Gang\u2019s albums to make sure what we did was in the neighborhood of the original arrangement and \u2018poof\u2019, we had two more terrific songs on our set list.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ray carried the lead vocals when I joined the band.\u00a0 The evening they dropped by the house to see if I could actually play, the first thing he asked was, \u201cDo you sing\u201d?\u00a0 He got a \u2018Yes\u2019 from both me and the keyboard player I had been jamming with (he had arranged our audition via his mother who worked with Ray at Sawyer).\u00a0 Ray asked me how much I sang in my previous band.\u00a0 He seemed pretty happy when I said, \u201cAbout 80% of the lead and a lot of background.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cCan you sing harmony?\u2019 he asked.\u00a0 \u201cProbably\u2026 if we did in my old band, it was mostly by accident.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThat is okay,\u201d Ray continued, \u201cWe can work it out as we go.\u00a0 I am tired of people thinking they are doing harmony when they sing the melody with me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For the record, I was asked to join the band after the keyboard player left the audition.\u00a0 Ray explained they needed a drummer and only had him there because he said he knew a drummer.\u00a0 I owe the keyboard guy a debt for introducing me to the band.\u00a0 Ray gets a bigger thanks for upping my vocal game because once he showed me how to harmonize,\u00a0 it came rather naturally.\u00a0 As to why he insisted I sing the James Gang tunes, he later said, \u201cYou sound more like Joe Walsh.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Joe Walsh hadn\u2019t crossed my mine in a while until I saw a feature on the James Gang on the <\/span>Louder <\/span><\/i>website.\u00a0 When they came up on my radar back in the day, they were a trio that included Walsh on guitar, keyboards, and vocals, Dale \u2018Bugsy\u2019 Peters on bass, and Jimmie Fox on drums and vocals.\u00a0 Until recently, it never dawned on me that the James Gang name most of us assumed meant \u2018that band of outlaws James Gang\u2019, originally meant \u2018Jame\u2019s Gang\u2019 after Jimmie Fox.\u00a0 The band first came together in Cleveland, Ohio in 1966 – a typical band of high school kids looking to have some fun and play some gigs.\u00a0 Fox had first played drums with The Outsiders but left them in 1965 just prior to them having a one-off hit with the song <\/span>Time Won\u2019t Let Me<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n He returned to them for a while after their new drummer was drafted and when he left again, Fox decided it was time to form a band of his own.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The original James Gang included Tom Kriss on bass, Phil Giallombardo on keyboards and a rotating cast of guitarists.\u00a0 Among those who filled the slot before Joe Walsh was John \u2018Mouse\u2019 Michalski who had played with another one-hit wonder band, The Count Five (<\/span>Psychotic Reaction<\/span><\/i>).\u00a0 Fox invited yet another Cleveland guitar legend, Glenn Schwartz, to join when he heard him play at an audition for a nine-piece R&B band.\u00a0 Around Christmas of 1967, they found out Schwartz was actually AWOL from the Army.\u00a0 After breaking up with his wife, Glenn departed for California where he would later resurface with the band Pacific Gas & Electric (known for their Top Forty hit <\/span>Are You Ready<\/span><\/i>).\u00a0 A few days into 1968, a friend of Schwart<\/span>\u2019s <\/b>knocked on Jimmie Fox\u2019s door and asked if he could try out for the band.\u00a0 Joe Walsh was now part of the five-piece iteration of The James Gang.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The band became a four-piece when Gialombardo, who was still in high school, left.\u00a0 They became a trio on June 9, 1968 when the second guitarist informed them he wasn\u2019t going to make it to the gig that night.\u00a0 It was no ordinary Sunday night show he decided to skip.\u00a0 This was an opening slot for Cream at Detroit\u2019s fabled Grande Ballroom.\u00a0 In need of the money, the band performed as a trio that night, liked what they heard and decided to carry on that way.\u00a0 Bassist Kriss would leave the band in November of 1969 when his father was diagnosed with lung cancer.\u00a0 His replacement, Dale \u2018Bugsy\u2019 Peters joined the band and first appeared on their July 1970 release <\/span>James Gang Rides Again.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Earlier in that spring, the James Gang opened six shows for The Who during their U.S. tour.\u00a0 Guitarist Pete Townshend was impressed by the band and invited them to the United Kingdom to open for The Who\u2019s fall tour.\u00a0 Townshend told <\/span>Rolling Stone <\/span><\/i>magazine that Walsh was the best American guitar player and the two formed a long friendship.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0January of 1971 saw the Gang appear on the BBC show <\/span>Top of the Pops <\/span><\/i>and they returned to the U.K. in July for their own tour.\u00a0 The up and coming band shared the stage with other notable acts of the day like Grand Funk Railroad, the Kinks, Humble Pie, Three Dog Night, and Led Zeppelin.\u00a0 Two more albums (<\/span>Thirds <\/span><\/i>and a <\/span>James Gang Live in Concert<\/span><\/i>) kept them busy in 1971 but the pressure was beginning to weigh on Walsh.\u00a0 In December, he left the band and moved to the mountains of Colorado.\u00a0 The James Gang carried on with a new vocalist and guitarist, Roy Kenner and Domenic Troiano, recruited from the Canadian band Bush.\u00a0 This lineup released two albums in 1972 (<\/span>Straight Shooter <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Passi\u2019 Thru<\/span><\/i> but the musical chemistry with Troiano never worked out.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Troriano would later join The Guess Who.\u00a0 Walsh recommended future Deep Purple axeman Tommy Bolin who hung around for two more albums and the band\u2019s move from ABC Records to ATCO.\u00a0 After some interband drama, both Kenner and Bolin departed in 1974 and the band again went in search of a guitar player.\u00a0 After a few rounds of \u2018band member roulette\u2019, the band called in quits in early 1977.\u00a0 Fox later said, \u201cIt became a quest to find a suitable replacement for Joe Walsh.\u00a0 Some of the albums were good but we were always looking to find that particular thing we had with Joe and I don\u2019t think we ever found it again.\u00a0 So, after all those changes, Dale and I talked it over and said, \u2018Enough is enough.\u2019\u00a0 That\u2019s when we decided to let it go.\u201d\u00a0 Fox said he decided to just take some time off and not start looking for another band\u201d :\u00a0 \u201cIf John Lennon had called, I\u2019d see about that.\u00a0 That was my attitude.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The classic line up did get together for occasional reunions, the first one to do three songs during a Joe Walsh show in Cleveland in July 1991.\u00a0 They got together again in November 1996 (again in Cleveland) for an election rally for Bill Clinton.\u00a0 In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the group would always seem to find time to get together in Cleveland for a few shows.\u00a0 They did launch a full fledged reunion tour in the summer of 2006.\u00a0 In 2012, it was reported they were working on recording new and classic James Gang material with help from Walsh\u2019s solo sidemen Joe Viltale and Michael Stanley.\u00a0 Nothing more was heard from this line up until it was announced they would perform two shows as part of the Taylor Hawkins Tribute concert – one at Wembley Stadium in London and the other at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As for why Walsh walked away from a successful band like the James Gang, it would be that same old song and dance – pressure.\u00a0 As the songwriter and melodic instrumentalist in a three piece band, Joe was beginning to crack under the strain of producing the next big record.\u00a0 Steve Marriot of Humble Pie asked Joe to come to England and join his band when Peter Frampton decided to strike out on his own.\u00a0 Walsh declined the offer and retreated to Colorado, eventually forming a solo band he called Barnstorm (whose drummer was the aforementioned Joe Vitale).\u00a0 The band stayed together for three years and produced three albums in that time.\u00a0 <\/span>Rocky Mountain Way<\/span><\/i> is the best known song from that period.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s path forward from album number three (1974\u2019s <\/span>So What<\/span><\/i>) came via contributions made on the album by several members of the Eagles.\u00a0 Walsh\u2019s producer, Bill Szymczyk, had recently been hired by the band and he suggested\u00a0 Walsh join the Eagles after founding member Bernie Leadon left the band.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Walsh made his recording debut on the Eagles fifth album, <\/span>Hotel California <\/span><\/i>(released December 8, 1976).\u00a0 He and Don Felder combined for the memorable solo in the album\u2019s title track that is still cited as one of the all time greatest guitar solos.\u00a0 Even though the Eagles kept him plenty busy, Walsh has still managed to release twelve solo albums.\u00a0 The fact that the Eagles\u2019 follow up to <\/span>Hotel California <\/span><\/i>(<\/span>The Long Run<\/span><\/i> – released 9-24-79) took two years to complete gave Joe plenty of time to hit the road with his solo band.\u00a0 Tension in the Eagles finally caused the band to break up in 1980 so Walsh continued his prolific recording and touring schedule even though his album sales diminished during this period.\u00a0 A guitarist\u2019s guitarist, Joe Walsh was never idle very long and a complete record of his musical pursuits would fill hundreds of pages.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Up to the year 2006, Walsh was married four different times.\u00a0 In the 1980s he even found time to date Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks. \u00a0 She recalled, \u201cJoe had been the great love of my life.\u00a0 We broke up because of the coke.\u00a0 He told one of my friends he was leaving me because he was afraid one of us was going to die.\u00a0 The cocaine habit had gone so over the top the only way to save both of us was for him to leave me.\u201d\u00a0 Indeed, that he survived the coke habit and his acute alcoholism is a remarkable story in itself.\u00a0 Joe said his road to recovery actually began with a visit to an ancient Maori site in New Zealand called Otatara Pa where he had an \u2018epiphany\u2019 (although he doesn\u2019t elaborate on what exactly he experienced).\u00a0 It took a 1994 blackout when he found himself landing in Paris with his passport with no recollection how he got there to make him realize he needed help.\u00a0 He entered recovery and has been sober since 1994.\u00a0 The song <\/span>One Day at a Time <\/span><\/i>from his last studio release, 2012\u2019s <\/span>Analog Man<\/span><\/i> gives a pretty good summation of his life since he married Marjorie Bach in 2008.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Marjorie Bach is the sister of Ringo Starr\u2019s wife, Barbara, thus making the former Beatles\u2019 drummer and Walsh brothers-in-law.\u00a0 Walsh actually met Ringo back in the mid-1970s at a jam session in Los Angeles.\u00a0 Joe hoped to impress Ringo by playing the guitar solo on the song <\/span>And Your Bird Can Sing<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Ringo was impressed, but had to confess that he thought Walsh was nuts.\u00a0 Apparently, Joe did not realize the solo was played by two separate guitars meaning, as Walsh says now, \u201cI think I am the only guy who can play it, including George.\u201d\u00a0 Walsh went on to produce Ringo\u2019s <\/span>Old Wave <\/span><\/i>album and joined his All-Starr band in 1989.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Besides being married to sister\u2019s, the two have another bond.\u00a0 Both are in continuing recovery for their alcohol problems.\u00a0 They take their sobriety seriously and have put in many hours volunteering to help support substance abuse organizations.\u00a0 Musically, Walsh says performing with Ringo is sometimes surreal, but yet a no brainer:\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s not just the greatest drummer in rock history – from the greatest band in rock history – he is also the greatest guy I know and the most kind and helpful friend you could ever want.\u201d\u00a0 Joe admits that when they are in the studio or on stage, he still looks over and says, \u201cThat\u2019s (expletive deleted) Ringo Starr – I just don\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As the title of one of his semi-autobiographical songs says, <\/span>Life\u2019s Been Good<\/span><\/i> to Joe Walsh.\u00a0 He is happily remarried and sober.\u00a0 He volunteers his time to many charitable and environmental causes and has helped organize benefit concerts to help VetsAid in a similar fashion to Willie Nelson\u2019s FarmAid concerts.\u00a0 Not only has Walsh survived the wild, reckless rock and roll lifestyle, he has stayed on his new path for more than thirty years.\u00a0 Even with the legacy of those wild times he left behind, it is hard to find anyone who has a negative word to say about Joe Walsh.\u00a0 We should all strive to be a little more like Joe Walsh and find a way to improve life a little more each day.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 The classic James Gang performing\u00a0Walk Away\u00a0<\/em>in 1971.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When I first joined a band called Cloudy and Cool, the other three guys in the band were all in the Air Force and stationed at K.I. Sawyer AFB just outside of Marquette.\u00a0 The lead guitarist \/ vocalist, Ray, was a Sargent and through his connections at the base, C&C were the house band […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-new-music","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3064"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3067,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064\/revisions\/3067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}