Eric Clapton’s opinion on Joe Walsh

It was American music that changed the life of Eric Clapton when he was a young kid in England. In addition to Elvis Presley and other Rock musicians, his biggest influences were the legendary bluesmen from Chicago, Mississippi and other regions of the United States. He absorbed those influences and within a few years managed to create his own style, which would make him one of the most successful Blues Rock musicians in the world.

But it wasn’t only the musicians from the early eras of Blues and Rock that he praised over the decades. He has also spoken about one of his contemporaries: Joe Walsh (James Gang, The Eagles).

Eric Clapton’s opinion on Joe Walsh

“He’s one of the best guitarists to surface in some time. I don’t listen to many records, but I listen to his,” Clapton praised Walsh already back in 1975 as told by Rolling Stone magazine at the time. His admiration for the American musician continued over the decades and Clapton invited him to be part of the Crossroads Festival several times. They had the chance to perform together a couple of times over the years, one of the first being with Fleetwood Mac at their show in Boston in 1970. They were part of the “Encore Jam“, which was later featured in their album “Live In Boston” (1985).

The Eric Clapton guitar solo Joe Walsh liked but the British guitarist didn’t

Joe Walsh is also a fan of Clapton’s and he already praised the acclaimed live edited version of “Crossroads”, featured on Cream‘s “Wheel of Fire” (1968) as an incredible and influential one. However, the British guitarist didn’t agree with that.

“It may have been eleven minutes long (The original performance). God knows. And I don’t understand that either. There’s a couple of big myths about me. This thing about God and this thing about ‘Crossroads.’ I think that’s a terrible solo. I saw a thing with Joe Walsh the other day, talking about that solo. I really appreciate that respect for it, but I can’t figure out what the hell they’re talking about. It’s messy! I admit it’s got tons of energy, but that alone doesn’t make it. I don’t like it. Isn’t that funny?” Eric Clapton told Rolling Stone in 1988.

Joe Walsh got into the Blues legends’ music a little bit later on when he was joining James Gang. He only discovered about B.B. King after reading an interview where Eric Clapton praised the musician. Joe Walsh got into the Blues legends’ music a little bit later on when he was joining James Gang. He only discovered about B.B. King after he read an interview with Eric Clapton talking about the musician. “They (James Gang) had heard I was hot stuff, so they asked me to join. I had some big shoes to fill”.

He continued:

“I began to study the guitar like mad, buying records and reading all I could. I wasn’t even aware of B.B. King until I read an interview with Eric Clapton where he talked about stealing his licks. I had a lot of catching up to do. After a while, I started to branch out and write my own music,” Joe Walsh told Rolling Stone in 1975.

He ended up being a fundamental help to The Who and Led Zeppelin since he was the one who gave Jimmy Page and Pete Townshend the guitars they would use in many successful albums. Curiously, one of them, the “fat orange Gretsch” model he gave to Townshend was used by him not only on “Who’s Next” (1971) but also at the famous Clapton Rainbow Concert in 1973.

Don Henley said Joe Walsh was a mix between Clapton and Duane Allman

Curiously, when Walsh joined The Eagles in 1975, the drummer Don Henley talked with Melody Maker about him and described the musician as a mix of Duane Allman and Eric Clapton. “Most of the media suggested he wouldn’t fit. Because we were a mellower band than anything he’d done before. But I read every review of our last tour and they all said how he didn’t clutter or get in the way of our music and how well we played his music. On stage we did ‘Rocky Mountain Way’ and ‘Funk 49’ and ‘Turn To Stone’.”

“He’s capable of playing the stuff we do and we’re capable of playing his music. Sure he introduced some harder guitar playing even though he didn’t put it on this album in the way of songwriting. But I think he and Felder played some killer guitar for us all. To me it’s like Duane Allman and Eric Clapton together,” Don Henley said and the late Glenn Frey agreed with him.

Walsh’s first album with the band was “Hotel California” (1976), which became one of the best-selling of all time. He later was part of “The Long Run” (1979) and their comeback record and most recent one “Long Road Out of Eden” (2007).