Neil Young has been one of the most prolific musicians in the world since the 1960s, exploring many different directions throughout his career and showing how versatile he could be in Folk and Rock and Roll music. Over the decades, he had the chance to meet many incredible musicians and has always been drawn to great guitar players.
Many of his peers have spoken about him and shared their opinions on Neil, including the legendary Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh.
What is Joe Walsh’s opinion on Neil Young
Joe Walsh is a fan of Neil Young and the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. “It’s wonderful (to play and be) with him. He makes go humble, he makes me real humble. (Neil) gave us a lot of advice, (like) don’t sign anything (laughs), ever, stuff like that.” After being asked why he thinks Neil is considered a legend, he said: “I have no idea. He is just really good to everybody. He strikes a chord in us all, he really does. With his simplicity he makes really powerful music and there is just some hard strings there. His sound is often in all of us, that’s undeniable,” Joe Walsh said in an interview in Hollywood in 2006 at the premiere of Young’s concert film “Heart of Gold” (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
Back in 1974, Walsh’s band Barnstorm had the chance to be the opening act for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. That same year, Young played a benefit concert with the Eagles, but Walsh would join them only the following year. A couple of years later, he praised the guitarist, saying he fit better in the Eagles than he did in CSNY.
Neil Young said:
“I took the Eagles on tour with me – they thought I was pretty crazy. They were a good, clean country group back then, and they sounded like what a lot of people would have expected me to sound like after hearing Harvest. They think, “We’re gonna have an evening of really fine country-flavored rock & roll and folk rock.’ And then we just came out and…took em all to Miami Beach.”
“(…) I never really fit into CSNY as well as Joe Walsh does with the Eagles. Everybody had a different viewpoint on what’s happening and it takes a whole lot to get them all together. It’s a great group for that. Four totally different people who all know how it should be done, whatever it is,” he said in an interview with Cameron Crowe in 1979.
Over the decades Joe had been a really close friend of David Crosby, Young’s former bandmate. When he passed away in 2023, the guitarist posted a special tribute, mentioning that tour with CSNY.
Joe Walsh said:
“David was my friend. He was larger than life, he is a national treasure. (David) had a commanding presence, he had the best smile of anyone I’ve ever known. He taught me how to sail. (David) taught me things about life. He is the voice you don’t really hear in CSN. His voice weaved it all together to make it CSN. Stills introduced me to David in 1972.”
“My band Barnstorm opened for CSN&Y numerous times during the summer of 1974. And that time together ignited a friendship that lasted a lifetime. Croz was unique. He was a ‘one of a kind’ and I loved him. Always will. See you down the road my friend. This is not goodbye. Our love and support to Jan, Django and all his family and close friend,” he said.
Joe Walsh covered “Cinnamon Girl” and gave Pete Townshend a guitar like Young used
Curiously, back in 1985, Joe Walsh covered Neil Young’s classic song “Cinnamon Girl” 19 times during his solo shows across the United States and Canada. He would play the song on two more shows, one in 1988 and another in 1989.
More than a decade earlier, Joe Walsh, who became friends with The Who’s Pete Townshend after the James Gang toured with the British band. He gave Pete a Gretsch guitar just like the one used by Neil, whom Townshend was also a fan of. That guitar was extremely important for Pete, who credited as one of the most important elements of The Who’s sound on their seminal album “Who’s Next” (1971). It was used on every track of that record and he onced said it was finest one he ever had.
“Joe Walsh, whom I’d met, sent me an orange Gretsch like Neil Young uses and a Fender Bassman amp and with an Entwoods volume pedal in between. I started getting into that kind of sound. Leslie West sent me a really great Les Paul Junior with one pickup on it and Eric gave me an old Strat.”
He continued:
“I think in a way what these guys were trying to tell me was if I wasn’t ready to go out and find me a good guitar, they did it for me. They gave me good instruments and I still have those three instruments today. And those were really the guitars I used on that album. Mainly the solo work on ‘Who’s Next’ was done on the Gretsch Chet Atkins.”
“(…) I feel Joe (Walsh) is a very expressive guitar player. He has brought out a lot of expressiveness in the other guitar player in the band (The Eagles), Don Felder.” Pete Townshend said in an interview with Sound International magazine in 1980.
Joe Walsh and Neil played with the same drummers
Usually, the best session or touring drummers in the business are highly sought after by the biggest Rock stars who don’t have a permanent band. Chad Cromwell for example, joined Walsh’s band in 1986, appearing on the album “Got Any Gum?” (1987) and “Ordinary Average Guy” (1991).
In 1987, when the first album with Walsh was released, he began to collaborate with Neil Young and the initial sessions of their work became Neil Young & The Bluenotes. Since then he recorded and toured with the Canadian musician several times. He appears on albums like “Freedom” (1989), “Praire Wind” (2005), “Living With War” (2006), Chrome Dreams II” (2007). Cromwell also toured with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in 2006. Another respected American who collaborated with both artists is Joe Vitale.
He had known Walsh since they were classmates at Kent State University and was invited to join Barnstorm in the 1970s. It marked the start of a long partnership that even resulted in the classic “Rocky Mountain Way,” which they co-wrote. He also worked extensively with the Stills-Young Band and Crosby, Stills and Nash, and later joined the Eagles’ touring band, playing drums and keyboards and singing backing vocals.