“People often ask me if I believe in God, and I kinda have to, because I'm still here. I had not planned on living this long, and here I am.”
- Joe Walsh
The day before yesterday I talked about seeing the Eagles in 1978. The lineup then included Joe Walsh, who joined the band in 1975. Walsh's musical gifts, added to those of the other members of the group, helped launch them into a separate galaxy. His presence on the Hotel California album is all the proof necessary.
Walsh, of course, was already an established star prior to his stint with The Eagles, first with The James Gang and then with his solo work (think Rocky Mountain Way). He was and has remained one of rock-n-roll's great talents and jesters. With a sly grin and a wink, he let's us know that he's enjoying the joke too.
But, underneath his affability, like many a rock star before and after, Joe was possessed for years by the demon of addiction. “My higher power was vodka and cocaine.” he said. It all started when, “In my late teen years I tried to play guitar in front of some people and I couldn't do it. I was so scared. I could not do it. I hyperventilated. I started shaking. I started crying.” But eventually he found that after “a couple of beers” he could. We all know how the script reads from there.
I have a friend in Memphis whose step-daughter was engaged to Joe for a time before they broke up. He was around quite a bit, she said. And in her words, “He was a mess.” That echos Joe's own self-assessment, “I burned all my bridges. Nobody wanted to work with me. I was angry…I turned into a godless, hateful thing. I thought I was going to drown in a bathtub in some hotel alone somewhere like all my buddies had.”
In the midst of it all, The Eagles broke up in 1980, which only accelerated Walsh's descent. “I became about as alcoholic and drug dependent as someone can be." In 1992, having survived somehow, he was approached by former bandmates Glenn Frey and Don Henley. They wanted to get The Eagles back together…but only if Joe could do it sober. It was the reason he needed to try and defeat the malignancy that had control of his soul.
“They saved my life without a doubt, just by talking to me straight. They were the only people I would have listened to. I owe them the world, both of them.” Joe is now 31 years clean. He spends a good deal of time trying to help others get control of their lives. “There is life after alcohol and addiction" he says, “and it's good.”
Praise be.