The spotlight turns to Joe Walsh, who many of you may know as a member of the Eagles;  However…Joe Walsh was Joe Walsh before he was an Eagle.  In the late 60’s he joined a band called The James Gang – 70’s refugees will recognize the name and recall that this band produced some of the first hit songs written/performed by Walsh.  He left the James Gang and formed a group called Barnstorm, which had a few hits, the most commercially successful being “Rocky Mountain Way” which reached #23 on the 1973 US Top 40 Chart.  Interestingly, the band released three albums, but only the first branded as Barnstorm, the later two marketed as Walsh solo efforts.  As a result, no one remembers Barnstorm – I know I didn’t.

This James Gang song is the one with the famous riff and the funky name: Funk #49:

OK then.  I’ll close with a few bonus fun facts about Joe Walsh:

He played the Oboe in his high school band; He produced Dan Fogelberg’s 1974 Album Souvenirs;  he is an amatuer (HAM) radio operator, call sign WB6ACU.