Nashville, TN. (Top40 Charts/ BNA Entertainment) - It's not that things aren't hot enough when Kenny Chesney, the man whose 1.3 million fans played to on last year's The Road & The
Radio Tour made him the No 1 ticket-seller in North
America in any genre – beyond even the
Dave Matthews Band and the Rolling Stones, gets rocking. But as somebody who always thinks there's another degree or two to add to the moment, Chesney wanted an aces-high way to increase the heat, finding it in iconoclastic rock legend Joe Walsh, a man known for his searing electric guitar and wry wit.
'I don't think there's anybody in the world who doesn't know 'Life's Been Good To Me' or ' Rocky Mountain Way ' if they've listened to any rock radio at all,' enthuses the reigning and back-to-back Academy of Country Music and two-time and current Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year. 'Those are songs you know even if you don't know that much about music… and then there's the way he tears through 'Life In the Fast Lane' and 'All Night Long.' We're talking some very serious stuff! (Lead guitarist) Clayton (Mitchell) couldn't be happier – because he's gonna get to go out there and trade some hardcore playing with not just a hero, but a guy who really turned electric guitar into something scary on pop radio.'
Joe Walsh is one of the most blues-steeped electric guitarists of the twentieth century – long on serious use of slide, effect pedals and outright swagger. The man who captured the excess of the rock & roll life with But Seriously Folks and the ironically titled The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get incinerated the James Gang – a burly power trio of Midwestern hippies with two gold albums and freeform FM anthems 'Walk Away' and 'Funk No 49.' After a distinguished solo career, he was lured into the Eagles for Hotel California, where his presence brought forth the far more ragged, insistent rock sound that marked the rest of their ride.
At the same time Walsh assumed the role of the 'rocker Eagle,' he was playing with an eclectic roster of rock royalty – from Rod Stewart to Warren Zevon, Michael McDonald to Steve Winwood, Etta James to Dan Fogelberg, Ringo Starr to Rolling Stone Bill Wyman, fellow flame-throwing guitarist Rick Derringer to Lionel Richie to the equally gonzo Pete Moon. Omnipresent on too many film soundtracks, starting with 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High,' Walsh's searing guitar became the signature laceration sound of hardcore rock & roll over the past three decades.
'Like I said,' Chesney says about the guy adding the firepower with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame credentials. 'If you've ever listened to rock radio, you KNOW Joe Walsh. Getting him to come out here with us is gonna be a total blast… cause nobody's lived the life quite like him and absolutely nobody plays guitar like he does, either. I think it's gonna take it up a bunch getting him out here with us.'
Always one to rock where he finds it, Chesney quickly took his pal up on the offer to come out and play. Though it's a last minute deal, Walsh will be in Omaha for the tour's kick-off Thursday, April 12 – but he will not begin touring regularly with the Flip Flop Summer Tour until the tour stop in Vegas.
'We've got a pretty hot line-up,' concedes the man who just had The Road & The Radio's third multiple week No 1 with his self-penned 'Beer In Mexico,' written at no less than Sammy Hagar's pool in Cabo San Lucas. 'Figure we've got Pat Green, who knows how to throw a party out front, and Sugarland, who've been tearing it up, right behind him. We're ready to rock… and we're coming fully loaded. All the fans gotta do is show up and be ready to party.'
