Rocky Mountain Way

Joe Walsh, 1973, from The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get. Solo by Joe Walsh.

Walsh pairs slide guitar with one of the first talkbox solos on a hit record, a sound he helped popularise.

Rocky Mountain Way runs on a lazy, heavy shuffle, and Walsh fills the gaps with two distinct voices. First comes the slide, greasy and rhythmic, riding the groove rather than racing it. Then the talkbox arrives, and the guitar starts to sound as if it is groaning and chewing on vowels, a wonderfully odd sound for rock radio at the time. Walsh plays it with a sense of humour, bending notes into shapes that feel like a drawl. The track showed a generation that effects could add personality instead of just volume. Listen for how the slide lines sit right on the backbeat, and how the talkbox phrases end with a wobbling vowel instead of a clean note.

Rocky Mountain Way by Joe Walsh is ranked #255 in our consensus of 79 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Joe Walsh and the song was released in 1973. It appears on 1 lists, placing as high as #12 (SiriusXM (countdown transcribed on PRS Guitars forum)).

In our lists

• One and Only — #49
• The 25 Greatest Rock Guitar Solos — #3
• Slide Guitar — #11
• Wah & Talk Box Solos — #11
• The Best Joe Walsh Guitar Solos — #2

Sources

• SiriusXM (countdown transcribed on PRS Guitars forum): 50 Baddest Guitar Solos — #12