Joe Vitale

Joe Vitale is an American singer, songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist, most known for his close work with Joe Walsh. On his first solo album, "Roller Coaster Weekend" (1974), he's responsible for most of the music, playing everything from drums and keyboards to flute and tympani. Filling out the other slots is a mini-guitar army of Rick Derringer, Joe Walsh, and Phil Keaggy. Yet, despite such luminaries, it's not a guitar show-off album. Rather, it's a song-oriented album, and the three guitarists always work in service to the songs.
"Plantation Harbor" (1981) is a dated sounding, but decent, collection of light and airy late 1970s/early 1980s rock. Long-time musical partner Joe Walsh guests on the album, as do a bevy of other similarly styled musicians, including Timothy B. Schmidt, Don Felder, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash.

Barnstorm, Joe Walsh's first solo album after leaving the James Gang, garnered him fame not only as a guitarist but also as a songwriter. While it's true that Walsh established himself as a late-'60s/early-'70s guitar hero on the Gang's more boogie-oriented rock numbers, it's Walsh's love of lushly textured production and spacy, open-ended songs featuring both acoustic and electric guitars that is showcased here on this wildly adventurous and forgotten, unqualified masterpiece. Recorded at the Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado, Barnstorm reflects the big sky and wide-open spaces.

Barnstorm, Joe Walsh's first solo album after leaving the James Gang, garnered him fame not only as a guitarist but also as a songwriter. While it's true that Walsh established himself as a late-'60s/early-'70s guitar hero on the Gang's more boogie-oriented rock numbers, it's Walsh's love of lushly textured production and spacy, open-ended songs featuring both acoustic and electric guitars that is showcased here on this wildly adventurous and forgotten, unqualified masterpiece. Recorded at the Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado, Barnstorm reflects the big sky and wide-open spaces.

This is the album that proved to be Joe Walsh's commercial breakthrough, largely on the strength of two rock classics, one of the most beloved rock songs of the 1970s, "Rocky Mountain Way" and "Meadows". Though the album's front cover credits only Walsh, Joe shares the vocals and songwriting with the three members of his band, Barnstorm: drummer/multi-instrumentalist Joe Vitale, bassist Kenny Passarelli, and keyboardist Rocke Grace. This isn't your typical 70's classic rock album with bass, drums, guitar and vocals - it is a masterful score covering so many moods from the dark "Wolf" to the bouncy "Happy Ways" to the breezy "Days Gone By"…

Barnstorm, Joe Walsh's first solo album after leaving the James Gang, garnered him fame not only as a guitarist but also as a songwriter. While it's true that Walsh established himself as a late-'60s/early-'70s guitar hero on the Gang's more boogie-oriented rock numbers, it's Walsh's love of lushly textured production and spacy, open-ended songs featuring both acoustic and electric guitars that is showcased here on this wildly adventurous and forgotten, unqualified masterpiece…