I am still behind on getting posts caught back up, I’ll just skip things here and there until I can truly get caught up and then ahead. No real big deal, I don’t guess.

Anyway – today I want to have a look at Joe Walsh’s breakout song from his solo career. While Walsh’s marquee performance will always be tied to the Eagles and usually Hotel California, there’s little doubt that Rocky Mountain Way is one of a small handful of Walsh’s landmark solo cuts.

The song comes from what turns out to technically be Walsh’s debut solo album The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get in 1973. The album was billed as Joe Walsh, though the players actually went by the name Barnstorm, the group Walsh formed after quitting The James Gang in 1971. Barnstorm released a self-titled record in 1972, which was well-received critically but not a hot seller.

This album would do better business, hitting number 6 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and receiving a US gold certification. Rocky Mountain Way hit number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100, Walsh’s first true chart success.

Rocky Mountain Way is a blues-rock jam with one big, fat riff guiding it along. The song meanders along at an easy pace, it is not in a hurry to go anywhere and we are all the better for it lingering around. Walsh also employs the talk box in the song, while its use is panned in general it is a great fit in this particular song.

Lyrically, the song is about how Joe’s move from The James Gang to going solo was a good move for him. It was his way of pushing back the regret of leaving a band with success to risk it on his own. Joe relays in a 2021 interview with Howard Stern (embedded below) that he was mowing his lawn in Colorado when he was “knocked back” by the majesty of the Rocky Mountains in the background. He went into the house, suddenly having words for the music he’d already recorded, and also amusingly left his lawnmower running while crafting the lyrics. Walsh also calls this song the greatest solo song he ever wrote in the interview.

Over the years the song has remained as a staple of rock radio and is ever present in entertainment. Baseball’s Colorado Rockies play the song after every home win (insert jokes here), and the Denver Broncos use a Godsmack cover version during their games. The song has appeared in several movies and is also a part of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, having appeared on the rock radio station in GTA 4.

Rocky Mountain Way is Joe Walsh’s most-played live song, according to setlist.fm. Not only that, but it ranks number 8 in terms of the most-played songs on The Eagles list as well. The song even ranks in another artist’s list with no relation to Walsh – Canadian rockers Triumph covered the song and played it a lot on tour and it secures the number 6 spot on Triumph’s live list.

There’s little doubt that Joe Walsh will be most remembered for his contributions with The Eagles, not the least of which is his part in the solo that closes out Hotel California. But his solo material also deserves consideration, and Rocky Mountain Way is perhaps the top of the heap in terms of magnificence. That fat riff places you right in a smoky dive bar of days past and is one of music’s great moments.