Back in late 1971, Joe Walsh – the electric guitar master who would go on to play with the Eagles – grew tired of being the frontman and primary songwriter of his band, the James Gang, and formed a new group, Barnstorm.
Primarily featuring Walsh, Joe Vitale on drums and Kenny Passarelli on bass guitar, Barnstorm recorded two albums – a self-titled effort in 1972, and 1973's The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get – but had disbanded by 1974.
Aside from a one-off onstage reunion in 2017 – at their induction into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame – Barnstorm have been quiet, as their members have pursued a multitude of other projects, for almost 50 years. According to producer David Catching though, that may be about to change.
In a statement endorsing Audix Mics, Catching – who owns the Rancho De La Luna studio in Joshua Tree, California, and has also played guitar with Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of the Stone Age and Earthlings? – offhandedly mentioned that Walsh and Barnstorm recorded "the first album they’ve done in 50 years" at Rancho De La Luna in 2021.
“I’ve been a fan of Audix mics forever,” Catching wrote in the statement. “But it’s not just me. One of the better stories I can tell you is that in May and June of 2021 we had Joe Walsh in here with the original Barnstorm, recording the first album they’ve done in 50 years.
"The producer was Bill Szymczyk, who did a bunch of the original Eagles records," Catching continued. "Bill is incredibly famous and accomplished and can have any equipment he wants, and he told me he was bringing a ‘handful’ of mics to the studio. So, I thought he was going to bring in vintage Neumanns and C12s and that level of crazy stuff. But for drums, he showed up with [Audix] D2s, D4s, a D6 for the kick, and a few i5s as general instrument mics.
"We had Joe Vitale as the drummer, who is one of the greatest, and the Audix mics with virtually no processing were the go-to drum sound. Man, it sounded so good.”
Frustratingly, Catching's anecdote contains all the information we currently have on this theoretical third Barnstorm album, but we'll update you with more if and when we have it.
Always a busy man, Walsh is also set to soon appear on Brother Johnny – the all-star Johnny Winter tribute album that's slated for release in April – and recently made a guest appearance in Ringo Starr's new "Drumming and Creative Collaboration" MasterClass course.
