As one of the Eagles, Joe Walsh goes along to get along

You know about the big shots in the Eagles _ Don Henley and Glenn Frey. Purposeful singer-songwriter Henley is the band's conscience; free-spirited singer-songwriter Frey its heart. Bassist Timothy B. Schmit, the quiet one, brings a peaceful, easy feeling. And Walsh, the loud one, brings much-needed humor, energy and personality.

Take, for instance, when Walsh phoned recently from Texas. Hurricane Ike had forced cancellation of the band's show the night before in Houston.

"I'm in Dallas, which is the first place the hurricane's going after it hits Houston," he said. "I don't know why we're here. I think it's our own personal hurricane and it's going to follow us wherever we go."

When stormy weather and the Eagles are mentioned in the same sentence, it usually refers to the inability of Henley and Frey to get along. Remember that classic quote from the acerbic Henley when the group broke up in 1980? He said they'd play together again "when hell freezes over."

After reuniting as a touring act in 1994, the Eagles finally released an album of new material in October 2007, reestablishing themselves as a viable artistic entity, not merely a lucrative business arrangement between fractured friends. "Long Road Out of Eden," a two-disc, 20-song epic, quickly became a big seller, topping 3 million in sales _ a blockbuster by today's standards but a shadow of the 29 million copies sold in the United States of "The Eagles _ Their Greatest Hits 1971-75," the biggest selling album of all time.

"We are getting along better than ever," said Walsh. "We've just really settled down."

How's that?

"We're just really comfortable around each other now. We're all sober. We've discovered sleep," said Walsh, 60. "There's a different feeling when you've played with musicians for 30 years. A lot of stuff doesn't even need to be said, especially onstage. We just read each other so well. We're like the 'Grumpy Old Men' movie. We're like Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon _ except there's four of us."

Walsh, known for his work with the James Gang and solo recordings, joined the Eagles in 1975 as a replacement for co-founder Bernie Leadon. He knows his role.

"It truly is Don and Glenn's band," the guitarist said. "I knew that when I joined, and it hasn't changed. They call the shots and decide policies. I think the world of them as a team. So that's OK with me."

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Here's how the Eagles fly, according to Walsh: "Don usually has an overview of a concept or a complete statement. Glenn helps him turn that from abstract to a real thing. My job is to feed that input and put some kick-ass guitar on it and try to keep them sane and focused."

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Not that Walsh is afraid to speak his mind. For instance, he doesn't dig the stage outfits for this tour _ black suits, white shirts and black ties.

"I don't know exactly why we're doing it. I guess Glenn came up with it," said Walsh, who had grown accustomed to wearing whatever he wanted onstage. "You feel a certain way with a suit and a tie on. My problem is my tie gets stuck in my guitars strings and all of a sudden my guitar doesn't work anymore. I've got to get a tie clasp but I never get around to it."

Not that the Eagles ever play it straight. Besides the suits and ties, the most conservative thing these left-leaning Californians have done is give Wal-Mart the exclusive retail-store rights to "Long Road Out of Eden."

"That was pretty much a business decision," Walsh explained of allowing Big Blue to sell the CD for $11.88. "We found Wal-Mart to be a fairly green company and at least open to dialog on some of their policies. It was kind of a bold step. It worked pretty good. It may open the door for a bunch of frustrated artists to distribute new material as an alternative to iTunes. And it's a pretty darn good deal; if it was (done via) a record company, (the CD) would have cost twice as much."

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Of course, the Eagles, especially the outspoken Henley, are still critical of the Bush administration. It's obvious in the 10-minute title cut on the new album, which the band plays in concert. It's a song about U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq.

"We tried to do that through the eyes of the guys who are over there. They're gung-ho when they get there and as time goes on, they don't really know why they're there," Walsh said. "Without ever talking about revolution and getting down too much on anybody, we were trying to say 'We're in a big mess.'"

The album features other social commentaries ("I Dreamed There Was No War," "Frail Grasp on the Big Picture," "Do Something") as well as songs about relationships ("Busy Being Fabulous," "What Do I Do with My Heart," "I Love To Watch a Woman Dance").

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Of course, slow-working ...

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