Walter Egan: The Untold Stories Behind "Magnet and Steel," Stevie Nicks, Gram Parsons & a Lifetime in Music
Tony Mantor's : Almost Live..... Nashville
In this episode, Walter Egan reflects on his prolific five-decade career in the music industry, centered around his hit 'Magnet and Steel.'
Key takeaways
- Egan describes himself as the 'barnacle on the yacht of rock,' highlighting his place within the era's musical landscape.
- The recording of 'Fundamental Role' took place at Stevie Nicks' house to utilize a 16-track recorder and maintain privacy.
Main topics
- The making of 'Magnet and Steel'
- Collaborations with Fleetwood Mac members
Notable quotes
I'm the barnacle on the yacht of rock.
Conclusion
A nostalgic and deeply personal retrospective that provides a unique i
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) Hi, I'm Tony Mantour. Thanks for joining us today. Welcome to Almost Live Nashville, where music, entertainment, and great conversations come together. If you haven't already, tap follow. This way you stay up to date, never missing the great conversation and guests coming your way. Speaker 1 (0:17) Most people know Walter Egan for his classic hit, Magnet and Steel. That chart-topping single is only one chapter in an incredible journey spanning more than five decades. From writing songs with Graham Parsons, working along Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, recording at the legendary Sound City Studios, and sharing stages with some of the most influential artists of his generation, Walter has experienced the music business from the inside out. In this conversation, we'll hear the stories behind the songs, the highs and the lows from the recording industry, the friendships that shaped his career, and why his passion for the music continues today through new releases, live performances, radio, teaching, and even becoming a grandfather. It's an honest, fascinating look at perseverance, creativity, and what it really takes to build a lasting career in music. So whether you remember singing along to Magnet and Steel or you're discovering Walter Egan for the very first time, you're in for a memorable conversation. So now, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and storyteller, Walter Egan, thanks for joining us today. Speaker 2 (1:29) Yeah, well, appreciate you having me. Oh, it's my pleasure. When Speaker 1 (1:32) you look back at your musical journey, what moment was it that you realized, hey, this is actually happening? Speaker 2 (1:40) Now, there's a big question that could take an hour to answer. Through the years, I've tried with limited success to write my story. I did it once in the third person in the 80s as kind of a happy ending story of, you know, you dream a dream and I wind up in the top 10. Sure. In Speaker 1 (1:59) the last 15 years or so, I've been Speaker 2 (2:02) working with a label in England called Red Steel Music. put out what was my alternative album, which was 26 years ago. Then one called The Lost Album, which came out in England as the Mad Dog album. Anyway, his label is basically one guy who seems to appreciate my latter-day aesthetic, let's put it that way, and his recordings that I've been making through the years. So he wanted to put some of them out. Speaker 1 (2:29) With limited Speaker 2 (2:30) success here and there, he would... turn his attention to me and we would do a project or something. And he put out some singles through the years and found recordings that he liked. Nice. In the year 2020, when COVID hit, I had seen him the year before, did a gig at the Cavern in Liverpool, legendary as it was. He came up from London and I gave him a stack of CDs of these recordings I had made. So one of them happened to be a song cycle about the woman Pamela DeBarra. You familiar with Pamela? Oh, yeah. She's quite a well-known persona. My daughter was about to move to California for a little while, for a year, which turned into about six years. She said to me, well, before we go, don't get this wrong, but I really like this book. The book was I'm with the band, Speaker 1 (3:20) you Speaker 2 (3:20) know, and, you know, she was 18 Speaker 1 (3:22) or whatever. Speaker 2 (3:23) I said, well, you know, I think I've met her somewhere along the line, maybe on Facebook. And we were. I got in touch with her and told her my daughter wanted to meet her or whatever. She has these yard sales of groupie coutures. So we went and visited her. At this point, I was well into my divorce year. Second bachelorhood. We got divorced in 2004. And my wife, as she then was, and she still is, 11 years younger than I am. You know, I've always skewed a little younger than women my own age. Anyway. I found myself becoming attractive to Pamela or attracted to Pamela. There's a Freudian slip. Every time I'd go to visit my daughter or do a gig in California, I'd go out with Pamela and I'd wind up writing another song about that part of the relationship that I happened to be in, if you want to even call it that. And so ultimately, you know, crashed and burned, as it were, after about 10 songs. So I had these songs on a CD and the guy in England thought this was a great CD. I can really relate to it. It's like, you know, you fall in love, you think it's going to happen and oh, well, maybe it won't. Speaker 1 (4:34) Yeah. So Speaker 2 (4:35) I had the time off because of the COVID situation and I sat down for real, actually got through writing my book. Speaker 1 (4:43) Yeah, good. Speaker 2 (4:43) Which came to about 550 pages. about a year and a half ago that I abandoned it. A friend of mine said, you never finish writing an autobiography. You just, you just abandon it. This guy in England, I gave him that top 10 one that I told you about, happy ending one. He said, well, what about the rest of the story? Like, well, okay, yeah, I can do that. So I did, I wrote, I wrote it all. I've come to the title of Magnitude. with a different spelling of magnitude to allude to my record and my secrets to reveal as the subtitle. Speaker 1 (5:16) During Speaker 2 (5:16) that time, that was the prime question. It was like, how did all this happen to me? Is it a butterfly effect? Was it a decision I made years and years before that led me to that? And I pretty much think it happened in December of 1970 in Georgetown, D.C., where I still was living, even though I was out of school. Linda Ronstadt and her band came into the club where we were playing and liked our music, which was a lot of songs that I had written. Nice. We sat down with them and they liked us and we got to be friends and hung out. In those days, there was a club called The Cellar Door. Axe would play for a week. And so we got to hang with him all week. And her road manager was a guy named Chris Darrow. Now, Chris happened to have come from the original band, the Kaleidoscope, with David Lindley in the late 60s. He was in Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for a while. Speaker 1 (6:10) He was a Speaker 2 (6:11) great instrumentalist, mandolin and fiddle and guitar. And he really took a liking to the band. So I developed a relationship with him long distance. He wanted Speaker 1 (6:20) to Speaker 2 (6:20) produce the band and it was like, hey, great, great. And ultimately it came down to, yeah, but we want your publishing. And so it was like, thanks anyway. That was in the 72-ish era. Ultimately, the band broke up. I got in touch with Chris and Speaker 1 (6:35) I Speaker 2 (6:36) said, hey, my band broke up. He said, well, come to California and you can play with me, which I took as a great invitation. So that was it. In 74, that contact with Chris Darrow from that night in December led me to the, gateway. He was my gateway to the rest of my life. Speaker 1 (6:53) Ultimately, Speaker 2 (6:54) his manager became my manager. And the tour that I did with him in May of 74 of the British Isles was where I met this guy named Andrew Lauder, who was the head. Well, at that point, he was a United Artists England. He was like the A &R guy. Two years later, he wound up offering me a deal in LA after a night at the Troubadour. So that connection came through. And then Further connection to the illustrious people who I worked with happened because Chris and Greg, who was the manager, had been doing demos at this studio, this funky studio in Van Nuys called Sound City, which has become illustrious because of Dave Grohl. Right. So, yeah. And so and because of that, my engineer said, well, if you need a producer, you should talk to Buckingham Nicks. And I was like, who is that? Is that a guy? I