I met Waddy in Middletown NY. at a tire shop, 6 of us were stranded there for hours, We listened to him for hours, the time flew by, he had the greatest stories to tell, he should have his own KZfaq channel, he has such a sharp memory, and an awesome guy to listen to.It's like listening to interviews with the Beatles, such great stories,.

Probably the best guitarist that only those who play or love guitars knows about. He's a much a legend as any other player out there.

“I’ve been very lucky.” One of the greats and still counting his blessings, I love hearing that. A very humble man.

I always admired that whole gang of musicians who played with James Taylor. Leland, Russ Kunkel, Waddy, Danny Kortchmar, their musicality was from another planet.

I have so much respect for Waddy, love his work with Linda.

Waddy is such a genuine person. So soft spoken and polite. Extremely underrated and unrecognized player.

Harry Wachtel was one of my patients in Miami, FL decades ago. When he told me his son played the guitar and was in a band I thought ‘oh yeah some band in North Miami at a calypso bar’....how wrong was I.

Had a huge grin on my face the entire time, this was a great one. what a chill guy. fantastic storyteller too. 10/10

Ive been a guitar player my entire life (literally) and the stories by icons like Waddy are precious gems. And Waddy, the consummate pro, is thankful, humble, and funnier than hell!

One of the greatest musicians of his day. Every Linda Ronstadt song he contributed to (among other artists) was supreme greatly in part from his contribution.

it's almost like all the best classic players are kind decent modest guys who love guitars and music deeply and care about people.. another great interview rundown.....

This guy is too cool. He's played guitar on a lot of songs we've all listened to and loved for years. He's a true icon in rock music.

I really wish the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame would have a section dedicated to all the Waddy's & Leland's .

Waddy is a national treasure and veritable wealth of guitar knowledge and rock history.

Waddy is too modest, he can play with the best of them.

Can't imagine Stevie Nicks without him & neither can she! The Chicago Live concerts sound like HEAVEN!!

Saw Stevie in Pittsburgh on the Wild Heart tour. Waddy starts 17 and Stevie comes out... Waddy keeps chugging that note. Stevie wanders off stage... back on stage... off stage. Good 15 minutes of just intro! Good job, Waddy!

That's crazy, I just read the great interview with him and Leslie West over at Music Aficionado, and was thinking, "Man, Premier Guitar needs to do a Rig Rundown with Waddy, that would be classic talking about that Les Paul he owns." And voila, here it is, they listened to me!

I remember seeing his name on so many records back in the 70s. What a great career and what a cool guy.

I can't believe this is the first interview I've ever seen with Waddy! My God. He's still just killing it!

Great interview. Waddy is a legend. It so happens I flipped on the car radio today and "Werewolves of London" came on and I was yet again taken by Waddy's playing on the song which he co-wrote with Warren Zevon. Loved his work with Andrew Gold also. Great, great musician. Thanks Premier Guitar!

Such an underrated guitarist. About time Waddy received the spotlight!

A lifetime of playing a guitar in countless venues. His career justifies his standing as one of the best in the business. I thoroughly enjoy his work with the Immediate Family.

Waddy played on almost every important song in the 60s-90s. What a fantastic talent. Thanks for sharing with us Waddy

Could have watched that for another 2 hours

Simply a great interview from a guy with an endless string of stories. Agree, we need a book from Waddy.

Got to see Waddy with the Winos twice back in the day...GREAT BAND Waddy gave a master class in rock guitar each night. The guy is national treasure. GREAT RIG RUNDOWN!

Finally...Wally, the all time guitarist that always been there, in the zone.Thankyou Premier Guitars for recognising this man. Seriously, a documentary is in order. cheers

For a super star and a highly sought after session man Waddy is so humble. What a great human being

John Bollinger, I'm impressed with your interviews. You seem to take the time to learn the details of your interviewees past, along with the details of their tools (guitars, amps, etc.) it makes for such a fun, informed interview. This is one of the best you've done. Thanks, and keep it up.

When the show ended,”Stevie nicks”,the lights came up,shows over,but waddy had to throw in a few extra licks for the crowd,was great.

Waddy, not even considering what you've done.... what a far out cool time to live through. I've lived through it right with you and it's just been an amazing period of music... I can't imagine having the memories you've got... Thanks for all the enjoyment man.

i wish waddy would write a book just imagine the stories he could tell

I remember seeing this Waddy with multiple bands on the Midnight Special. Gotta love that trademark hair.

I literally grew up following Waddy,s playing and appearing with all the big name bands !! Waddy could do anything he wanted with that lead guitar and make it talk and all the while look effortless!!! A true legend!!!!!!

I didn't realize until recently how I've been chasing this man's tone for decades. What a great player and cool guy. So chill.

Saw Waddy playing with Joe Walsh in the 1980s in Sydney Australia, what a night. They played songs from Walsh's Confessor Album. What a band.

Loved his work on Linda Ronstadt's albums

I remember watching a TV interview by Leslie West ,and he said that this man taught him how to really play lead guitar ,hes a legend both are fck

What I am amazed at is his demeanor, he is so chill and relaxed. Great guitar player.

GREAT GUITARIST! Waddy makes it look so effortless and you can tell he's having a blast. Rock on Waddy!! 👍🙂🍻

Another famous player that most people have never heard of.

A living legend-Thank You Waddy for sharing these stories and all your music !!

The mark of an amazing guitarist: Waddy is able to pull out of the guitars a huge variety of tones. I saw him last night (3/10/23) with Stevie Nicks. No pedals, but a volume pedal. He was the star of the show!!!

What a cool guy waddy is ! I'm a guitarist from Nashville Tennessee as well. And I can tell you hes respected. With country musicians just as well as he is with rock guitarist. That dude has awesome tone and such a great Feel and perfect Vibrato with excellent control .hes extremely melodic. He never overplays, he just plays for the song. That's why hes been Such saught after studio musician

that was deffinately one of the best Rig Rundowns. Great stories.

Every Waddy solo is a perfect rock gem. It’s got a beginning, middle and end, it builds to a climax, it has swing and attitude. It tells a story without words. What else do you need ?

Great rundown and super cool stories by Waddy. It is amazing how nice and down to earth some of the best players are. Thank you and GOD bless !!!

"I only play them, I don't know what's in them " Maybe the best quote by a true player I ever heard...😂😂😂😂

As a casual guitarist, I love these guys who live and breathe the instrument. They're living the life that I daydream about.

As a kid growing up in the 70s Waddy seemed to be everywhere and as a guitar player I thought he was living a dream jamming with the greats. Find what you love and learn to make a buck doing it. A legend!

"who owned this, Earl Schieb?" LOL!!!!!

If a Road Worn is good enough for Waddy, it`s most probably good enough for you and me.

Love Waddy as a person, and guitar player. So much!

WaddY we Luv YA! Yeah! Your House gigs at the Joint in Bev Hills were superb!! So many super fave, smoking shows with Jamie Savko and Rick Rojas and the Stones' Bernard Fowler and that great drummer with the silver Ludwig kit ....... Waddy always delivered ! We know you stay really busy .............. but we miss those special gigs , baby! U and Savko's 1978 AC/DC Bon stuff just rules ! Your Who, Stones, Walrus, and Zeppelin blew the roof off every time! EVERY time yeah! Beverly Hills will never be the same! Thanks for sharing your super talented friends too! Pure magic! : )

I could listen to Waddy's stories for days. .... The Unknown Legend.

I'm 62 and I just heard about him for the first time on one of those off the Record programs with Uncle Joe benson. What an amazing guitarist. What an amazing career. He's got so many great stories. So humble, so professional, so driven, and more than anything else, so well respected.

Such a humble guy. He was there when all the creativity was happening on the West Coast music scene and artists would help one another reach their sound.

I love John Bollinger’s enthusiasm. Especially when he found out that Leslie West’s Junior originally belonged to Waddy.

It's interesting. I'm 54, American guitarist, started playing around 1977, played in mostly bar bands doing covers of EVERYTHING over the decades, and I've never heard of Waddy Wachtel. Don't know how I missed this fella.

Such a great player and apparently a really nice person! What a mellow interview…

Just saw Stevie in December. Waddy drove the whole set home with his rock n roll stylings. He's known Stevie since they were starting out at Sunset Sound in 1970. Cool history.

What a great man! Discovered him via my all time favourites from Stevie Nicks. Quiet and humble with it, too - not ashamed to say "the neck's too thick for me" and "I don't bother much with pedals"!

Saw him YEARS ago when he was backing Linda Ronstadt oh her early tour. Band was smoking hot but Linda was hotter.

Waddy's one of the best . Bohlinger is a great interviewer.

I think that was the best rig rundown ever. The stories that went with the guitars were fantastic.

Best rig rundown in a long time. Could have done parts 2, 3 and 4. Amazing stories! Well done John!

Thousands of guitar players obsessing over pickups, woods, finishes, tenons, string brands, tubes, speakers, cables, mods, pedals on and on and on...they play the pizza parlor every 2 months. Waddy doesn't even know what brand hs guitar pickups are or what amp model he uses - plays all over the world with rock stars and on a thousand records, makes a million dollars. and he doesn't even shred like Yngwie. Go figure.

Waddy is the man! For about 15-20 years I don't think you were allowed to record an album around LA that Waddy or Danny Kortchmar didn't play on. It was like it was a rule.

Such an underrated player after all these years. Thanks PG!

Hands down the very best interview you have ever done. At least out of all the ones I've seen and I have seen a bunch. Thank you for Letting him control the interview. That was fascinating.

True Legend. Waddy might have played more gigs with more people than anyone. I saw him at the US Festival in '83, playing for Stevie Nicks. With Russ Kunkel on drums and Leland Sklar on bass. lol. !!!

We were discussing our favorite lesser known players and Waddy is one of those that top my list. Refreshing to hear him talk about his gear.

Awesome interview!

First time I’ve ever seen what Waddy looks like. I first heard of him back in the 90’s when he worked with Gilby Clarke and the Stones. What a great and humble guy. And what a dream of a career he’s had.

I had the great pleasure of recording Waddy with Linda Ronstadt at the Fox Theater in Atlanta in 1977. I was not familiar with him at that point and he flat knocked me out. What a creative and melodic player. I was very active on guitar at the time and learned a lot watching him during rehearsals and soundcheck. Wonderful to see him after all these years.

I just love these story's! The behind the scenes and the on-the-road-storys are awesome! 😄 Awesome videos.

"Wachtel was arrested in 1998 on suspicion of possession of child pornography after images were found on a computer he had at home. Wachtel pleaded no contest and was placed on probation for three years. A detective of the Los Angeles juvenile sex crimes division reported that Wachtel produced copies of the computer-stored images which he kept in his bedroom."

Love this guy. His humility is endearing. He's one of the best.

The guitar work he did on Johnny Strikes Up The Band and Lawyers Guns And Money are perhaps my favorite guitar moments of all time. TASTIEST riffs and rhythm playing period for my mind.

That lucky guy looking into music history in front of his eyes, listening his stories... thanks for sharing

Waddy did some brilliant (session) work on The Church's 1988 album, 'Starfish'. A must listen for anybody who loves great guitar playing.

Best episode yet. Waddy is the dude.

Waddy seems like such a down to earth person. Very awesome.

Obsessed ✨🎸....Waddy is phenomenal!!

I have learned of so many great guitarist through John's Rig Rundowns over the years, and this is no exception. I enjoy watching it for just the history alone. John is the man:)

He is always a humble man, great friend and major talent. Les wouldn’t be Les without Waddy.

Best Rig Rundown I've seen!

So cool to hear about the history.

Awesome! It's Waddy! One of my favorites.

I play 'em - I don't know what goes in 'em. God Bless you Waddy

He's a Zappa fan. Atta boy!

Waddy is such a great guitarist!!!!! I remember Keith Richards saying that Waddy Wachtel was his first choice in musicians he'd like to play with when getting the line-up together for the Wino's. Such a Great name for a band as well!!! Leave it to Keith Richards to come up or use a name such as that. Fits them all perfectly. Whether or not they drink like the media made them out to do, is no matter, and untrue I would bet, just the image. One always thought Keef on a collision that was up ahead in the lane he used, and he has shown us all that what is said about a fellow is not necessarily the way things happen to be. You could tell he was not as extreme as he was made out to be anyway, NOBODY survives that to be almost 80 now, and I personally am very happy that he is still here with us. I would go see them again if they would smarten up and get back to Vancouver---Victria would be best, our arena sit 7,300 give or take, that is a nice size and would be like it was back in the 1970's, tickets would go FAST!!! Sorry that I went way off track there Waddy!!!! Keep Rockin', anyone with any thought process in the lump on their shoulders loves to hear you play. The latest album that Keith and you Fellows made is just Fantastic. I would like to have more material and soon. God Bless Waddy!!!!!

All I can say is WOW! Thank you very much for the video!

I fucking LOVE this interview. Waddy is a true legend ...

Waddy should be in the hall of fame. The artists and hits he's been associated with is incredible

One of the coolest players ever. And what a history in the business. Now I'm gonna go search for more of his video's. Already saw the Linda performance.

i loved his work with keef riffhard, saw him in 93' awesome guy, very kind

i can see John Bollinger in the rock and roll HOF one day. His knowledge and passion in these rig rundowns are as good if not better than any interviews Ive ever seen. The history and stories of Rock are being passed on through these much more than just the knowledge of the "rigs". Thank you John you bring out the best in folks..

If I could play with one legendary guitarist, it’d be with Waddy. No question.