Michael Ward, former guitarist for the Wallflowers, has died at the age of 57.
The news was confirmed via the Wallflowers’ social media.
“With love and gratitude the Wallflowers say farewell to the great and singular Michael Ward,” their post read. “Michael’s role and talents will forever remain a crucial part of the band’s history. His contributions to music began before his time with the Wallflowers and continued long after his time with the band. Listening to Thin Lizzy on a sorrowful day. Rest now Mike. Much love to his family and his two children.”
Ward was a member of the band, led by Jakob Dylan, from 1995 to 2001. He appeared on two of their albums, 1996’s Bringing Down the Horse, which yielded multiple Grammy nominations and 2000’s (Breach).
“For me, what music is all about is sitting down and creating songs from scratch,” Ward said when he announced his departure from the band. “That’s my life, and it’s not really about adding guitar parts to someone else’s music. That’s not really satisfying for me. For a long time we were writing together, and then that stopped, and that made me pretty unhappy.”
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“It was interfering with my bicycle riding on a daily basis,” he continued, referring to his hobby outside of music. “It’s just tough for me to commit my life to working on someone else’s songs and not do my own stuff. It’s too stifling. Jakob is great at what he does, and power to him, but it just isn’t my thing.”
The Wallflowers continue to tour with Dylan as the lone original member. Their most recent album, Exit Wounds, was released in 2021.
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Gallery Credit: Allison Rapp
