Eagles rocker Joe Walsh has credited his wife with getting him back in the studio to work on his first solo album in two decades, revealing she bullied him into working with British star Jeff Lynne.

The guitarist tells Rolling Stone magazine he was never inspired enough to complete a solo project and his alcoholism didn't help.

But, after he cleaned up his act and wed Ringo Starr's sister-in-law Marjorie Bach three years ago, he decided it was time to return to the studio.

He says, "I just never got any momentum going to finish any solo project. None of us (in The Eagles) really have. In 1994, The Eagles decided to get back to work, and we did 'Hell Freezes Over.' We've been around the world a couple of times, and that's been a priority for us."

"The other thing is that in 1994, I had to get sober. I was hitting bottom and I ran out of options, so I had to stop everything and rebuild Joe from the bottom up. I had to relearn how to do everything without vodka. That took a while. Vodka was my best friend for a while there."

"For a while I just couldn't really go into the studio or around that kind of environment. Working on music when it started to get late... There were just too many triggers. I just had to learn to do it sober."

"I got married three-and-a-half years ago and she's (wife) really the part of me that was missing. I really found a partner. She said to me, 'You ought to get off your a** and put this record together... By the way, here is Jeff Lynne's number."

And now he's sober, Walsh assures fans they won't have to wait another 20 years for his next solo record: "I'm really confident and my wife has my back. Things are good and I want to talk about it. And this is the beginning of it, I hope. I feel creative and I'm not done yet."