Waddy Wachtel album were titled Ronin. Released on the Mercury label, the record never charted. In 1984 he played on Steve Perry's (Journey) solo album Street Talk. He has appeared on hundreds of albums with many different artists and bands. Production credits include albums by Stevie Nicks, Keith Richards, Jackson Browne, Bryan Ferry, The Church, Sand Rubies, George Thorogood and the Destroyers and Warren Zevon. Wachtel co-wrote several songs with Zevon including "Werewolves of London". He also co-wrote the Warren Zevon song "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" from the album "Mr. Bad Example". He performed and co-produced the first
Warren Zevon in the middle of Jackson Browne concerts, one of which is documented on a widely circulated bootleg recording of a Dutch radio program under the title "The Offender Meets the Pretender". Produced by Browne, "Warren Zevon" (1976) was his first album to chart in the United States, peaking at No. 189. The first edition of the "Rolling Stone Record Guide" (published in 1979) called it a masterpiece. The guide's latest edition (November 2004) calls it Zevon's most realized work. Representative tracks include the junkie's lament "Carmelita"; the Copland-esque outlaw ballad "Frank and Jesse James"; "The French Inhaler", a scathing insider's