Walsh was gifted the original by inventor Bill West, later making his own and using it on "Rocky Mountain Way", as related to M: Music & Musicians in 2012. The account was transcribed in this September 2013 Vintage Guitar article and this January 7, 2013 Gibson article, while it is mentioned to be the inspiration for the Heil Talk Box in this 2006 Musician's Friend interview with Bob Heil.

Vintage Guitar

Meanwhile, Bill West’s original talk box found its way into rock and roller Joe Walsh’s rig. As Walsh explained to M: Music & Musicians in 2012, “The James Gang used to play in Nashville, and I became good friends with Dottie West, the famous classic country singer. We would go to her house and people would come over, and we would sit around with an acoustic guitar and pass it around. That could be anybody – Chet Atkins, Glen Campbell, Roger Miller – whoever was in town. Dottie’s husband, Bill, was a pedal-steel player. He actually invented the talk box that was used on Pete Drake’s album. One day, while I was at Dottie’s house, Bill went out to the garage and got it and gave it to me. He said, ‘Here, you plug this end into your mouth. You’ll figure it out.’

“After I got the hang of it, I then figured out how it was built. I went to a hardware store and got some parts and made one for myself. ‘Rocky Mountain Way’ [from 1972] was the first time I used it on record.”

Musician's Friend, 2006

Joe Walsh had recorded "Rocky Mountain Way" using an 8" speaker and a funnel, a device used in Nashville by the steel guitar players. Well, it wasn't very loud so you couldn't use it live. So here we are, two ham radio operators on a Sunday afternoon out in my plant. We grabbed a 250-watt JBL, built a low-pass filter, got all the plumbing together, and voila—the Talk Box. That's how it started. After that tour, everybody's going nuts! "What's this thing he's got?" So I put together a commercial unit called the Heil Talk Box. Then Peter Frampton's girlfriend Penny called me wanting a Christmas present for Peter. So I sent a Talk Box. The rest of the story writes itself from there.

The first 50 were done in fiberglass, and Peter still carries his fiberglass one today. When you see him, somewhere in his gig box is that original Heil Talk Box. I have serial number 1 that will go in the Rock Hall with Peter and Joe's signatures.

The device that made Drake a sensation. Invented by fellow pedal steel player Bill West, it was later made commercially available under Drake's name, as can be seen in ads here and here. This September 2013 Vintage Guitar article gives a summary of its history.

The next talk box apparatus was instrumental in famed Nashville session man Pete Drake’s early-’60s act, which he called Talking Steel Guitar. Pedal-steel player Bill West made the contraption from an 8″ paper-cone speaker attached to a funnel with a plastic tube to speak into. Drake was seeking a new sound, and inspired by the Alvino Rey film, he used West’s creation on his 1964 hit single, “Forever,” and a subsequent LP. Drake’s novel sound sold more than a million copies and went gold.

He ultimately released several LPs of Talking Steel Guitar. As Drake explained the process to Douglas Green, “You play the notes on the guitar and it goes through the amplifier. I have a driver system so that you disconnect the speakers and the sound goes through the driver into a plastic tube. You put the tube in the side of your mouth then form the words with your mouth as you play them. You don’t actually say a word; the guitar is your vocal chords, and your mouth is the amplifier. It’s amplified by a microphone.” Drake soon began selling his Talking Music Actuator to other musicians.