#david lindley

[bayareabadboy]

Happy Birthday to David Lindley, founder of El Rayo-X, collaborator of Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Curtis Mayfield, Dolly Parton & more. Guitarist, songwriter, singer - so amazing he can only be described as a “maxi-instrumentalist.” Born 3/21/1944 #DavidLindley #RockHonorRoll

#david lindley #classic rock #rock #hard rock #heavy metal #rock and roll #'70s rock #'70s

[musickickztoo]

RIP David Lindley

March 21, 1944 – March 3, 2023

#david lindley #el rayo-x #march 3 #march 21 #jackson browne #warren zevon #ry cooder

[mywifeleftme]

324: David Lindley // El Rayo-X

El Rayo-X David Lindley 1981, Asylum

David Lindley was plenty famous by sideman standards and even had a hit of sorts with his version of “Mercury Blues,” but there’s a good chance the moment this master of every stringed instrument imaginable will be most remembered for is his endearing little falsetto part at the end of Jackson Browne’s “The Load Out/Stay.” Say, why don’t we watch that now?

You know he was always doing goofy shit like that to crack the guys up at rehearsal, and this particular time the boss liked it enough to run with it. Lindley just seemed like a great guy to play music with. He was trusted enough by producers and capital-S Songwriters to play on major statements like Songs of Leonard Cohen, Warren Zevon, and uh Joe Walsh’s There Goes the Neighborhood, but he had a way of making his personality known even when his job was to simply make you weep with a lap steel part and no funny business, thanks. There was his fondness for wringing inimitable noises out of cheap instruments and his penchant for loud polyester, despite looking like a mouse who transformed into a human guitarist after trying to nest inside an enchanted slide bar.

His solo bow, El Rayo-X is… not a classic, despite the AllMusic review calling it “one of the greatest rock music albums of its time” (!). It’s cartoon guitar music that skips across a mishmash of genres from Tex-Mex to zydeco, though all of it is recorded with an ‘80s pop-rock sheen by Jackson Browne (who, despite his beige demeanor, always favoured tacky paintjobs as a producer). It is all sort of Fun in a Dave & Buster’s kind of way, but the wacky jokes don’t really land and, although everybody plays their asses off, I get the sense this crew would’ve been a lot more fun to see rocking like the Winona Peach Festival than they are to listen to on record.

Still, I will always have a lot of love in my heart for Lindley, who passed away a year ago today at age 78. Why has COVID had such an unslakable lust for our finest and goofiest musicians?

324/365

#david lindley #jackson browne #side men #lap steel #'80s music #novelty music #asylum records #music review #vinyl record #r.i.p.

[batteredshoes]

Farewell, David

#david lindley #this decade is gonna hurt #but don't they all

[justforbooks]

When Ry Cooder famously made his debut appearance at Glastonbury, playing on the Pyramid stage on a damp day in June 1990, he chose not to be backed by a band but by a second guitarist who came on sporting bright red trousers, and hair and sideburns that were very long, even by rock music standards. The duo perched on stools, surrounded by a dozen guitars, mandolins or bouzoukis, and proceeded to prove that they were both virtuoso players who could sound as thrilling as any amplified band as they switched from the atmospheric Paris, Texas to songs made famous by Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly or Jerry Lee Lewis.

Cooder’s companion, David Lindley, who has died aged 78, was a musicians’ musician. He may never have been as well known as those he played with, but he was one of the most sought-after session players in the US. Best known for his collaborations with Cooder and Jackson Browne, he also recorded with an astonishing list of musicians that included Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Iggy Pop, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, John Prine, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Ben Harper, Rickie Lee Jones and Bruce Springsteen. They wanted to work with Lindley not just because he was a great musician who could play almost any stringed instrument, from guitar and fiddle to slide guitar and mandolin through to oud and bouzouki, but because he knew how to interpret the mood of a song, adding texture and emotion without ever dominating.

His own musical taste was far more varied than the rock or singer-songwriter styles of the stars for whom he acted as sideman. When leading his own band, El Rayo-X, he was able to branch out and demonstrate his sense of humour as he explored blues, funk and reggae. Like Cooder, he was fascinated by musical styles from around the world, and some of his most original recordings were with musicians from Madagascar, Hawaii, Norway and Jordan.

Born in San Marino, Los Angeles, he was the son of Margaret (nee Wells) and Jack Lindley, a lawyer and music fan. He grew up listening to his father’s eclectic record collection, which included music from the Middle East and Asia, and he learned to play his father’s ukulele, then the banjo. While at La Salle high school in Pasadena he formed a bluegrass band, the Mad Mountain Ramblers, and then the Dry City Scat Band, which played around the Los Angeles folk clubs and at Disneyland. He was still a teenager when he first won the annual Topanga Canyon banjo and fiddle contest, but was asked to stop competing after he had won it five times.

Lindley’s reputation was growing fast, and in 1967 he landed his first major session, playing on Cohen’s debut, Songs of Leonard Cohen. By then he had formed his first electric band, Kaleidoscope, along with Chris Darrow, with whom he had played in the Scat Band. They released their first, wildly experimental album, Side Trips, in 1967, mixing Middle Eastern music with rock, cajun, country and bluegrass, but, though they were praised by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, their unique brand of “psychedelic folk” didn’t sell records. They broke up in 1970, after recording four albums, and Lindley moved to England to work with the singer-guitarist Terry Reid, who had famously turned down Led Zeppelin.

Moving back to the US, Lindley teamed up with Browne, with whom he spent the rest of the 1970s, touring and recording as a key member of his band, playing acoustic and electric guitar, slide guitar and fiddle. He perfectly complemented many of Browne’s best-loved songs, playing lap steel on Running on Empty and fiddle on Before the Deluge. Browne called him “my hero”, and other musicians asked him to play on their records when Browne did not require his services. His recordings during that period included three albums for Ronstadt, including her first No 1 album, the exquisite Heart Like a Wheel (1974), two with Rod Stewart, including his bestselling Atlantic Crossing (1975), along with albums with Crosby & Nash, Taylor, Warren Zevon and Parton.

He first recorded with Cooder on Jazz (1978) and Bop Till You Drop (1979), after which the duo began performing live together, touring in Australia and Japan. A 1979 live radio recording from Osaka was released on CD in 2021. On their tour in 1995 they were joined onstage by Cooder’s son, Joachim, and Lindley’s folksinger daughter, Rosanne, and released the album Cooder/Lindley Family Live at the Vienna Opera House.

After leaving Browne’s band in 1980, Lindley moved from sideman to band leader with El Rayo-X, which he called “more or less a party band”, and in which he matched his own songs along with a bravely varied assortment of old favourites. The band’s self-titled debut set in 1981 included a glorious, furious treatment of KC Douglas’s Mercury Blues, while Win This Record, released the following year, included the Toots and the Maytals song Premature. Mr Dave (1985) included his own reggae composition Alien Invasion, and the band’s final album Very Greasy (1988) continued to demonstrate his fascination with the Caribbean. Produced by Ronstadt, it included Ronstadt adding harmony vocals on Lord Kitchener’s calypso classic Gimme da Ting (on which Lindley played guitar and kora) and a reggae reworking of Zevon’s Werewolves of London.

While running the band, he still managed time to visit London to play alongside Richard Thompson and Rory Gallagher, and revive his love of flamenco with Juan Martin, at a Guitarists Night concert in March 1984. And he continued his session work, including albums for Browne, and for Emmylou Harris, Ronstadt and Parton on Trio (1987). In 1990 he worked with Dylan on Under the Red Sky.

Still keen to expand his musical range, he travelled to Madagascar with the guitarist Henry Kaiser to record the musicians and unique instruments of the vast island off the east coast of Africa. The aim was to present local stars to an international audience, but Lindley and Kaiser joined in several of the sessions. The resulting albums, A World Out of Time, Vols 1 and 2 (1992-93), included Lindley playing slide guitar with the traditional band Tarika Sammy and joining guitarist Rossy on a reworking of I Fought the Law, the Crickets song popularised by the Clash.

Moving on to Hawaii, this time in the company of Cooder, he recorded with the Pahinui Bros (1992) on a set that included a Hawaiian reggae treatment of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy. Further musical travels included recordings in Norway with Kaiser for The Sweet Sunny North (1994). In 1994-95 he also recorded with the Jordanian oud player Hani Naser, and between 2000 and 2004 with the reggae percussionist Wally Ingram. Their third album together, Twango Bango III (2003) included When a Guy Gets Boobs, a comment on the American diet. “I have always liked songwriters like Warren Zevon who could write something goofy and also really serious,” he explained.

In 2006 he was reunited with Browne for a short Spanish tour on which they were backed by a flamenco percussionist. Love Is Strange, a live album recorded on that tour, was released in 2010, when Browne and Lindley toured Europe and the US, and played at Glastonbury, with a set that included Running On Empty and Mercury Blues. In the same year Lindley also worked with Bruce Springsteen on The Promise. His own final solo album, Big Twang, was released in 2007.

Lindley had a wild stage image, thanks to his colourful clothes and long hair, but he never favoured a rock’n’roll lifestyle, and would often retreat to his hotel room to rehearse after a show. He hated being disturbed in the morning by hotel workers, and would imitate a dog, scratching at the door and barking, to keep them away.

He lived in Claremont, California, in a house filled with musical instruments, and was married to Joan Darrow, the sister of his Kaleidoscope colleague Chris Darrow. He is survived by Joan and Rosanne.

🔔 David Lindley, musician, born 21 March 1944; died 3 March 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #David Lindley #in memoriam

[clivechip]

Earth Day 2024

I have written about this for the past couple of years, and am largely relying on last year’s post as the basis for this one. No apologies for that: the message is still just as necessary and vital. Next Monday, 22 April, is Earth Day. First held in the US on April 22, 1970, it was opened up to the rest of the world in 1990 and now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by…

View On WordPress

#Cat Stevens #Jackson Browne #music #Queen #Yusuf Islam #David Lindley #Eagles #Earth Day #NASA #Planet Vs. Plastics

[krispyweiss]

Multi-instrumentalist David Lindley, Best Known for Work with Jackson Browne, Dies at 78

- “The world of music lost an icon today,” guitarist Guthrie Trapp says

David Lindley, the multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with Jackson Browne, has died at 78, the Los Angeles Times reports.

No cause was given.

“The world of music lost an icon today,” Guthrie Trapp said. “One of the deepest and most unique players ever. My musical expression would not be the same without the influence of David Lindley. He was a master.”

Lindley played such a wide variety of stringed instruments, Acoustic Guitar magazine once called him a “maxi-instrumentalist.”

“I’m gonna fix up my (Lindley-) autographed lap steel and cry all over it,” Carolyn Wonderland said.

Jason Isbell called Lindley’s death “a huge one,” in a post on Twitter.

“Without his influence, my music would sound completely different,” Isbell said. “I was genuinely obsessed with his playing from the first time I heard it. The man was a giant.”

In addition to his work with Browne - that’s Lindley singing falsetto on “Stay” - Lindley toured and recorded with his cousin Linda Ronstadt, Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, Crosby and Nash, Warren Zevon and others.

“He was the sweetest, most down-to-Earth person you could ever meet,” Zevon’s son, Jordan, said of Lindley.

“Very sad.”

Mark Karan said he was “devastated” at the death of “one of my all-time musicians.”

“His roots music, song curation and all the awesome ethnic music influences he brought to the party made him such a special and beloved musician for us lovers of the eclectic,” the former RatDog guitarist said.

After leaving Browne’s band, Lindley formed El Rayo-X and released solo albums among his other projects.

“May David Lindley rest in peace and love,” Todd Rundgren’s Spirit of Harmony Foundation said.

3/3/23

#david lindley #jackson browne #crosby and nash #warren zevon #linda ronstadt #ry cooder #the spirit of harmony foundation #bonnie raitt #mark karan #ratdog #carolyn wonderland #john mayall and the bluesbreakers #jason isbell #drive by truckers #guthrie trapp #the los angeles times

[kosmik-signals]

David Lindley passes at age 78

#David Lindley

[cbjustmusic]

Today Jackson Browne turns 75 (born October 9, 1948). Here he is in 1978 performing "The Load Out" and "Stay" with David Lindley and Rosemary Butler. ___________________ The Load Out/Stay Songwriters: Jackson Browne, Bryan Garofslo and Maurice Williams

Now the seats are all empty Let the roadies take the stage Pack it up and tear it down They're the first to come and the last to leave Working for that minimum wage They'll set it up in another town

Tonight the people were so fine, they waited there in line And when they got up on their feet, they made the show And that was sweet, but I can hear the sound Of slamming doors and folding chairs And that's a sound they'll never know

Now, roll them cases out and lift them amps Haul them trusses down and get 'em up them ramps 'Cause when it comes to moving me You know you guys are the champs But when that last guitar's been packed away You know that I still want to play So just make sure you've got it all set to go Before you come for my piano

But the band's on the bus And they're waiting to go We've got to drive all night and do a show in Chicago Or Detroit, I don't know We do so many shows in a row And these towns all look the same We just pass the time in our hotel rooms And wander 'round backstage Till those lights come up and we hear that crowd And we remember why we came

Now we got country and western on the bus, R&B We got disco on eight tracks and cassettes in stereo We've got rural scenes and magazines We got truckers on CB We got Richard Pryor on the video And we got time to think of the ones we love While the miles roll away But the only time that seems too short Is the time that we get to play?

People you've got the power over what we do You can sit there and wait or you can pull us through Come along, sing the song You know that you can't go wrong 'Cause when that morning sun comes beating down You're going to wake up in your town But we'll be scheduled to appear A thousand miles away from here

People, stay just a little bit longer We wanna play just a little bit longer If the promoter don't mind and the union don't mind We can take a little time and we'll leave this all behind Singin' one more song

Oh, won't you stay just a little bit longer Please, please, please, say you will, say you will Oh, won't you stay just a little bit longer Oh, please, please stay just a little bit more, eheh Now if the promoter don't mind and the roadies don't mind We can take a little time and we'll leave it all behind Singin' one more song

#jackson browne #bryan garofalo #maurice williams #david lindley #rosemary butler

[elvisomar]

David Lindley | Little Sadie | Live at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch (2013)

I went down a bit of a David Lindley rabbit hole tonight, and near the bottom of that rabbit hole I found the man himself playing the oud at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch in Ohio. You might recognize the tune, it's a traditional folk ballad about a horrible man and it has been covered by a huge number of people on recordings—including Daniel Lanois (from whom I first heard it), Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Doc Watson, Jerry Garcia, and Woody Guthrie. I'm willing to bet Lindley is the first one to play it on an Oud though; if it had strings, the guy could play it.

#david lindley #jorma kaukonen #music #Youtube

[mostlythemarsh]

El Rayo-X

#friday #records #david lindley

[thehappysorceress]

So talented, so influential.

#David Lindley #music #obit

[nervoussystemmusicreverence]

Kenny Loggins - Conviction of the Heart

Music Video

Artist

Kenny Loggins

Composer

Kenny Loggins Guy Thomas

Lyricist

Kenny Loggins Guy Thomas

Produced

Kenny Loggins Terry Nelson

Credit

Steve Woods - Keyboards Kenny Loggins - Acoustic guitar Guy Thomas - Electric guitar David Lindley - Electric slide guitar Freddie Washington - Bass Tris Imboden - Drums Michael Baird - Field snare Munyungo Jackson & Bill Summers - Caxixi, Shekere, Djn-Djun, Gunga-Degung, Bata, Djembe Kate Price & Terry Nelson - Background vocals Adult Choir - choir (with Arnold McCuller as choir director) Colors of Love - children's choir (with Nyna Shannon Anderson as choir director)

Released

September 10 1991

Streaming

#kenny loggins #terry nelson #steve woods #guy thomas #david lindley #freddie washington #tris imboden #michael baird #munyungo jackson #bill summers #kate price #adult choir #colors of love #1990s #1991 #music #Youtube

[dinosaursr66]

Amazing musician, David Lindley has passed. I loved this LP and especially this tune. RIP DAVID.

#youtube #david lindley #mercury blues #alternative music

[bostonfly]

My two favorite David Lindley songs in one clip

#music #david lindley #el rayo x

[pgoeltz]

Mikey Henderson Lobster invited me to a Lindley/Ingram show at the Catalyst. DL was signing CD's so I picked the one with Turning Point and told him about our friends, BlissNinnies, who cover his song.

He immediately replied that he covered Owen Grey- it wasn't his song.Since I'd never heard of the Jamaican born ska artist, I asked David Lindley to write Owen's name on the cd so I'd never forget where he got it from.

Xoxox

Thanks Lobster!

Funny aside. When I first heard Ninnies cover Franklins Tower ( early 90's) I told Homer how great I thought the song was. Homer said- " not our song.... it's the Grateful Dead".

Kinda full circle moment for those who know our bands.

#david lindley #pgoeltz #bitterrootvalley #montana #scvwd #music #youtube #gratefuldead #catflinger #flowers #bliss ninnies #valleywater scvwd #soundcloud #bitterroot #art #beats #ambient #kscu