RIP David Lindley


Lindley was brilliant with multiple instruments, best known for his work with Jackson Browne and his own band El-Rayo X. I was lucky to see him a few times, including a great show in the 80s, when he was having a big moment. In person he was funny, eccentric, and endlessly musically inventive. And of course that Nasby & Crosh t-shirt!

northman

David Lindley was one of my favorite musicians.  Some enduring memories...

70s with Jackson Browne - they performed an acoustic duo set opening for Bonnie Raitt.  A few months later, I saw them with a full band on the Running on Empty tour.  I still can't decide which I liked better.

80s with El Rayo X - in town for a couple days, David Lindley offered a challenge to all the guitar players in the audience to return the next afternoon.  For $5, you could cut heads with him to see who could play a song (Maple Leaf Rag?) faster.  If you won, you got $500.  He said he'd never lost, though (and we believed him)

90s - another duo show, this one with Ry Cooder on a summer afternoon, along the Eel River.  Forced to pick one of these shows to re-live for the rest of my life, I'd end up here.

00s - playing with John Hammond & Charlie Musselwhite as the Spirit of the Century Band with The Blind Boys of Alabama.  As great as it sounds

RIP Prince of Polyester

What a talent. RIP.

If he now rests in a gravesite, I hope his final ride was a Mercury.

2023 first quarter not good for guitar slingers

Beck, Rossington and now Lindley.

Hope to NOT see the list grow.