Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist David Lindley – born on March 21, 1944, in San Marino, California – was one of rock’s most popular sidemen as well as an acclaimed solo artist in his own right. A virtuoso on many stringed instruments, he grew up listening to his father’s collection of 78rpm records and learning to play the violin, ukulele, and banjo. By the time he was in his late teens, he had won the Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest five times. Early in his career, he played banjo with the Dry City Scat Band before becoming involved with the Los Angeles folk music scene of the 1960s. He co-founded psychedelic rock band Kaleidoscope in 1966 and recorded four albums with them until they split in 1970. He then traveled to England and played in Terry Reid’s band for two years before joining Southern California-based singer-songwriter Jackson Browne and playing in his band throughout the remainder of the 1970s. David Lindley also spent time playing with artists such as Ry Cooder, Linda Ronstadt (his distant cousin), Warren Zevon, James Taylor, David Crosby & Graham Nash, Rod Stewart, and many other rock, folk, and blues musicians. David Lindley formed his own backing group, El Rayo-X, and issued his first solo album, El Rayo-X, in 1981, which included the hit “Mercury Blues.” The release blended reggae, blues, folk, and rock into a unique sound that would inform all of his later releases. He followed that album with Win This Record (1982) and the mini album El Rayo Live (1983), which wasn’t released in the US until many years later. His 1985 solo album Mr. Dave was released outside of America, and, like the live mini album, it remained unreleased in the US for several decades. In 1988, he returned to the American record shops with his album Very Greasy, which was produced by Linda Ronstadt. David Lindley then began releasing a series of eclectic albums beginning with collaborations with guitarist Henry Kaiser (including 1992’s A World Out of Time, Vol. 1, and 1993’s A World Out of Time, Vol. 2), multi-instrumentalist Hani Naser, and percussionist Wally Ingram (three volumes of Twango Bango plus Live In Europe). David Lindley did an acoustic tour with Jackson Browne in 2006, releasing the album Love Is Strange: En Vivo Con Tino in 2010. David Lindley’s final studio album, Big Twang, was released in 2007. Although he didn’t focus on his solo career, David Lindley continued to be busy and collaborated with several other musicians. He caught COVID-19 in 2020, which developed into long COVID, which damaged his kidneys. David Lindley died on March 3, 2023, at the age of 78.
