In Appreciation of Colin Linden

You may not be familiar with the music of Colin Linden, but you should be. He's a Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer now living in Nashville. If you listen to much blues or folk music, you've probably heard him playing, especially if you've heard anything by Blackie and Rodeo Kings, a band that he founded with Stephen Fearing and Tom Wilson as a tribute to the music of the late Canadian singer-songwriter, Willie P. Bennett; and which went on to become Canadian superstars and record 11 albums. 

I first met Colin in 1971 when I hitched a ride to Toronto with his brother Jay (a singer-songwriter in his own right). Even at the age of 11, it was obvious that he was born to be a musician and was going to be a good one. Since then, I've lost track of the number of times I've seen him perform, either solo, with his band, with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, or backing up other musicians like Bruce Cockburn. 

The last time I saw Colin perform was with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and they finished with the Everly Brothers song, The Price of Love. It was one of the most energetic performances I've seen. Here's a video of them doing Willie P.'s Driftin' Snow into The Price of Love. 

What prompted me to write this post was a long article about him in Premier Guitar. It covers his entire career, both as a musician and producer, and has a lot of tasty info for the gearheads out there. 

Some guitar heroes explode across the stage or erupt from recordings. Think Hendrix or Jimmy Page. Others, like Colin Linden, have a quieter brilliance. They play to support fellow musicians and their own songs with a perfection that extends beyond service into art, dancing a characterful line between the sacred and the profane, the beguiling and the dramatic. They have a visionary approach, distilled from years of surveying their craft and shaping what they’ve learned into diamonds. And with those jewels they can refract complex emotions or simply cut like the patient, intuitive, and exacting badasses they are.

Linden, who has a wonderfully raucous and spacious new album called Blow, is a crucial ingredient in the glue of Nashville’s—and, therefore, the world’s—roots music scene. And while the ability to write songs that turn life into an open book, create sounds that wallow in the dirt or glide toward heaven, or illuminate the wisdom and heart in the work of those he supports or produces seems part of his DNA, it all traces back to a magical encounter with a giant.

Finally, here's his latest album, bLOW.