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Renowned session musician David Lindley, the multi-instrumentalist best known for his prolific work and collaborations in the seventies and eighties, has died at the age of 78. Rolling stone Confirmed. No cause of death was given.
An active musician since the early sixties, Lindley was a popular session musician whose skills made him an essential collaborator for artists such as Jackson Browne, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Toto, and many more. , Rod Stewart, and Joe Walsh.
“The loss of David Lindley is huge,” singer Jason Isbell wrote on Twitter. “Without his influence my music would have sounded completely different. I was really in love with his playing when I first heard it. The man was a giant.”
Graham Nash also took to social media to pay tribute to Lindley on Friday. Nash wrote, “One of the most talented musicians I’ve ever seen.” “David can play any instrument you put in front of him with incredible versatility and expression.”
Lindley could often be found in the studio working with other members of The Section, a group of session musicians who shaped the sound of soft rock in the 1970s. David Crosby, who hired Lindley in 1975, said, “He was some of the most creative musicians around.” Rolling stone Back in 2013. “You never had to tell them what to play. You sang them a song and got out of the way.
“I’ll listen to a song and see what works. The song is the center of everything. If the song was about one of Jackson’s friends dying, you play something appropriate for that,” Lindley explained. Rolling stone in 2010. “You don’t play a Chuck Berry solo in the middle of ‘Song for Adam.’ A Chuck Berry solo is a great thing, but not for that moment.
Lindley stood out among the other session musicians, not only because of his impulsive behavior, but also because of his raw talent. Known as one of the legendary rock and roll sidemen of his era, the musician played in Brown’s bands for most of the eighties, making a name for himself beyond the studio. In return, Brown produced Lindley’s 1983 album El Rayo-X.
Recalling her time with Brown, Lindley shares a story from her first meeting Rolling stone: “Jackson was playing there and I borrowed a fiddle and sat down with him. That was the beginning of it. He liked the way it worked. Then I went to England and played with Terry Reid. After the first album came out, Jackson came to London. and we did a few gigs there. A friend of mine had a club in Cambridge. We played clubs and it was fun. Then it was like, ‘Let’s do a band thing!’ I thought, ‘This will be fun.’
Lindley and Brown would reunite for a segment of the live shows: first in 2006, then in 2010. “Why didn’t I think of it before? Take him where he doesn’t speak the language and he has to leave the gig and come with you to the restaurant, or the club,” Brown recalled of his time with the musician in Spain. Hui shared in a statement in 2010. “It was an unexpected tactic success in a pursuit that to a group of friends, disciples and fans has come to be known as ‘chasing Wild Lindley’.”
Lindley also played with James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt as well as in his own bands including Kaleidoscope and Eighties band El Rayo-X. He toured with Hani Neser and Wally Ingram, and performed on more than 50 records, including his own solo releases and appearances on albums by Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Warren Zevon, Jimmy Barnes and others.