RIP David Lindley

[Drunk Monk]

LEGEND LOST 
David Lindley dead at 78: El Rayo-X musician behind famous hits with Jackson Browne & Dolly Parton dies after ‘illness’

• Cheyenne R. Ubiera
  

• Published: 17:37 ET, Mar 3 2023
  
  
• Updated: 18:05 ET, Mar 3 2023
  

ICONIC musician David Lindley has reportedly passed away at the age of 78.
Lindley, who has worked with critically acclaimed musicians such as Bonnie Raitt and Dolly Parton, died on Friday after being ill for months, reported the Claremont Courier.

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Beloved musician David Lindley has passed away at age 78

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Lindley's career spanned five decades
Lindley's death was first confirmed by his friend, Douglas Reynolds, on March 3, 2023.
"I am saddened to pass on the news that my friend David left the planet this morning," he said on a Custom Ink fundraiser page.
"Thank you to everyone who purchased a tee and donated to the fundraiser. It will help his girls."
Despite his death being confirmed, an exact cause was not released.

Oh man. This breaks my heart. I'm such a huge fan of his and have seen him so many times...

[King Bob]

Damn. That's sad. He put on some great shows. And El Rayo-X was the best at doing live dub of any band I've ever seen. And he did a great acoustic show with Ry Cooder up at the river one time.

AND his work with Jackson Browne, which they didn't mention.

[Drunk Monk]

The last time I saw David was at GAIA

It was muggy and wound up sprinkling a little, but that was good as it kept the dust down.  

My first scheduled act was David Lindley.  I was a huge fan of his, and had forgotten why, but Dave immediately reminded me.  It was just him and his acoustic stringed instruments and he created a sound that was bigger than most 6-piece acts.  And there was nobody there, just a few old deadhead friends who knew.  I was close enough to perch on the hay bales at front of stage.  Dave tore it up.  I hadn't been following him over the last few years, and I regret that now.  He blew me away.  Little Green Bottle had me in tears - it was so funny.  And When a Guy Gets Boobs is too-close-to-home hilarious.  He went into Mercury Blues, which is one of my fav tunes from the El Rayo X daze - when Dave played that on steel pedal, it was a fight not to take off all my clothes and go dance off into the crowd.  Now it's Tuna Blues, an environmental song with a mercurial twist.  It affected me so much that I passed on tuna at lunch when I ate Japanese yesterday.  

Here's a rendition of Little Green Bottle, not from GAIA, but just to give you a little taste of Dave's sweet medicine.
[youtube]OM_VxKBYKVI[/youtube]
Actually, it's not a little taste. At 9:30, it's a long song.  But make the time for it, and enjoy.  You won't be disappointed.

David taught me the relationship between reggae ska & polka with that polyester flair. He was one of the best pedal steel guitarist I’ve heard. Whenever he got that jam going, it was fiery jubilation.

I met him here in Santa Cruz when he was doing a signing at a small music store that I can’t remember the name of - it was downtown on front street - it’s a restaurant now. He signed several of my cds. There were only like a dozen of us there and he made it a party. I remember someone took a Polaroid of him and he rocked side to side so the pic had his locks flying. Then he took the pic as it was developing and scratched rays around his head and then signed it. It was an amazing pic.

I have so many fond memories of his shows. He was one of my favs for years.

[thatguy]

I met him here in Santa Cruz when he was doing a signing at a small music store that I can’t remember the name of - it was downtown on front street - it’s a restaurant now.

Probably Cymbaline on the corner of Cathcart and Front st. 

—tg

[Drunk Monk]

That’s it. Thanks for the memory jog. That was a cool store. 

I could only find one of my autographed Lindley CDs. I think I had 3. I gotta clean my room and reorganize my CDs.

[King Bob]

There were three El Rayo-X albums: El Rayo-X, Win This Record, and Very Greasy.

[Drunk Monk]

Maybe I had all three. I'm looking at my autographed Very Greasy right now. That's the one I posted on IG yesterday.

I only remember Mercury Blues. Now I gotta go find some more of his music.

Mercury Blues was a scorcher when Dave got revved up. One of my all time favs to hear live.


He has three of my all-time fav reggae songs (and y'all know, I listen to way too much reggae). Dave's angle in on reggae was incredible. 

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Papa was a Rolling Stone - David Lindley
I was hoping to find a live version of this instead of the studio version. When David cut into this live, it was absolutely wicked.

There's a live version here starting at 16.48

I was at this show. So was ED & LB. I want to say KB was there too but I don't think that's quite right... please correct me KB, unless your memory is as tattered as mine...
It was David Lindley & El Rayo-X, Santana, Grateful Dead, plus there was an airshow, at Calaveras. It was epic, one of the greatest shows I've ever been at.

[King Bob]

I just found out that Premature is a cover of a Toots song.

No, I didn't go to that show. I saw him on the Eel once, with Ry Cooder; I think opening for Jerry.

I always thought Very Greasy was the weakest of the three.

[Drunk Monk]

I don’t think I had Win this record. I don’t recognize that cover art. 

Maybe it was that Eel show I remember being with you. Wasn’t that the show where I cut myself using some surplus can opener opening a tin of eel? I forgot the opener. Jerry on the Eel was magical. I have the CDs of those shows but it’s just Jerry’s sets.

[King Bob]

I remember you cutting yourself at one of those Eel shows, but not sure which one. Legbone was there, and I wasn't together with Christina yet. (She was at the show with Lindley, unless he played another one that I can't remember. I'll check my ticket stubs, although I don't have all of them anymore.) I remember we were hanging out with some Deadhead guy you knew and his girlfriend, who was very pretty and I thought was out of his league.

I actually just bought Win This Record on eBay. It's got "Talk to the Lawyer" which was always great live. I have the self-titled one. I used to have Very Greasy, but only really liked "Papa was a Rolling Stone."

[Drunk Monk]

Hold the phone. Christina was at that Lindley show? I have no memory of being at a show with her. Maybe I wasn’t there. Or maybe I just don’t remember. I could check my stubs too but like yours, my collection is incomplete.

And I have no idea who the friend with the out of his league pretty gf was…

It kinda bums me out when I can’t remember such details. Sometimes something will trigger a memory and bring it back to life for me but more often than not now, it’s just a blank.

The Lindley/Santana/Dead show was where LB got his name. We were a foursome - DM, ED, LB & another tall Dan nicknamed ‘the gryphon’ in the dormouse society. We couldn’t have two big Dans so we challenged that and the gryphon immediately claimed the title. When we asked LB what we should call him, he stared out into the lysergic haze and came back with ‘You know, I’ve always wanted to be called LB.’ This resulted in an acidic laughter jag and thusly LB was born.

That memory I kept.

[Greg]

I might be banned, but I had no idea who David Lindley was before this thread.

[thatguy]

I knew of him, but was mostly familiar with his cover of Give Me D Ting which gets a lot of airplay on KPIG



--tg

[Drunk Monk]

1/4 of a man at RotR

[King Bob]

DM - I think you're confusing two shows. You, me, and Legbone saw DL play electric. Was that the first RotR? I think so.

Christina was at another show (Jerry?) where DL and Ry Cooder opened, playing acoustic.