David Lindley (78) was born in San Marino, California, on March 21, 1944. Growing up in Los Angeles, his father had an extensive collection of 78 rpm records that included Korean folk and Indian sitar music, as well as Spanish classical guitarists Andrés Segovia and Carlos Montoya. Lindley took up the violin at age three, and kept at it despite breaking the fragile bridge. He then moved on to the baritone ukulele in his early teens. Next he learned the banjo. By his late teens, he had won the Topanga Banjo•Fiddle Contest five times. He played banjo with the Dry City Scat Band which included multi-instrumentalist Chris Darrow, and Richard Greene on fiddle. Lindley and his bandmates aspired to emulate multi-talented folk singer Mike Seeger.
Lindley began to frequent the Los Angeles–area folk music scene of the 1960s, primarily going to the Ash Grove club, and the Troubador in West Hollywood, encountering an eclectic assortment of music including flamenco, Russian folk music, and Indian sitar music. At Ash Grove, Lindley shared ideas with local musicians such as Ry Cooder and Chris Hillman. Lindley formed an especially close relationship with Cooder as the two shared a love of “exotic music”, and they both turned away from corporate mainstream music to focus on less popular idioms such as folk and world music. Lindley also learned from traveling blues and folk musicians the “right” way to play certain styles, and he learned violin methods from local star Don “Sugarcane” Harris.
From 1966 to 1970, Lindley was a founding member of the psychedelic rock band Kaleidoscope which released four albums on Epic Records during that period. After Kaleidoscope broke up, Lindley went to England and played in Terry Reid’s (former Yardbirds and Renaissance vocalist) band for a couple of years. In 1972, he teamed with Jackson Browne, playing in his band through 1980 and occasionally afterward. During the 1970s he also toured as a member of the bands of Crosby-Nash, Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor.
In 1981, Lindley formed his own band, El Rayo-X. Jackson Browne produced their first album. The band’s final show was December 31, 1989.
Lindley was especially known for his work as a session musician. He contributed to years of recordings and live performances by Jackson Browne, and also supported Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt, Curtis Mayfield, James Taylor, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Terry Reid, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Toto, Rod Stewart, Joe Walsh and Dan Fogelberg. He collaborated with fellow guitarists Ry Cooder, Henry Kaiser and G. E. Smith. Ben Harper credited Lindley’s distinctive slide guitar style as a major influence on his own playing, and, in 2006, Lindley sat in on Harper’s album Both Sides of the Gun. He was known in the guitar community for his use of “cheap” instruments sold at Sears department stores and intended for amateurs. He used these for the unique sounds they produce, especially with a slide.
After that in the early 1990s, Lindley toured as a solo artist, first with Hani Naser accompanying on hand drums, then with reggae percussionist Wally Ingram. He also played on a multitude of studio sessions. Between his work in the studio as a session musician or on tour as a sideman or bandleader, Lindley learned new instruments. He was famous for having written the only song glorifying a brand of condoms, “Ram-a-Lamb-a-Man,” from his album Win this Record!. The media often commented on his colorful polyester clothing, with jarring contrasts between pants and shirt, earning him the nickname Prince of Polyester.
Lindley also toured extensively and recorded with reggae percussionist Wally Ingram.
Lindley’s voice may be heard in the version of “Stay” performed by Jackson Browne. Browne’s version is a continuation of “The Load Out”, and its refrain is sung in progressively higher vocal ranges. The refrain of “Oh won’t you stay, just a little bit longer” is sung first by Browne, then by Rosemary Butler, then by Lindley in falsetto.
Lindley joined Jackson Browne for a tour of Spain in 2006. Love Is Strange: En Vivo Con Tino, a 2-CD set of recordings from that tour, was released May 2010, with Browne and Lindley touring together starting in June of that year. They played together at Glastonbury Festival in 2010, and they won an Independent Music Award for Best Live Performance Album in 2011.
He mastered such a wide variety of instruments that Acoustic Guitar magazine referred to him not as a multi-instrumentalist but instead as a “maxi-instrumentalist. The majority of the instruments that Lindley played are string instruments, including violin, electric guitar, upright and electric bass, banjo, mandolin, dobro, hardingfele, bouzouki, cittern, bağlama, gumbus, charango, cümbüş, oud and zither. He was the unparalleled master of the lap steel guitar in the rock music sphere, and an expert in Hawaiian-style slide guitar blues.
Lindley had obviously a large collection of rare and unusual guitars and other instruments from the Middle East and various parts of the world. He listed and categorized many of them on his website but admitted that he had “absolutely no idea” how many instruments he owned and played, having gathered them since the 1960s. A journalist described his home in 1994 as containing a “tidal flood of instruments strewn all over the house. In every room. On the floor, balanced against the wall, lying atop cabinets and just literally occupying virtually every inch of available floor space.”
David Lindley died after a long illness on March 3, 2023, at the age of 78. He had had COVID-19 in 2020, which his family said developed into Long COVID, with chronic kidney damage.
David Lindley was the epitome of a musician’s musician, not only for his comprehensive skills but also for his infectious personality. Lindley was best known as the ultimate sidekick,
