GUITAR MASTER TURNS TO OUD, BOUZOUKI
By Barry Gilbert
Of the Post-Dispatch
July 8, 2004
Even if you're not familiar with David Lindley's name, you've
probably heard the guitar master's work.
Since
the mid-'60s, Lindley has appeared as a sideman on hundreds of albums, from the
"Trio" outings of Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt to
the jazz-and-blues excursions of Maria Muldaur; from the prototypical punk of
Iggy Pop to the iconic rock of Bob Dylan; from the jangle of the Bangles to the
spiritual pop of Amy Grant. Not to mention his collaborations with friends
including Ry Cooder, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, David Crosby, Stephen Stills
and Graham Nash.
A champion banjo
and fiddle player, Lindley performed in bluegrass and folk bands while a
teenager about four decades ago in Southern California. In 1971, he co-founded
what might have been the first "world music" rock band, the
Kaleidoscope. And he has become an expert not only on Hawaiian lap steel
guitar, but also on such exotic stringed instruments as the saz, oud and
bouzouki.
Add to
that his off-center sense of humor, wild hair and frightening wardrobe, and
it's no wonder Mr. Dave -- as he refers to himself -- has escaped the horrors
of mainstream success and riches.
But he
has come close. Lindley's wild, propulsive, bang-on-the-steering-wheel version
of "Mercury Blues," with his band El Rayo-X in 1981, cemented his rep
with any slide-guitar fan lucky enough to have heard it.
"I
was surprised the record company never released that as a single," says
Lindley, 60, who opens for John Hiatt on Wednesday at the Pageant. "But
they said it was too hard rock. It was during that poseur period, and I guess I
didn't have the right hair for it."
Most
recently a laid-back, mainstream country hit for Alan Jackson, "Mercury
Blues" was written and first recorded by K.C. Douglas as "Mercury
Boogie" in 1949.
Lindley
heard the song when, in the 1960s, Kaleidescope shared a bill with the Steve
Miller Band at an outdoor concert in Berkeley, Calif.
Miller's
version definitely made an impression.
"I
heard him do it that day and I said, 'Boyyyyyyy,'" Lindley says recently
from his home in Southern California. "Then he did it again, on the record
("Fly Like an Eagle" in 1976), and it was a little different, and I
said, 'Noooooooo. You got to do this fast, and have at least four double
espressos, and then record it twice.'" Which was just about the approach
that Lindley took.
"At
the end of the second take we blew up the (mixing) board," he says.
"There was smoke coming out of it."
El
Rayo-X, which is playing some limited dates in California this summer, went on
to record three more albums of rock, blues and reggae. But that band was
"mainly a vehicle for two-part harmony and lots of slide playing. That's
how I used to do things -- what's a good vehicle for this or that."
For his
albums emphasizing the world sounds of the Turkish saz and chumbus, Middle
Eastern oud and Irish bouzouki, Lindley has played in other combos, producing
four discs of Malagasy music in the '90s with Henry Kaiser, two with Hani Naser
and three, so far, with percussionist Wally Ingram. The Ingram CD's --
"Twango Bango Deluxe" (2000), "Twango Bango II" (2001) and
"Twango Bango III" last year -- are closer in sound and spirit to the
El Rayo-X discs.
Lindley
is no stranger to touring solo, having done it in the '60s when he was
performing in bluegrass bands such as the Smog City Trestle Hangers and the Mad
Mountain Ramblers.
For
this solo tour, Lindley will have his collection of instruments and will play a
lot of the world tunes he has written.
"If
you're working solo, the songs better be good," he says. "There'd
better be something to them, and your playing has to be really, really
good."
Lindley
has devoted himself to learning all he can about the oud, a 12-string fretless
lute.
"I'm
finally understanding some of the techniques," he says. "It's very
difficult to play in the traditional Turkish style, but I'm making headway. I
sound more like a real oud player."
At
first, he says, he modeled his playing after Turkey's Udi Hrant, who is known
as the blind master of the oud.
Just as
he has cross-pollinated musical styles, Lindley has begun modifying
instruments, such as using fishing line to tie metal frets on a bouzouki.
"I
kind of decided on my own scale on the bouzouki," he says, "and I
have them threaded and they have their own sound. It's an amazing
instrument."
For the
future, Lindley plans to keep exploring the exotic sounds of the oud and other
world-music instruments. But he's also eagerly awaiting another milestone.
"I'm
at the edge of curmudgeonhood, poised at the threshold, and I can't wait,"
he says. "I'm gonna get me a cane and shake it at the neighborhood kids
from the front porch."