Colin Linden - bLOW
03-10-2021
Colin Kendall Linden (born 16 April 1960) is a Canadian guitarist, songwriter and record producer. Linden plays acoustic and electric guitar, specializing in slide guitar, country blues, and ragtime fingerpicking. He frequently collaborates with country and folk performers. He is a member of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings with Stephen Fearing and Tom Wilson. He has worked with Bruce Cockburn, Lucinda Williams, T-Bone Burnett, Kevin Gordon, Colin James, Emmylou Harris, Leon Redbone, Rita Chiarelli, Chris Thomas King, The Band, Keb' Mo', Charles Esten and Bob Dylan. Anyone looking to showcase an often-overlooked veteran roots talent as the first signing to their new label couldn't make a better choice than Colin Linden. Even though the Nashville by way of Toronto singer/songwriter/producer released 13 previous solo albums, has appeared on over 500 more as a sideman, and produced 140 others, he's still somewhat of a well-kept secret. Hopefully, that changes as Lucinda Williams picked him for the debut act on her new Highway 20 imprint. Linden's solo music (he was briefly a member of the post-Robbie Robertson Band) leans towards rootsy Americana, but "bLOW" finds him wholeheartedly embracing the blues. It's the music he's loved since meeting Howlin' Wolf when Linden was 11 and that swampy style has informed much of Linden's material throughout the decades. In the opening "4 Cars" and especially in "Right Shoe Wrong Foot," Linden channels the chukka-chukka rhythms of Bo Diddley, attacking them with his dusky voice and tough, yet flexible, guitar. He shifts into ZZ Top territory on the thumping nine-minute "Houston," which name-checks Lightnin' Hopkins. That and the slow blues of "Change Don't Come Without Pain" allow him to open up on guitar, soloing with the forceful sophistication and intensity of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Linden then leans into gospel on The Band-influenced "When I Get to Galilee" where his emotional vocals are eerily similar to those of the group's Richard Manuel. Six of these tracks on "bLOW" emerged from instrumentals commissioned for a television project that was looking for a Texas-Louisiana vibe. Linden recently turned them into full songs during the lockdown. The closing nine-minute ballad "Honey on My Tongue" reflects the frustrations of COVID-19 with Days of darkness world in trouble/ Everybody's living in their own bubble bringing an ominous feel to the disc's most moving moment. Those first exposed to the singer/songwriter through this disc have the enviable task of digging into the 13 that came before it. There is not a bad one in the batch. "bLOW", the new album from blues singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer Colin Linden, is the first release on Lucinda Williams' imprint Highway 20 and embodies the powerful blues-meets-rock-meets-roots style Linden has crafted over his illustrious 45-year career, which set its course following a fateful meeting with Howlin' Wolf at age 11. "If I started to tell you all the people Colin Linden has played guitar with, you wouldn't believe me," said Williams. "With bLOW, Colin has made a record that will let everyone else in on the secret. Having him be the first artist on my Highway 20 Records feels like his coming0out party here in the U.S., and it's better late than never." As a singer-guitarist, Linden has accompanied an incredible list of artists, including Bruce Cockburn (as his producer and touring musician), Bob Dylan, Gregg Allman, Rihannon Giddens, Pistol Annies, John Prine and many more. Linden is a member of Canadian supergroup Blackie And The Rodeo Kings and was a main contributor to the music for the Nashville TV show and subsequent live tours. Along the way, Linden played on over 500 albums and produced 140, winning his first Grammy in 2020 for producing Keb Mo's Oklahoma, winner for Best Americana Album. He has also nabbed a staggering 25 Juno nominations and nine wins. The seeds for bLOW were planted when Linden was commissioned for another television project. "I had been asked to come up with some Texas-Louisiana border music as stock music for a TV show. After coming up with and recording maybe 18 pieces of music, I came to feel that a number of them were songs just waiting to be finished, so when the air cleared and we were locked down, I let the music lead me to the words." The result is a collection of raw, riveting tracks, rooted in the deep valleys of the genre, while feeling perfectly modern for today's times. The first single 'Until the Heat Leaves Town' is a groove-heavy track that conjures up a traditional blues theme of a down-on-his-luck character whose time has ultimately run out. Linden shares the true story behind the smoking song : "Larry. Country blues legend. My hero. Playing music fed his soul. Side deals fed his family. He ran afoul of some unsympathetic folks on a deal. He was in need of a place to hide. Me and Dave. Hanging out, playing guitar. A warehouse by the Brooklyn Bridge. Larry showed up one night, breathless and shifty. He stayed a few days, vague on details, one eye on the door. One morning he was gone, like a puff of smoke. I pictured him walking away, dawn climbing up the side of Manhattan Island like a cool breeze." "Colin always has something soulful to say. Howlin' Wolf charged him with bringing everything he had to offer, all of his feeling and all of his humanity, to the music, and he has."
1 4 Cars 3:292 Ain't No Shame 4:06
3 Until The Heat Leaves Town 3:33
4 Angel Next To Me 3:39
5 Boogie Let Me Be 3:35
6 When I Get To Gallilee 5:01
7 Blow 4:19
8 Change Don't Come Without Pain 7:03
9 Right Show Wrong Foot 3:08
10 Houston 4:31
11 Honey On My Tongue 4:45
Bass - Dave Jacques (tracks : 1, 2, 5, 9, 10), John Dymond (tracks : 3, 4, 8, 11)
Drums - Gary Craig (tracks : 3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 11), Paul Griffith (tracks : 1, 2, 5, 8 to 10)
Harmonica - Mickey Raphael (track : 11), Paul Reddick (track : 3)
Keyboards - Janice Powers (tracks : 6, 10)
Organ - Janice Powers (track : 7)
Piano, Organ - Kevin McKendree (tracks : 4, 11)
Producer, Mixed By, Guitar, Vocals - Colin Linden
From colinlinden.net, "bLOW", the new album from blues singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer Colin Linden will be released September 17, 2021 (on Highway 20/Thirty Tigers). "bLOW" is the first release on Lucinda Williams' imprint Highway 20 and embodies the powerful blues-meets-rock-meets-roots style Linden has crafted over his illustrious 45-year career, which set its course following a fateful meeting with Howlin' Wolf at age 11."
