Almanac Music: Not Quite Bob – Assorted Californians: Ry Cooder, Jackson Browne, David Lindley

Not Quite Bob – Assorted Californians – Ry Cooder, Jackson Browne, David Lindley

 

We were in New York in 2016, six months before the Trump ascendancy.  One day after a tour of the Towers site our guide (who was also our landlord) took us to lunch near the Hudson.  I’ve never forgotten his joke which rang prophetic later.  He said, pointing across the river, “Over there is New Jersey, then there’s nothing, then there’s LA.”  While Bob Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota his career was very much anchored in New York, moving there in 1961 to become part of the vibrant Greenwich Village folk scene.  The rest, as they say ….

 

Meanwhile across the river, beyond the nothing, lay sunny California.  It’s a bit deeper into the `60s where another group of talented troubadours are putting their own stamp on American music.

 

 

 

Ry Cooder

 

Ryland Peter ‘Ry’ Cooder was born in Santa Monica in 1947 and after first playing a guitar at age three he has become a true American music legend playing and recording in many musical styles across folk, roots, blues, country, gospel, Tex-Mex and basically defining the catchall of Americana.  Starting out in a bluegrass trio on banjo he became a much in demand session guitarist amongst many stringed instruments that he was expert on and he featured on albums by Captain Beefheart, the Stones, Van Morrison, Linda Ronstadt, Eric Clapton, Randy Newman among dozens of others.

 

Starting with a self titled album in 1970 he has recorded nearly 20 solo albums as well as soundtracks and recordings that focus on an amazing range of culturally diverse material, most notably the Buena Vista Social Club in 1997 and also records with The Chieftains and Ali Farka Toure.

 

It’s hard to know which album to feature here but my favourite (today at least) is 1980’s Borderline.

 

 

 

 

But really it’s almost churlish to set it apart from Chicken Skin Music, Paradise and Lunch, Bop Till You Drop and The Slide Area amongst many great recordings that he’s still pumping out today.  The soundtracks to Crossroads, The Long Riders, Alamo Bay and Paris, Texas are all award winners and worth seeking out.

 

One of the features of the group of artists featured today is that they all know how to put a fresh spin on a classic and Ry normally features at least one cracking cover on each record.  Here he is on ‘Little Sister’ from Bop Till You Drop.

 

 

 

 

A musician’s musician Ry has influenced and worked with everybody including …

 

 

Jackson Browne

 

Jackson was born in Germany in 1948, the son of a serviceman, the family moved to LA three years later and it’s really there in California where his life and career reside.  His early career involved writing songs for others including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Nico and the Eagles but in 1972 he released his self-titled debut followed in 1973 by For Everyman which is still my favourite.

 

 

 

 

From there a song he wrote as a 16yo (note the precocious talent evident in many of these artists) called ‘These Days’.

 

 

 

 

To have that come from a teenage boy is still astonishing to me.  Browne’s most successful albums followed soon after with Late For The Sky (1974), The Pretender (1976) and Running On Empty (1977) on high rotation amongst my friends at that time with many a party featuring drunken renditions of this sometime when singing started late at night.

 

 

Jackson Browne The Load Out and Stay Live BBC 1978

 

 

 

 

Now the comic falsetto and the brilliant lap steel on that were supplied by David Lindley but more of him later.   From there Browne’s career involved only sporadic recording with much of his life devoted to political activism famously involving himself in the No Nukes movement and also campaigning against US backed wars in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala.  He’s also been on the hustings for Ralph Nader and Bernie Sanders.  Still there have been a number of good records along the journey and in 2021 he released the very solid Downhill From Everywhere and from there, this …

 

 

 

 

 

David Lindley

 

At the intersection of Browne and Cooder, somewhere near Santa Monica Blvd I reckon, you’ll find friend and frequent collaborator with both, Mr Dave, David Lindley.  He of the falsetto and almost supernatural guitar, slide and lap steel wizardry.  Born in 1944 Lindley started his career as a heavily in demand session and live tour musician on the work of Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder, Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, Curtis Mayfield, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, Dolly Parton and CSN&Y.  Know him by the company he keeps as the refrain goes.

 

But in 1981 he formed a band called El Rayo-X and then recorded 4 albums that everyone should own – El Rayo-X, Win This Record! (1982), Mr Dave (1985) and Very Greasy (1988).  Guilty as I am of dropping the ‘all killer, no filler’ epithet listen to this and find a dud on it, I dare ya.

 

 

 

 

From there here is the crack outfit known as El Rayo-X ripping it up on ‘Mercury Blues’.

 

 

 

 

Beat that.  That’s artistry right there.

 

Unfortunately after the last of those albums in 1988 Lindley’s recorded output has been sparse with a few self-produced or minor label things mostly only available on his website.  Fun but with no major label push his recorded career has tanked at least commercially.  The streamers do have a set called Live At The Bottom Line from 1981 that covers most of the first two albums including beautiful versions of Quarter Of A Man and Pay The Man that are more ballad paced, reggae tinged songs than some of the others.  Worth checking out.

 

He still appears on small stages in clubs in intimate settings where he gets to show off his sublime skills on the guitar.  Here from the Great American Music Hall in 2020.

 

 

 

 

While Bob was creating his amazing Discography in NY, over on the West Coast great artists like these 3 were making big contributions to the music we call American.

 

Footnote:  today I have embedded albums and songs from Tidal rather than Spotify.  I have fled along with Neil and Joni.  I don’t think they’ll miss me but they may miss them.  Let’s hope so.  A mate has been urging me onto Tidal for a while now citing higher quality audio amongst other things.  We’ll see although for my part my listening nowadays takes place on a dinky little speaker fed by my computer or my phone.   Modern.

 

 

 

Read more stories from Trevor Blainey HERE.

 

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