In what has become my favorite tradition of our Fest-o-Matic series, we are blessed and honored every year to celebrate the birthday of our dear friend and collaborator Papa Mali, and do it by paying tribute to the great singer, songwriter and master of all things with strings, David Lindley, along with Lindley’s longtime bandmate Wally Ingram and many other incredible artists.

 

Mister Dave founded the rock band El Rayo-X (considered by many to be one of the first “world music” bands) and was the featured sideman for some of the best artists ever, including Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, Warren Zevon, Curtis Mayfield and Dolly Parton. 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."  On stage, Lindley was known for wearing garishly colored polyester shirts with clashing pants, gaining the nickname the Prince of Polyester.  The majority of the instruments that Lindley played are string instruments, including violin, acoustic and 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.  In addition to being perhaps the greatest sideman in the history of rock music, his music with El Rayo X and future solo endeavors (both with percussionist Hani Nasser and later with longtime collaborator Wally Ingram, as well as his solo shows) fused rock music, reggae, blues, zydeco, cajun, r&b, and middle eastern music, among others!

 

For this year’s show, Papa Mali and Wally have again gathered an incredible collection of musicians to play songs from across Mr. Dave’s extensive catalong, including Alvin Youngblood Hart, Ben Peeler of the Wallflowers, Ed Williams of the Revivalists, Liza Oxnard, Mahmoud Chouki and his trio, Kota Katu, Lorenzo Piccone, Dave Easley, Jimmy Leslie, Rurik Nunan, Jacob Tanner, Cass Faulconer, and more TBA.

 

Wear your best polyester and let’s let Le Bon Temps Roulez!