Editing Colin Linden

{{Short description|Canadian musician}}
{{BLP sources|date=August 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = Colin Linden
| image           = EmmylouHarris ColinLinden 2008.jpg
| caption         = Colin Linden performing with [[Emmylou Harris]] in 2008
| birth_name      = Colin Kendall Linden
| birth_date      = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1960|4|16}}
| birth_place     = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada
| genre           = [[Blues]]
| occupation      = Musician, songwriter, record producer
| instrument      = Guitar
| years_active    = 1970s–present
| label           = [[Yellow Dog Records|Yellow Dog]], [[True North Records|True North]], [[Compass Records|Compass]],
| associated_acts = [[Blackie and the Rodeo Kings]], [[Bruce Cockburn]]
| website         = {{URL|colinlinden.com}}
}}

'''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, who frequently collaborates with [[country music|country]] and [[folk music|folk]] performers.<ref name="allmusic" />

He is a member of [[Blackie and the Rodeo Kings]] with [[Stephen Fearing]] and [[Tom Wilson (musician)|Tom Wilson]], and has worked with [[Bruce Cockburn]], [[Lucinda Williams]], [[T-Bone Burnett]], [[Kevin Gordon (musician)|Kevin Gordon]], [[Colin James]], [[Emmylou Harris]], [[Leon Redbone]], [[Rita Chiarelli]], [[Chris Thomas King]], [[The Band]], [[Keb' Mo']], [[Charles Esten]] and [[Bob Dylan]].

==Career==
{{BLP sources section|date=May 2017}}

===Early years===
Linden was born in [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada.<ref name="hometwo" /> When he was still an infant, his family moved to [[White Plains, New York]]. The ten-year-old Linden heard rock performers in New York venues, such as [[Van Morrison]], the [[Flying Burrito Brothers]], [[James Taylor]], [[John Mayall]], [[Johnny Winter]] and [[Taj Mahal (musician)|Taj Mahal]].{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}

===1970s===
When the family moved back to Toronto, Linden became interested in performers such as [[Taj Mahal (musician)|Taj Mahal]], [[Mississippi Fred McDowell]] and [[Howlin' Wolf]]. When Howlin' Wolf played at Toronto's Colonial Tavern, the then-11-year-old Linden spent three hours talking with the elder bluesman.<ref name="hometwo" />

He began performing at a local coffee house, the Fiddler's Green Coffee House, singing and strumming a guitar alongside his two older brothers Jay and Harley. By 1973, Linden began learning how to fingerpick. When Linden met [[David Wilcox (Canadian musician)|David Wilcox]], Linden decided to learn how to play [[slide guitar]]. Wilcox gave 140 blues albums to young Linden, to help Linden to learn about blues styles.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}

Paul Mills, the producer of [[Sylvia Tyson]]'s ''Touch the Earth'' show, at the [[Winnipeg Folk Festival]] and an outlet on [[CBC Radio One|CBC Radio]] for acoustic roots music, booked Linden in 1975 .<ref name="hometwo" /> At the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Colin met [[Mississippi]] bluesman [[Sam Chatmon]], and later that year made a pilgrimage to the U.S. to meet South Detroit's [[Sippie Wallace]]. North Carolina's [[Peg Leg Sam]], and Mississippi's [[Son House]].{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}

In 1976 Wilcox had asked Linden to join his band, the Teddy Bears, which meant that Linden had to learn to play the electric guitar. In 1977, he played solo gigs and did his first western Canadian tour, which was booked by [[Holger Petersen (Canadian businessman)|Holger Petersen]]. In Edmonton, he met then 13-year-old [[Colin James]], also a budding blues performer. In the late 1970s, Linden formed his own group, the Group du Jour, which played a mix of covers and a few Linden originals, and a group called the Lucky Charms, which was featured on his first album "Colin Linden Live!!!!!" (1980) .{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} In 1979, Linden recorded the Sam Chatmon album, “Sam Chatmon & His BBQ Boys" (Flying Fish Records}. <ref name="hometwo" />

===1980s===
In August 1980, Linden recorded his album ''Colin Linden Live!'' He also played as a sideman for [[Mendelson Joe|Joe Mendelson]], [[Willie P. Bennett]], [[Gwen Swick]], Morgan Davis and [[Amos Garrett]]. His second album, ''Colin Linden and the Immortals'' was released by [[Stony Plain Records]] in 1986.<ref name="hometwo" /> Linden has acknowledged the influence of the [[The Band|Band]]; in the early 1980s, Linden met three of its original members, [[Rick Danko]], [[Garth Hudson]] and [[Levon Helm]]. Members of the Band contributed to Linden's recordings, and songs like "When the Spirit Comes" got radio airplay and "Miles Away from You" made the rock charts.<ref name="allmusic" /> ''When the Spirit Comes'' was released by A & M in 1987. Linden signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell and did producing for Mendelson Joe, Morgan Davis, Jackson Delta and Hans Thessink.<ref name="hometwo" />

===1990s===
[[File:Bark07.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Linden (left) as part of [[Blackie and the Rodeo Kings]]]]
In 1991, [[Bruce Cockburn]] recruited Linden as a sideman, and for three-and-a-half years, Linden played guitar for Cockburn. Subsequently, Linden became his co-producer.<ref name="cockburn" /> Linden's blues album of 1993, entitled ''South at Eight, North at Nine'', distributed by [[Sony Music Entertainment]] in Canada,<ref name="allmusic" /> won a [[Juno Award]] in the blues and gospel category.<ref name="barikada" /> Guests on the album included Bruce Cockburn and Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Levon Helm of the Band.<ref name="allmusic" />

As Linden got more interested in gospel records, he began taking vocal lessons from [[Bourbon Tabernacle Choir]] singer Dave Wall, such as breathing and warm-up exercises.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} In 1996, Linden won a Juno in the blues and gospel category for his producing [[Lennie Gallant]]'s ''The Open Window''. Linden co-wrote [[Colin James]]'s hit song "Real Stuff".<ref name="home" />

That same year, he joined with [[Tom Wilson (musician)|Tom Wilson]] of [[Junkhouse]] and [[Stephen Fearing]] to form [[Blackie and the Rodeo Kings]]. This band was a tribute to Canadian singer-songwriter [[Willie P. Bennett]]. After the album ''High or Hurtin''', on [[True North Records]], their second album, ''Kings of Love'', won a Juno.<ref name="hometwo" />

In February 1998 Linden shared the Maple Blues Producer of the Year award with Colin James. ''A Tribute to Howlin' Wolf'' was released by Telarc Records in 1998.<ref name="hometwo" /> In 1999, ''A Tribute to Howlin' Wolf'' was nominated for a [[Grammy Award]] in the category Best Traditional Blues Album.<ref name="flower" /> In 1999, Linden received the Toronto Arts Award.<ref name="hometwo" />

=== 2000s ===
In 2000 Linden won three Juno awards: in the category "Blues", as the producer of [[Ray Bonneville]]'s ''Gust of Wind''; in the category "Roots and Traditional: Solo Artist", as the producer of Bruce Cockburn's ''Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu''; And in the "Roots and Traditional: Group" category, as a member of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.<ref name="hometwo" /> In 2000, Linden produced [[Sue Foley]]'s ''Love Comin' Down'' and Paul Reddick and the Sidemen's ''Rattle Bag''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bowman |first=Durrell |date=15 December 2013 |title=Colin Linden |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/colin-linden-emc |access-date=18 January 2019 |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada}}</ref>

For the album ''Big Mouth'', a more acoustic recording, Linden recruited [[Keb' Mo']], Bruce Cockburn, and other musicians. In 2002 ''Big Mouth'' won a Juno for Best Blues Album. In 2002, an album Linden worked on, ''Timeless'', won the Grammy for Country Album of the Year.<ref name="allmusic" /> In 2002, he co-produced Stephen Fearing's ''That's How I Walk'' and Bruce Cockburn's ''[[You've Never Seen Everything]]''. In 2003, a third Blackie and the Rodeo Kings album, ''BARK'', was released, and in 2006 they released ''Let's Frolic'' and ''Let's Frolic Again''.<ref name="hometwo" />

In 2003, he had a minor role in the film "Intolerable Cruelty" as a singing, guitar playing minister and was featured performing Paul Simon's "The Boxer" during the closing credits.

===2010s===
On 15 July 2013 Linden joined [[Bob Dylan]]'s band for eleven dates until 3 August 2013 [when [[Charlie Sexton]] rejoined Dylan's band], playing the first show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was featured on Diana Krall's album ''Glad Rag Doll'' in 2012 and Rhiannon Giddens's ''Tomorrow Is My Turn'' in 2014.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

Linden has been a main musician, music producer, music director and songwriter for the ABC television show "[[Nashville (2012 TV series)|Nashville]]" since its inception in 2012. He has performed electric, acoustic and slide guitar on most of the show's recorded musical numbers and appears regularly on screen in many of the live performance scenes.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} His primary residence has been in Nashville since the late 1990s. Linden performed as part of the house band for a [[T Bone Burnett]]–produced gospel music concert at the White House on 14 April 2015.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} Following the end of ''Nashville'', Linden has been a member of star [[Charles Esten]]'s band and has toured both the US and the UK with him.

==Personal life==
Linden married Janice Powers on 14 February 1988.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 February 1988 |title=1998 – When The Spirit Comes – Colin Linden |url=http://www.colinlinden.com/music-blog/1998-when-the-spirit-comes/ |website=Colinlinden.com |accessdate=29 April 2020}}</ref>

==Discography==
===Solo===
* ''Colin Linden Live'' (1980)
* ''The Immortals'' (1986)
* ''When the Spirit Comes'' (1988)
* ''South at Eight, North at Nine'' (1993)
* ''Through the Storm, Through the Night'' (1995)
* ''Raised by Wolves'' (1997)<ref name="Inc.1999">{{Cite magazine |last=Bettsy Powell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQ0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA58 |title=There's no place like home |date=16 January 1999 |magazine=Billboard |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |pages=and 58 |issn=0006-2510}}</ref>
* ''Sad and Beautiful World (1975–1999)'' (1999)
* ''Big Mouth'' (2001)
* ''Southern Jumbo'' (2005)
* ''Easin' Back to Tennessee'' (2006)
* ''From the Water'' (2009)
* ''Still Live'' (2012)
* ''Rich in Love'' (2015)
* ''bLOW'' (2021)

=== Compilation inclusions ===
* ''[[Orphans of God]]'': A Tribute to [[Mark Heard]] ([[Fingerprint Records|Fingerprint]], 1996). Linden contributed his version of "[[Dry Bones Dance]]", originally released as the title track of a 1990 Mark Heard album.
*''[[Johnny's Blues: A Tribute to Johnny Cash]]'' ([[Northern Blues Music|Northern Blues]], 2003). Linden contributed his version of "[[Big River (Johnny Cash song)|Big River]]".

==References==
{{reflist|refs=<ref name="cockburn">{{Cite news |title=Speechless |publisher=Cockburn Project |url=http://cockburnproject.net/albums/speechless.html |accessdate=12 March 2013}}</ref>

<ref name="home">{{Cite news |title=About Colin Linden: Producer credits and information |publisher=ColinLinden.com |url=http://www.colinlinden.com/producer_credits.html |url-status=dead |accessdate=12 March 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526121848/http://www.colinlinden.com/producer_credits.html |archivedate=26 May 2011}}</ref>
<ref name="hometwo">{{Cite news |title=About Colin Linden: Timelines |publisher=ColinLinden.com |url=http://www.colinlinden.com/About_Colin/Timeline/index.html |url-status=dead |accessdate=12 March 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024123054/http://www.colinlinden.com/About_Colin/Timeline/index.html |archivedate=24 October 2008}}</ref>

<ref name="flower">{{Cite news |title=Mary Flower and Colin Linden |publisher=Callipe House |url=http://calliopehouse.org/event/mary-flower-and-colin-linden-2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328121405/http://calliopehouse.org/event/mary-flower-and-colin-linden-2/ |archive-date=28 March 2013 |accessdate=12 March 2013}}</ref>

<ref name="allmusic">{{Cite news |title=Colin Linden |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/colin-linden-mn0000112920 |accessdate=12 March 2013}}</ref>

<ref name="barikada">{{Cite web |title=Colin Linden 2006 – Easin' Back To Tennessee biography |url=http://old.barikada.com/rock_biografije/2006-09_02_colin_linden.php |website=old.barikada.com |publisher=Dragutin Matosevic |accessdate=15 January 2016}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
* [http://blackieandtherodeokings.com/ Blackie and the Rodeo Kings]
* {{IMDb name|nm1063345}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linden, Colin}}
[[Category:1960 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian blues singers]]
[[Category:Canadian blues guitarists]]
[[Category:Canadian expatriates in the United States]]
[[Category:Jewish Canadian musicians]]
[[Category:Canadian male guitarists]]
[[Category:Canadian record producers]]
[[Category:Canadian male songwriters]]
[[Category:Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year winners]]
[[Category:Singers from Toronto]]
[[Category:Writers from Toronto]]
[[Category:Canadian folk rock musicians]]
[[Category:Yellow Dog Records artists]]
[[Category:Stony Plain Records artists]]