Former Jackson Browne Guitarist David Lindley Dead at 78

David Lindley, journeyman multi-instrumentalist who performed with Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and plenty of extra, has died at age 78.

Lindley’s passing was confirmed to the Los Angeles Times, although an official reason behind dying was not given.

Born on March 21, 1944, in San Marino, Calif., Lindley performed quite a lot of stringed devices as a toddler, together with violin, ukulele, banjo and fiddle. He shortly established a fame as one of the vital gifted musicians on the scene, successful the Topanga Banjo and Fiddle Contest 5 occasions by his late teenagers.

Lindley performed with the psychedelic folks group Kaleidoscope from 1966 to 1970, showing on the band’s first 4 albums. He was a boldly experimental participant even then, attacking his guitar with a violin bow — a transfer later immortalized by Jimmy Page, who referred to as Kaleidoscope his “favorite band of all time.”

“David was a master of that technique, and we are still not sure if Page took it from David or not,” Kaleidoscope’s Chris Darrow instructed It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine in 2011. “We know he and Robert Plant came to see us at the Avalon Ballroom and saw us perform the song [with the bow]!”

Ater Kaleidoscope disbanded, Lindley accepted an invite to hitch Browne’s band, a place he held for a decade. Lindley performed guitar and different devices on 5 consecutive Browne albums, starting with 1973’s For Everyman and together with the multiplatinum hits The Pretender, Running on Empty and Hold Out. He additionally delivered a co-lead vocal on Empty hit “Stay,” performing the enduring falsetto chorus at the music’s finish.

“It would have been hard to go out and play those songs with just anybody,” Browne instructed PBS of Lindley in 2021. “Nobody plays like him.”

Listen to Jackson Browne’s ‘Stay’

While taking part in with Browne within the ’70s, Lindley additionally toured with Crosby & Nash, James Taylor and Ronstadt. He was a prolific session musician as properly, taking part in on albums by Rod Stewart, Warren Zevon, America, Joe (*78*), Ry Cooder and extra. In 1981, he shaped his personal band, El Rayo-X, and launched their self-titled debut album, produced by Browne.

Lindley’s solo work by no means reached the heights of his well-known collaborators, however that did not hassle him.

“I like all different kinds of stuff. That’s one of my problems,” he instructed Rock Cellar Magazine in 2016. “I never settle down in one area. At one point, I had the chance to go the Kiss route, but I decided to play what I liked. I’d rather mess around. It’s more fun.”

Lindley is survived by his spouse, Joan Darrow — sister of his Kaleidoscope bandmate Chris Darrow — and their daughter, Rosanne Lindley.