I almost forgot about Colin Linden’s show at the Geomatic Attic, March 16, but was happy to be able to rush in a little late in time to catch most of his second set.
He had a good sized crowd hanging on every note of beautifully textured slide guitar. he switched guitars from electric to acoustic for different sounds and effect. A highlight was a fantastic Willie P Bennett song “Red Dress” which one of Linden’s other groups, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings has also covered.
He played a lot of music off his latest CD “From the Water,” and a couple new ones plus invited special guest, young Fort Saskatchewan singer/ songwriter Joe Nolan, on stage to play a couple of his songs, on which Linden added beautiful sounds. Über-producer Linden told the audience “ he couldn’t wait for them to hear the record we made together,” after which Nolan played a brand new song which Linden hadn’t heard before but impressed him nonetheless.
Linden told stories including a long one about John Lennon taking a break from the Beatles after Brian Epstein died, and spending it in New Orleans. he followed it up with a haunting new song called “John Lennon in New Orleans.”
His guitar playing was the absolute highlight of the night as he squeezed and squealed every note he tastefully could out of his guitar with his slide. when he wasn’t doing that, he grinned and showed some impressive fingerpicking chops.
He ended his set with an exceptional version of “Remedy,” which the Band recorded as well as Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.
