Takamine

Photo credit: Art Brewer

It is with real sadness and a sense of great loss that we at Takamine learn of the great David Lindley’s passing. And while we wish to express as much, effectively eulogizing the legendary multi-instrumentalist seems nearly impossible.

Perhaps if Lindley only excelled in one or two instruments like your typical musical legend -- or drew upon just a select few musical influences to create his magic. But David Lindley’s genius shone through via virtually any stringed instrument he picked up.

Some may say the soulful sustain of Lindley’s violin or searing lap steel best demonstrated his celebrated melodic genius. Artists like Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, James Taylor, Curtis Mayfield, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan certainly benefited from that gift. But it may be Lindley’s pitch-perfect, emotionally memorable violin playing on those early Jackson Browne recordings such as "Before the Deluge" and "Song for Adam" that best suits the mood in which his passing has left us. Maybe by tomorrow we’ll be up for cranking some "Mercury Blues".

Knowing that David, along with Ry Cooder, Glenn Frey, Jackson Browne, and Springsteen were among Takamine Guitar’s earliest fans, and in celebration of his newly acquired EF740FS, we asked David back in 2012 if he might like to speak to those times, the instruments and his relationship with Takamine godfather Mass Hirade. He agreed.

So, in honor of the great David Lindley, we respectfully offer excerpts of that memorable visit.