By David DeRocco

Colin Linden is to Blackie and The Rodeo Kings what Blackie and The Rodeo Kings are to Canadian folk/roots music. If you can’t figure out that analogy, then you probably aren’t too familiar with either the talented guitarist/producer or the band he founded with bandmates  Stephen Fearing and Tom Wilson. Linden’s resume includes successful solo artist (Colin Linden and The Immortals), producer of over 100 albums, revered session man and musical director for the live touring cast of the TV series Nashville. He’s found time to do a string of dates with the legendary Bob Dylan and release solo albums including 2015’s Rich In Love. In anticipation of Blackie and The Rodeo Kings appearance August 25^th at Jackson Triggs Amphitheatre Linden took the time to talk with GoBeWeekly about career longevity, touring with Dylan and the joys of Nashville.

GOBE: I talked to Pat Boone recently and the guy’s been performing now for 71 years. Blackie and the Rodeo Kings are now 20 years old, eight albums deep with a Juno. Considering Blackie was formed as a one-off project, did you ever imagine you’d still be performing together 20 years later ?  

COLIN: (Laughing). Well, every gig we do is sort of a surprise. It keeps on going on and people want to continue to come see us so we’re just trying to keep the spirit of things alive.  

GOBE: Could you imagine performing for 70 years?

COLIN; I hope so, wouldn’t’ that be great. I have been a performer for 45 years now so that’s only 25 away. I hope that I’m alive and healthy and performing in 26 years and if I am that would be amazing.

GOBE: Maybe the secret is to live as clean a life as Pat Boone.

COLIN: Oh, I don’t know, that’s pushing it. I haven’t lived that unclean a life so maybe there’s a chance.

GOBE:  You’ve played on dozens of album, produced over 100. Which side of the studio window do you prefer to work on. What’s your happy place.  

COLIN: I love it both ways. I love being a guitar player most of all and I love making records and performing. For me as long as I’ve got a guitar nearby that’s really where I’m at my happiest

GOBE.  You’ve gone from an early rock career to working as a regular session man, producing albums, touring with Dylan and now working on television. Did you have such lofty goals as a  young musician?  

COLIN: I think I did, although my goals were creative first and foremost. I love playing solo and I’m still searching for the best performance I can. That’s the loftiest goal.

GOBE:  Where are you most “in the zone” as a player? Slide, rhythm, lead, rock, blues?

COLIN:  Well hopefully it happens all the time. It’s not just in one way of playing. Sometime you’re playing rhythm or acoustic guitar on a country recording and it’s just fantastic, and other times  I’m all by myself just playing. Sometimes it’s playing the slide in a big arena or being in the studio. You try to get that feeling every time, to just try and get inside whatever your contribution can be to the music.  Just be in there completely. Other times it’s not doing much at all.

GOBE: How passionate are you about playing these days. Do you still go into a corner of the house, sit alone and simply play just for the pleasure of it?

COLIN:  I’ve only done that for an hour and half today. (laughs). Yes, all the time. I play whenever I can.

GOBE: It’s that much a part of your DNA now?

COLIN:  It has been for 50 years. Close to 50 I guess

GOBE:  I remember hearing your early solo work on rock radio, songs like “When The Spirit Comes” in the 80s. Do you lament the demise of radio formats that had broader playlists that could work in solo Colin Linden or Blackie music?

COLIN: I guess I don’t think about it that much. If I did  it might make me somewhat nostalgic. But I kind of feel like we were always somewhat of an anomaly. Blackie certainly was for  getting radio airplay and me and my solo stuff even more so. We had a couple of hits. It was left of centre then and we’re left of centre now. Anything we got was kind of a bonus.  And I felt very fortunate to get the kind of radio airplay I did. I do feel on the one hand there were times when music was a little more inclusive. The trade-off of that is there’s so many more places to get music now. I love satellite radio. There’s still a certain amount of catch up in terms of getting people paid for what they do, especially with streaming and all that.

GOBE: You’ve had so many career highlights including a tour with Dylan in 2013. What was your takeaway from that?  

COLIN:  He’s the best band leader I ever worked for. And the best artist I’ve ever worked with. I loved it. I was very very honoured to do it and it was something I wanted to do my whole life, play with Dylan. I was so thrilled to have had the chance to do so. I made some friends for life I think. I was treated beautifully and had a wonderful time

GOBE. Do you think he gets his due as a musician?

COLIN:  Not even close. I think he’s so much better. He understands music in such a unique way. And I think that’s because he’s so great at being a songwriter I think that people sometimes take for granted what an incredible melody writer he is. He really understands. He’s an amazing, incredible musician.

GOBE:  You’ve had a great run working on the TV series Nashville. How rewarding an experience has that been for you coming into it as a musician. And where did you start when you were offered the gig?

COLIN: It started off with people asking me to play on stuff, just play on tracks. And then it evolved into me coaching the actors on the guitar parts.  We take great care in making the music look as real as possible. The cast to a person has applied themselves so much to really learn how to play to the extent when we go play the stuff live they play the music. I love working on it. I love the cast so much.

GOBE:  You live in Nashville and I continue to hear from musicians I interview how incredible it is to live there. Why is that?  

COLIN:  Well it’s the friendliest place I’ve ever been to and it’s a really great place to live if you’re a musican Musicians get treated with a level of respect I don’t think they are anywhere else in the world. It’s an affordable city, it’s getting a little less the bigger it gets. You can be doing pretty well and have a pretty good life. You don’t have to be the #1 session guy in town to have a pretty good life here. You can be doing cool music and still have a great life. We love it. We’re closing on 20 years of being here. It’s hard for me to go away for even a day.

GOBE:  For those who may have not seen Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, what can they expect from the show?

COLIN: With Blackie the greatest thing about it is you never know how it’s going to turn out until we do it. So you’ll hear something that’s different than how we played it the night before. There’s certainly a lot of spontaneous combustion that happens when we play together. That’s the real spirit of the band. We go for that every time we play.

For tickets visit http://www.greatestatesniagara.com/Amphitheatre/Amphitheatre-Tickets