It’s a homecoming of sorts for Eric Lindell.
Born in San Francisco and raised in many areas in Sonoma County – Santa Rosa, Penngrove etc. – it’s the first time the singer-songwriter has been back in the area since the mid-‘90s.
Like many, Lindell started a band in his teens with some buddies – playing surf and skate tunes – with all the hopes and dreams that come with that. Originally the guitarist, Lindell was shuffled to bass as the band found a better guitar player. The songs they were writing had a variety of styles to them – then he discovered Fishbone.
“Man, that band made a big impression on my life and my music,” says Lindell.
His first act to garner any record label attention was Eric Lindell and the Reds, which in 1996 kicked off the first of his dozen releases since.
“We never really wrote songs to sound like anybody, but we didn’t write to not sound like anybody either,” says Lindell. “We just wrote songs.”
That angle led people to label them a variety of genres, jazz, funk, blues, rock, or all of the above.
“We always considered our influences as funk, along the likes of Tower of Power and other Bay Area funk acts,” he says. After a short stay in New York, the artist found himself and his family in New Orleans. “We weren’t sure how we’d be taken, the funk down there is different than here, with acts like the Meters and the Neville Brothers and the ‘second line’ vibe going on,” Lindell says. It didn’t take long for the band to gain acceptance and after four releases on Alligator Records, they became the best selling act on the label, selling almost 70,000 records.
With the demise of the music industry and record labels in general, the latest album, “The Sun and the Sea” was self-produced and independently released.
“It’s really about loading up the band in the bus and touring the album to sell CDs and swag these days,” says Lindell, “a lot like the music model of the '50s”
Lindell will be bringing his act to Sonoma Valley for one show only on Saturday, June 6, at 9 p.m. at B & V Whiskey Bar and Grille. He has an assortment of musicians that he tours with, and this show will feature Steve Froberg, from the local act Frobeck on bass; Jordan Feinstein on the B3; Chris DeJohn on drums; with Lindell holding down the guitar and vocals.
Tickets will be available at the door.
For more information, point your browser to bvsonoma.com
James
Marshall
Berry
jmberry@sonoma?music.com
‘It’s really about loading up the band in the bus and touring the album to sell CDs and swag these days, a lot like the music model of the '50s.’
- Eric Lindell
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