Guitarist Colin Linden, whose career has included memorable intersections with Bruce Cockburn and Emmylou Harris, is no stranger to big moments on big stages. Still, working with Bob Dylan has produced its share of new experiences.
“It is,” Linden admits in the new talk with CBC Music, “a really big deal.”
The guitarist joined Dylan’s tour as Duke Robillard departed back in July, during a homecoming stop at Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre. (Linden is something of a local hero there, and still performs with his group Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.) Dylan’s current concert series resumes next month in Europe.
Linden now makes his home in Nashville, where he helps construct the soundtrack for the television program Nashville — and it was there that the Dylan connection was made.
Dylan friend Buddy Miller, who serves as executive music producer for Nashville, recommended Linden. And so Linden’s lessons in the ways of Dylan commenced — live and on stage.
“The most important factor of doing the gig well was really keeping your eyes on Bob, and listening really, really carefully, and putting the music first and foremost,” Linden says. “He’s a real player too, and the other guys are real players. So not enforcing your own ideas on it, but being a real participant and an ensemble player, and really being respectful of his singing and his playing, and the songs. It requires, I think, being more sparse in some ways with what you do, and the spots where you step up be kind of aware of what you are doing and the implications of it musically.”
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