Jay Linden will bring the brotherly love on Wednesday night.
The Cambridge, Ont.-based singer songwriter will appear at Hugh’s Room on Jan. 27th to celebrate his newest release, Under The Radar. Joining him will be his brother Colin Linden (of Hamilton-based Blackie And The Rodeo Kings), who leant Jay a helping hand by producing the album and supplying equipment, among other things.
You can’t pick your family, but you can pick who you record with, and given that the brothers (Jay the oldest and Colin the youngest of three) spent their formative years together bouncing around Toronto’s bustling folk scene of the 1970s, Colin was the perfect choice — bringing his Juno-Award winning flair for roots music to Jay’s folk sound. Having that kind of fraternal mojo, it’s no surprise the disc only took two days to cut.
“I was worried that we weren’t going to be on speaking terms afterwards, but it went very smoothly,” says Jay. “We obviously know each other very well, and Colin certainly has more experience than I have recording, working with people like Colin James and his own group. So I would defer to him 100 per cent of the time if he had a suggestion.”
True to its name, Under The Radar is only the second album Jay Linden has released in a career that spans over 40 years and change in music — but now that one can record and release with less hassle than one could in the past (he cites technology and record company control as two reasons why), he has developed a taste for it, and brother Colin’s glad to see it.
“I’m really happy that he’s opted to play music, because it’s something he was always incredibly gifted at,” says Colin. “He kind of took a circuitous route, but I feel that his writing’s just getting better and better. I think for him the life of a musician at the stage he’s at is more appealing than it was when he was in his 20s.”
