Eric Lindell

Born: San Mateo, California — Moved to New Orleans in 1999

Eric Lindell is New Orleans' blue-eyed soul man — a California-born singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer who moved to New Orleans in 1999 and built a national following on swampy Gulf Coast R&B. Three albums on Alligator Records, radio hits “Give It Time” and “Lay Back Down,” and a standing role in the supergroup Dragon Smoke have made him one of the hardest-working road dogs in roots music.

Why We Love Eric Lindell

Eric Lindell writes songs the way New Orleans cooks: start with soul, season with funk, let it simmer in the swamp. His voice is pure ease — warm, unhurried, a little worn around the edges — and his guitar playing has that rare thing, taste. From the Alligator Records years to his independent run to the annual Dragon Smoke blowout, Lindell has been a one-man argument that the California kid who fell for New Orleans might just be one of the city's own. Put on Change in the Weather on a Friday night and try not to move.

Biography

California Soul, New Orleans Heart

Born in San Mateo, California, Eric Lindell spent his youth in nearby Santa Rosa and Forestville, working as a baker by day and honing his guitar and voice in Sonoma County bars by night. His early tastes ran from Fishbone and Black Flag to bluesmen Junior Wells, Jimmy Reed, and Albert King, then toward the R&B of Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway. He produced his debut album, Bring It Back, in 1996, won the John Lennon Songwriting Competition in 1999 with his original “Kelly Ann,” and that same year relocated to New Orleans to pursue music as a career.

The move paid off fast. Lindell hooked up with Galactic's Stanton Moore, sat in with drummers Johnny Vidacovich and Harold Ray Brown of War, and worked his way from self-released records to his own Sparco label. Tragic Magic (2005) caught the ear of Alligator Records, which signed him and released Change in the Weather (2006) — whose single “Give It Time” became an adult-album-alternative radio hit — followed by Low on Cash, Rich in Love (2008) and Gulf Coast Highway (2009). His songs have also turned up on television, including Boston Legal and Treme.

A tremendous raw talent... with a fully realized musical vision.

— Chicago Sun-Times

Since the Alligator years Lindell has kept up a prolific independent pace — West County Drifter (2011) and Matters of the Heart (2016) — before returning to Alligator for Revolution in Your Heart (2018). He co-founded the supergroup Dragon Smoke in 2003 with Ivan Neville, Robert Mercurio, and Stanton Moore, and has appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and NPR's Mountain Stage.