This series asks songwriters to describe their writing process, and what influences them. Here, songwriter and producer Colin Linden, of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.
Well for me, I find as time goes on I wait for it to hit me a little more and that’s a double-edged sword in some ways. I don’t write quite as much as I have at other times, although you know what? Sometimes it just barrels itself out. This year I had a few months where I wrote a whole lot. And for me I find that, generally speaking, I just get that impulse of something that I want to say, and that’s how it starts.
I mean you’d think because I’m a guitar player, first and foremost, that it would be driven by some kind of melodic thing or a guitar lick or something like that, but I almost never do. It’s almost always driven by something will hit me that I want to say, and the way that I’ll say it and the rhythm of how I say it will come out and it’ll all kind of come from that. It’s still kind of mysterious.
When I’m co-writing, let’s say with Tom Wilson from Blackie, because we write together some, it’s a different kind of process. It’s a little bit more of a visceral process than with other people I co-write with, because, you know, he’ll grab onto something and he’ll do something that I call Keyser Söze-ing … and it’s like free association. And if you see [The Usual Suspects] you’ll understand what I mean by that. And that’s how Tommy writes. He’s very free that way, and I find that I get kind of caught up on something with him, and it’ll lead me somewhere. It’s a very visceral process, writing with him.
My influences are pretty varied. But the great blues artists and the great blues writers, especially Willie Dickson and Percy Mayfield, are a big part of my writing. A lot of the interesting and unique country-blues artists are always there, too. In terms of more modern songwriters, obviously Willie P. Bennett, who is the raison d’être that Blackie and the Rodeo Kings exists, is always a big part of my writing; Robbie Robertson is always a big part of my writing.
Really, I think songwriters exist only because we can’t listen to Bob Dylan all the time. Dylan’s influence is so prevalent and so huge on anybody who writes songs. I love his music so much that he says it all in every genre, better than anybody, ever.
Colin Linden is currently on the road with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings for the band’s Kings and Queens tour, and he recently released his first live solo album in 30 years, Still Live.
Related:
Colin Linden on CBC Music
The Sidemen: Colin Linden
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings on CBC Music
Previously in this series:
How I Write: Mike Haliechuk of F--ked Up
How I Write: David Usher
How I Write: Glen Hansard
How I Write: Norah Jones
How I Write: Cold Specks
How I Write: Tim Foreman of Switchfoot
How I Write: the Civil Wars
How I Write: Royal Wood
How I Write: Dan Mangan
How I Write: Jim Bryson