He first entered my orbit in the summer of '78 when I purchased Jackson Browne’s Running on Empty album. He re-entered it as a solo artist when he released his debut solo album, El Rayo-X in 1981. On this album his nearly limitless abilities as an instrumentalist are on display along with the prowess of his backing band (aka El Rayo-X) as he conjures up a potent mix for rock, country, folk, and reggae. A mix that is all his own.
When I joined Murmurs in the late 90s one of the first friends I made was Janet Armbruster (I forget her screen name) who was a fellow Lindley fanatic. She was the first to bring to my attention that my favorite worlds had collided on Warren Zevon’s Sentimental Hygiene as members of R.E.M. and Lindley play on the record. I knew of R.E.M. (sans Stipe) being on there and it was not a stretch that Lindley was, I was just unaware of it up to that point. She was kind enough to send me a tape of some of those songs as well as the long out of print Mr. Dave which was eventually reissued in 2016.
I had the good fortunate of seeing Lindley (aka “Mr. Dave” and “The King of Polyester”) a few times over the years. El Rayo-X made such a huge impression on me as an 18 year old in 1981 that it will forever hold a place on my Top 10 favorite albums of all time lists. He was a unique individual who put his own stamp on the music he created, never to be duplicated. He was truly one of a kind and will be sorely missed.
Oh that’s sad to hear. 
I really enjoyed his work on Jacskon Browne records as well.
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