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Linda McRae

folk / roots from Nashville Tennessee
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About

Linda McRae

Instruments: Guitar, Vocals, Accordion, Composition/Songwriting, Bass & Clawhammer Banjo details
"Whether roots music is your cup of tea or not, this standout recording is a consciousness-raising journey through a challenging emotional landscape that also embraces hope and redemption."
Lesley Mitchell-Clarke - Current Reviews - Pot Pourri Shadow Trails by Linda McRae

California’s Folsom State Prison occupies a hallowed place in the history of country music. As the location of several Johnny Cash performances and the subject of his song “Folsom Prison Blues,” it has become a symbol of the “outlaw” element of outlaw country. Now, some 60 years after Cash first put it on the map, the California State Prison complex has had a transformational impact on another country roots musician: Canada’s Linda McRae.


After answering a call to host a song-writing workshop at New Folsom in 2011, McRae and her husband, James Whitmire, were moved to develop song-writing workshops for at-risk youth – to try and prevent them from ending up behind bars in the first place. Her new, Steve Dawson-produced album, Shadow Trails, is inspired by that work.


Though perhaps best-known for her eight-year tenure as a member of the platinum-selling band Spirit of the West, Linda McRae had already raised a daughter and performed for more than ten years with west coast punk and roots outfits before joining Spirit. In fact, the band members were regulars at shows by her previous roots rock band, Terminal City. She joined Spirit in 1988 and is heard prominently on two of its most famous and enduring songs, “Home for a Rest” and “If Venice is Sinking.” In 1995, she and the band performed and recorded with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and released the resulting recording, Open Heart Symphony.The following year, she left the Spirit to launch a solo career and has been charting at folk and roots radio ever since.


In 2006, McRae found love and much more with James Whitmire, a retired American rancher who had recently discovered his voice as a poet, and who put his skills to work trying to woo her. He told her he’d move wherever she dreamed of living, so the couple settled in Nashville, and Whitmire – who she pays tribute to on the album with the song “My Man” – became her manager, collaborator, and constant source of moral support while she’s out on the road. A recovered addict, who’s been clean for more than 25 years, Whitmire has life experience that many incarcerated individuals and at-risk youth relate to, and that has helped the couple build trusting connections through their therapeutic song-writing workshops.


That work, in turn, has inspired McRae, whose new album is chalk-full of raw, honest reflections on hardship delivered with a rough-hewn authenticity.


Here's a little about a few of the songs:


“Flowers of Appalachia” features a wistful, insightful poem by elderly New Folsom inmate Ken Blackburn set to a tender mostly-acoustic backdrop of banjo, guitars and bass.


“Sidewalk Princess,” inspired by another poem by a Folsom inmate, is the fictionalized account of a homeless woman in Vancouver.


And “Jesus or Jail” drew its inspiration from the film “Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus” and the message McRae took away from it: If you’re poor in the south, you have two choices: Jesus or jail.


Other stand-out tracks on the album include “Why Can’t Waylon?” a fabulous outlaw country-style song that borrows an even more fabulous outlaw country –style utterance from the young son of McRae’s friend: “If Jesus can come back, why can’t Waylon?”


There’s also a stirring cover of Willie P. Bennett’s never-recorded number “When Love is a Game,” featuring beautiful pedal steel by Dawson.


And then there’s “Singing River,” which tells the story of Teh-la-nay of the Yuchi nation. The nation called the Tennessee River the singing river because they believed a woman who lived in the river sang to them. When the nation was forcibly relocated to Oklahoma in the 1830s, Teh-la-nay walked for five years to return because she missed hearing the river’s song. The ancestral home of the Yuchi nation lies across the river from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, home of the legendary Fame recording studio, and some say the stream of seminal recordings that came out of Muscle Shoals can be attributed to a certain something in the water.
Country/Bluegrass/Rockabilly
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Community Events

Past Events

17
Aug
20:00 23:00
Linda McRae, David P. Smith and Janis McKenzie
Come see Linda McRae, David P. Smith, and Janis McKenzie perform live on August 17th at 8:00 PM!
$22.63
Aunty Collective
Event can be attended in person
14
Apr
2018
14:30
Starfields Afternoon Concert / Keynote Address: Shane Claiborne, Linda McRae, De...
Starfields Festival presents jazz/pop group Decades After Paris [full band] with...
Free
Metro Studio
Event can be attended in person
14
Apr
2018
19:00
Starfields Festival: The Paperboys, Linda McRae, The Small Glories - Vancouver
Saturday night MainStage event for Starfields with The Paperboys, The Small Glor...
$20
First Church of Christ Scientist
Event can be attended in person
20
Apr
2017
20:00
Linda McRae, GURF MORLIX
THURS APR 20 -2017 Linda McRae and Gurf Morlix WISE HALL - 7PM- MIDNIGHT $20...
$20-$25
WISE Hall
Event can be attended in person
08
Feb
2017
03:00 04:20
Starman: Acoustic Bowie: Doug Cox, Helen Austin, Shaun Verreault, Sam Hurrie, Li...
When Doug Cox first conceptualized Starman:An Acoustic Evening of David Bowie So...
$25-$35
The Farquhar at UVic
Event can be attended in person
08
Feb
2017
03:00 04:20
Starman: Acoustic Bowie: Doug Cox, RiCk MaY, Helen Austin, Shaun Verreault, Sam ...
When Doug Cox first conceptualized Starman:An Acoustic Evening of David Bowie So...
$25-$35
The Farquhar at UVic
Event can be attended in person
27
Nov
2015
20:00
Linda McRae, Thad Beckman
Though perhaps best-known for her eight-year tenure as a member of the platinum-...
$20-$24
St. James Community Hall
Event can be attended in person
27
Aug
2010
Linda McRae
 
WISE Hall
Event can be attended in person
09
Jul
2009
20:30
Linda McRae, Petunia and the Vipers, And Guests
'When all the trends fade and become dated, and all the music from the cutting e...
$8
Railway Club
Event can be attended in person
11
Apr
2008
22:00 02:00
Linda McRae, HOWARD RIX & HIS LUCKY STARS, Headwater
Linda McRae featuring Nova Devonie and Stephen Nikleva with Special Guests: Head...
$8-$10
Railway Club
Event can be attended in person
09
Apr
2007
22:30
Rodney DeCroo, Linda McRae, Scott McLeod
 
Railway Club
Event can be attended in person
08
Oct
2006
21:30 01:00
Songwriters In The Round Hosted By Rodney DeCroo: Doug Andrew, Linda McRae, Jon ...
 
Railway Club
Event can be attended in person
08
Jan
2005
Linda McRae, Circus In Flames
 
Railway Club
Event can be attended in person
05
Jun
2004
Ronnie Hayward (featuring Steve Taylor and Steve Kozak), Linda McRae
 
Cafe Montmartre
Event can be attended in person
28
May
2004
Linda McRae
 
The Marine Club
Event can be attended in person
06
Aug
2003
Tom Holliston, Linda McRae
 
The Sugar Refinery
Event can be attended in person
16
May
2003
02:00
Accordion Madness: David P. Smith, Linda McRae, Ana Bon Bon
Honky-tonk, hillbilly, rhythm'n'blues. These three solo artists offer their inte...
$7
Logan's Pub
Event can be attended in person
21
Dec
2002
02:00
Ranch Productions CD release: David P. Smith, Linda McRae, And More
 
$5
Logan's Pub
Event can be attended in person
12
Oct
2002
21:00
An Early Show With: Linda McRae
Tickets Available From ticketweb.com And At The Door
$10
Lucky Bar
Event can be attended in person

Current Projects

Daughters of Blood and Bone
songwriter/banjo/guitar/porchboard/accordion/vocals
2012 - present
Linda McRae
songwriter/banjo/guitar/porchboard/accordion/vocals
1997 - present

Past Projects

The Knotty Pines
bass/vocals
2005 - 2006
Linda McRae and Cheerful Lonesome
guitar/vocals
2003 - 2006
Spirit Of The West
bass/accordion/vocals
1989 - 1997
Bolero Lava
bass/vocals
1987
Terminal City
bass/vocals/songwriter
1984 - 1989
Squirrels In Bondage
Bass/Vocals
1981
Easy Money
bass/vocals
1978 - 1981

Musician Articles

Linda McRae – ‘Dimming of the Day’
Linda McRae has a special place in our hearts here at Roots Music Canada, and not just because she’s such a great person. Notwithstanding her busy schedule of touring, recording and teaching songwriting workshops, she also was one of the very first peop
Read Article
Author: Heather Kitching
Published by: Roots Music Canada

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