Born in 1969 in San Mateo, California, blues guitarist Eric Lindell spent much of his youth in nearby Santa Rosa and Forestville. Although he worked as a baker by day, Lindell turned his focus to music in the evenings, honing his chops as a competent vocalist and guitarist by playing in bars around Sonoma County. He produced his debut album, Bring It Back, in 1996, and in 1999 he won the John Lennon Songwriting Competition with his original piece "Kelly Ann." That same year, Lindell decided to move to New Orleans to pursue music in a different location. The move was a beneficial one, as Lindell soon hooked up with Galactic's Stanton Moore and began playing shows around town, frequently enlisting drummers Johnny Vidocovich and Harold Brown (from War) to sit in. He issued a self-released, self-titled record in 2002, but the following year saw him move to Sparco Records, where he released both Piety Street Session and EP Volume 1. Tragic Magic followed in 2005 and sparked serious interest from Alligator Records, which released Change in the Weather in 2006 and Low on Cash, Rich in Love in 2008. Lindell continued his prolific output with 2009's Gulf Coast Highway, another album of blue-eyed soul and confident guitar work. Leaving Alligator Records, Lindell put out a couple of albums to sell at gigs, 2010s Cazadero and 2011s Between Motion and Rest, both of which were combined in a two-disc release entitled West County Drifter from M.C. Records in the fall of 2011.
