A renowned multi-instrumentalist famous for his expansive and eclectic live performances. Lindley has been well known for many years as a significant accompanist, notably with Jackson Browne, and leader of his own band El Rayo-X, and has long championed the concept of world music. He is a master of an incredible array of stringed instruments, including banjo, violin, cittern, Kona and Weissenborn Hawaiian lap steel guitar, Turkish saz and cumbus, Middle Eastern oud and Irish bouzouki.

Lindley grew up in Southern California, first taking up the banjo as a teenager and subsequently winning the annual Topanga Canyon Banjo and Fiddle Contest five times as he explored the American folk music tradition.

Between 1967 and 1971, Lindley founded and led what must now be seen as the first world music rock band, the eclectic and psychedelic Kaleidoscope.

In 1971, Lindley joined forces with Jackson Browne, serving as Jackson's most significant musical collaborator until 1981.

In 1979, Lindley began working with old friend Ry Cooder on Bop Till You Drop and the Long Riders sound track, a musical collaboration that lasts to this day and has spawned many recording projects and several world tours as an acoustic duo.

In 1981, Lindley created his own band El Rayo-X, which integrated American roots music and world beat with a heavy reggae influence. Albums of this period include El Rayo-X, Win This Record and Very Greasy, as well as a solo album, Mr. Dave.

Lindley and guitarist Henry Kaiser went to Madagascar for two weeks in 1991 and recorded six albums of indigenous Malagasy music (including two collaborative albums, A World Out Of Time Volumes One and Two on Shanachie) which proved to have a major impact on the world music scene.

Throughout his long and distinguished career, Lindley has been one of Hollywood's most in-demand session musicians, lending his skills to the recorded works of Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt, Crosby and Nash, Warren Zevon, Terry Reid and many others.

In 1990 a chance meeting of Lindley and Jordanian born percussionist Hani Naser led to an impromptu jam and an instant decision to take this on the road, which led to a world tour lasting 6 years. The duo recorded two self-released albums, Live In Tokyo Playing Real Good and Live All Over The Place Playing Even Better on Pleemhead Audio. In recent years, Lindley has also toured with reggae percussionist Wally Ingram.