Linda McRae

Biography

Linda McRae is a Canadian folk-roots-Americana musician. A multi-instrumentalist (clawhammer banjo, acoustic and electric guitars, accordion, bass, and Porchboard stomp box) singer-songwriter, she is a former member of Spirit of the West. She has released eight albums, Flying Jenny, Cryin’ Out Loud, Carve It to the Heart, Rough Edges and Ragged Hearts, a career retrospective entitled 50 Shades of Red, Shadow Trails, Going to the Well and Cox and McRae live.

Career

She earned two platinum and three gold records as a long-time member of Spirit of the West. She left the band to resume her solo career and has since released eight critically acclaimed recordings: Flying Jenny with producer Colin Linden (Bruce Cockburn, Bob Dylan), Cryin' Out Loud, producer Gurf Morlix (Lucinda Williams, Mary Gauthier), Carve It to the Heart with Marc L'Esperance and herself as producers, Rough Edges and Ragged Hearts again with Marc L'Esperance at the helm, a retrospective for Borealis Records called 50 Shades of Red, Shadow Trails produced by Steve Dawson and Cox and McRae Live produced by Doug Cox.
Her fourth release Rough Edges and Ragged Hearts she also produced with L'Esperance and featured performers including the Sojourners, Doug Cox, Gurf Morlix, Ray Bonneville, and Samantha Parton (of Be Good Tanyas). Charting No. 1 at CKUA, No. 4 Top Canadian Album, and Nos. 1 and 2 Top Canadian Songs ("Rough Edges & Ragged Hearts" and "Be Your Own Light") and No. 8 Top Canadian Artists on the Folk DJs list, the recording also earned five-star reviews in No Depression and Rock Star Weekly, and 4.5 stars in Penguin Eggs. As of November 2013, it's also been on the Roots Music Report charts for 50 weeks straight.
McRae's song "Burning Bridges" was also included on the Skydiggers summer 2013 CD entitled No. 1 Northern which included songs by Canadian artists Gordon Lightfoot, Ron Sexsmith, and Neil Young. Montreal Gazette, Metro Winnipeg, and the Nova Scotia Herald included her as among these Canadian "greats". Other co-recordings and performances include those with Bruce Cockburn, The Wonder Stuff, Neko Case, Alejandro Escovedo, and Ray Waylie Hubbard, and another with Gurf Morlix.
Recent performances include Plainsong Festival in Nebraska, Yukon Arts Centre, Vancouver Island Music Festival in British Columbia; South Country Fair in Alberta; Barbican Theatre, London; Maverick Festival, UK; the Bluebird Café, Nashville, Tennessee; and New Folsom Prison, California's infamous maximum-security prison where she performed and facilitated writing workshops for the inmates. These workshops lead to the creation of her Express Yourself Writing Workshops currently being presented in detox centres, alternative schools, and youth and adult correctional facilities across North America.
McRae has partnered with the following festivals to continue to present her workshop as part of their community outreach programs: Plainsong Festival (USA), South Country Fair (Canada), Coldsnap Festival (Canada), Hamburg Music Fest (USA), Vancouver Island Music Fest (Canada), Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center (USA), Folk Alliance International (USA), Bread and Roses (USA).

As self

Cox and McRae, 2023
Linda McRae, Going to the Well, October 2019
Linda McRae, Shadow Trails, September 2015
Linda McRae, 50 Shades of Red, 2014
Kenny Butterill, Troubadour Tales, 2014
M.C. Hansen, He Was A Young Father (recorded in Whitehorse, Yukon in 2013)
Linda McRae Live, (recorded at The Sportsmentʼs Tavern, Buffalo, New York, 2013)
Linda McRae, Rough Edges & Ragged Hearts, 2012
Loretta Hagen, Mud and Stone, 2011
Jason Eklund, Jason Eklund, 2009
Paul Hyde, Love & the Great Depression, 2009
Joanne Mackell, Brand New Lonesome, 2008
Linda McRae, Carve It to the Heart, 2007
The Boomchix, Surprise, Surprise, 2007
Rodney DeCroo, War Torn Man, 2006
The Knotty Pines, The Fabulous Sounds, 2005
Linda McRae, Escovedo 101, Compilation, 2004
The Turaeward Family, Deep Rooted Beefs, 2004
Rodney DeCroo, Rodney DeCroo and the Killers, 2004
Gurf Morlix, Cut'N Shoot, 2004
Eric Westbury, Burnt Tongues and Blue Truths, 2004
Linda McRae, Cryin' Out Loud, 2004
Leslie Alexander, Savage Country, 2003
John Guliak, The Black Monk, 2002
Women & Songs 6, Compilation, 2002
Jeff Gibbons, Love Tattoos, 2001
Neko Case, Furnace Room Lullaby, 2000
Jim Whitford, Poison in the Well, 2000
JT King, Ruby River, 2000
Nanaimo 8:38 Saturday Morning, Bob Bossin, 1999
Girls With Guitars, Volume 1, 1999
Bruce Cockburn, Where Have All the Flowers Gone, 1998
Linda McRae, Flying Jenny, 1997
Spirit of the West, Open Heart Symphony Live with the VSO, 1996
Spirit of the West, Two-Headed, 1995
The Waltons, Cock's Crow, 1995
Spirit of the West, Upfront! Canadians Live On Stage Various Artists, 1994
Spirit of the West, Faithlift, 1993
The Wonder Stuff, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, 1992
The Wonder Stuff, Welcome to the Cheap Seats, 1992
Spirit of the West, The Hanging Garden Joni Mitchell Compilation, 1997
Spirit of the West, Go Figure, 1991
Island of Circles, Donovan Compilation, 1991
Spirit of the West, Collected Works Compilation, 1991
Spirit of the West, Save This House, 1990
Terminal City, CITR Tapeathon, 1988
Terminal City, Live, 1987
Easy Money, Standing in Your Shadow, 1981
Easy Money, Getting Lost, 1981

As part of Spirit of the West

Open Heart Symphony Live with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, 1996
Two-Headed, 1995
Upfront! Canadians Live On Stage Various Artists, 1994
Faithlift, 1993
The Hanging Garden, 1997
Go Figure, 1991
Collected Works compilation, 1991
Save This House, 1990