“Her lyrics challenge listeners the way that Michael Moore challenges viewers.”

Ann Forcier, The Recorder, Greenfield, MA

She saw Led Zeppelin on their first US tour and loves Joan Baez, but don’t expect some wide-eyed hippie in tie-dye cooing about love and daisies. Sure, if you went to the first Woodstock and you want peace-loving music, you’ve come to the right place, but your kids will also love her refreshingly direct folk-rock with a touch of blues, vintage R&B and yep, even techno, with anthems that’ll make you dance around your living room or call your congress person, some at the same time.

Like so many others, she took piano as a kid and taught herself the guitar as a young adult, but she made a detour to become a pharmacist. Not just one of those white-coated clerks at a chain store, but at her own store. At the young age of 55, she climbed up on stage, sans the lab coat, and sang for an audience that was so enthusiastic that soon after she sold the pharmacy and made music a focus. Linq does nothing halfway, diving into the music world with a single in 2003 and then her first album in 2004. Two more full-length albums were released in 2006 and 2009, Fast Moving Dream, and Life Goes On.  Change the Picture, George!, a two-song enhanced CD with video, was released in 2007.

Her newest CD, Rx and the Side Effects, released on August 25, 2009, documents our brave new world. Too bad we’re all too sick and broke to enjoy it. Who better than a pharmacist to guide us through the maze of our broken health care industry?  Produced by June Millington (Cris Williamson) and featuring musicians who have worked with Ferron, Dar Williams and Bonnie Raitt.

Rx and the Side Effects kicks off with “Prescription Chaos” an upbeat 60’s rock tune complete with doo wop vocals:

            It’s the American Way / We can all feel better, take some drugs today.

“Side Effects” has a more modern feel, with stabs of electric guitar from June Millington. There’s a more contemplative feel in “Money Today,” about a guy who earns money even after he dies. The minor key and beautiful cello work from Jami Sieber helps reveal the sobering tale.  The award-winning “Tired” tells the story of a woman who can’t make her meager income stretch far enough to buy the drugs she needs to get well.

Linq pulls no punches on “What Happened to the Care”:

Profits over people, money over care / The fox is in the hen house with a nest egg sitting there

Julie Wolf (Ani DiFranco) adds some soulful keyboards.

The next time you call a company and get an automated system, listen to “No Person on the Line” a few times and vent with Linq. “Gun in Hand” is the biting true story of a pharmacist being held up but refusing to give the drugs the gunman demands.  The disc wraps up with “Small Business Blues,” one you know is a true story. It’s a jamming blues-rock number punctuated with distorted blues licks and driving drums.

Linq performs around New England and at selected gigs outside the region including showcases at the 2009 Indiegrrl National Conference and BB King’s Blues Club in Nashville. Her first video, “George Orwell Where are You?” has remained near the top of the list of Neil Young’s Living With War Today Top Protest Videos since it debuted in 2007. She’s been the featured artist on several sites including Indiegrrl, Gay Guitarists Worldwide, GoGirls and more.  Awards include an Honorable Mention for “Tired” from the International Narrative Song Competition, in the top 50 in the American Idol Underground (“Victim of the War”), Fast Moving Dream was in the top 40 on the Outvoice charts for an entire year, and “Change the Picture” was a nominee in the 2009 Just Plain Folks Music Awards, the largest music awards in the world with 42,000 albums and 560,000 songs received.  Rx and the Side Effects spent 5 weeks on the Roots Music Report Top 50 Folk.  She is also one of the 5 nominees for OUTMusician of the Year (music + activism) in the 2009 OUTMusic Awards.

Linq believes that music is the most effective tool we have to bring people together, to celebrate each other and to break down barriers. And if it takes a former pharmacist to do that, all the better. It’s a medicine we can all use.