Tomáš Linka "80"

Tomáš Linka is releasing a 3CD compilation for his eightieth birthday in February, featuring dozens of hits from past decades and six new songs, including his version of "When Lovers Cry". Linka is a popular singer and harmonica player who belongs to the last generation of musicians who began recording in the late sixties.

His repertoire spans American traditional songs ("Jesse James", "Year 1849", "Lojza and Líza", "Red River") and classics by Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, through singer-songwriter traditions following Gordon Lightfoot and John Denver, to electrified country rock. Beyond covers — "The Lady Must Be Mine", "I'm Sorry", "I Want to Be Water on Your Mill", "Play Fair", "A Thousand Miles to Nowhere" or "Midnight Cowboy" — he has always cherished Czech repertoire.

A frequent collaborator on Linka's lyrics is Antonín Kny, a composer, guitarist, vocalist, arranger, conductor and producer, who is also the compiler of this compilation.