“When she asked me if I would come be her lead guitar player, I just was like, ‘Um, how can I say no to Shania?’” Lindsay Ell on the “pinch me moment” she became Shania Twain's lead guitarist

Canadian country-pop singer-songwriter and guitarist Lindsay Ell cut her teeth co-writing her first album with Randy Bachman and touring with Buddy Guy in her late teens.

She went on to establish herself as a bona fide solo artist, as encapsulated in her latest EP, the introspective Love Myself, while also taking on the role of host for the revived Canada's Got Talent. Another impressive addition to Ell’s résumé? Becoming fellow Canadian Shania Twain's go-to lead guitarist.

“I never saw sidemanning being a part of my job,” Ell tells Guitar.com. “When she asked me at the beginning of the year if I would come be her lead guitar player, I just was like, ‘Um, how can I say no to Shania?’ But what an exciting adventure!”

Ell had supported the Canadian icon on select dates of her Queen of Me tour in 2023, before fully joining the Twain circus with performances at her Las Vegas Come On Over residency shows and the Legend slot at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, to name just a few.

Shania Twain - Man! I Feel Like a Woman! (Glastonbury 2024) - YouTube

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Ell adds: “It’s been so wild playing the songs that I learned to sing and play on guitar when I was really little, now standing on stage three feet away from her.”

In an interview with The Standard, Ell also referred to this opportunity as “a full circle pinch me moment.

“I think the first song I fell in love with Shania was No One Needs to Know, one of her very first singles and now, I play that song on stage with her. It has just been so lovely getting to see how Shania works and really see how she empowers everybody in her crew and her band and she lifts us all up and challenges us to be better and so it has been such a beautiful experience.”

Back in July, Twain was presented with a stunning handmade guitar in celebration of her musical legacy and Irish heritage.