For those of you not familiar with Neil Young outside the reference to him in the classic Skynyrd track 'Sweet Home Alabama', Neil has been making music for many a decade now. Hailing from the Great White North that is Canada, Neil has been called everything from a Folk Rock pioneer to the Godfather Of Grunge. Playing in a band or as a solo artist since the mid 60's, he's played with the likes of such greats as Joni Mitchell, Rick James (Yes, That Rick James), David Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, and Pearl Jam, just to name a few. Releasing a wide range of albums over the years, Young has released some classic genre defying albums. Some of which I'm gonna feature and how the relate to me.
My earliest memories of hearing Neil Young probably date back to me as a kid in middle school. I just started finding my taste in music thanks to my Dad's old cassette collection. Hendrix, Clapton, Rush, Young, all the greats and some underrated bands were all in there. About the time we had settled up in the desert in California, my Dad picked up a copy of "Harvest Moon", which was released back in 92. So by now the record is five years old, but still new to me. The album was seen as a somewhat follow up to the classic 72 record "Harvest". I remember listening to this record every weekend it seemed like for months on end. I knew the opening riff to 'Unknown Legend', the folksy tale of 'Old King' and perhaps became a bit of a 'Dreamin' Man' myself. The music was stripped down and yet still told a story. Showing me that everything doesn't always need to go to 11. This became my introduction to Neil Young. Some years later my Dad decided to actually upgrade and spring for the CD copy of the album. By now I think the cassette was worn pretty bad. We put the album in the rotation seemed like in the Fall and it stayed there. We knew the music, the lyrics, but never grew tired of it. In 09, Neil put out as part of his Archives, "Dreamin' Man", which was the album Live from various stops from that tour. It came out about a year after my Dad's passing. It's one album I'm sure we would've worn out.
