Nils Lofgren is one of the unsung guitar heroes of a generation. He has been a member of the E Street Band and Crazy Horse in addition to a successful solo career. This past summer, during the pandemic, Neil Young got together with Nils and Crazy Horse to record a raw viscerally emotive new record in an old barn. The album, aptly titled "BARN" was recorded in just under two weeks in a manner that resounds of days gone by - just four friends jamming in a barn, writing songs, just like they did back in the early 70s. The new album stands as a celebration of a five-decade friendship between Neil Young, Bill Talbot, Nils Lofgren, and Ralph Molina, and testament to the joys and struggles of being alive in such strange and uncertain times. I recently caught up with Nils to discuss the new album in this exclusive interview. Check out BARN – out December 10, 2021, on Warner Bros.
The concept of recording a record with your buddies in a barn is such a cool concept. How did this project come about?
Well, we were right in the middle of the pandemic and we were all realizing that it might be a year or a year and a half before we could play live. We had a tour planned for last year, starting in April, we were going to tour as Neil Young and Crazy Horse, which was very exciting and that went away.
At some point, while we were all hunkered down, being safe, Neil called, and said he had about four songs completed, so rather than not seeing each other for a year or indefinitely, he suggested we get together and record and just be together as a band. We would do it safely with vaccines and all that – the crew and everyone was vaccinated and being careful. He said if it all goes good, then maybe we could do that two or three times through the year and try to get a record completed.
That was the initial plan, rather than doing nothing, and be in isolation indefinitely, we would record a few songs safely with a crew of trusted friends and vets who had been working with us for decades. That was the initial plan – just to start the process of making the record and have a successful week and a half or so and record four or five songs.
Of course, once we got there, the short story is that Neil kept writing and near the end of a week of recording, we were up to nine songs, and Neil said, "I have one more idea. Give me the night to try to finish it and tomorrow we can record it and then we might have an album." That's the short story of how it started off as just wanting to be together as a band and be safe, and try to chip away at a record, and instead of chipping away, we got the whole thing done.
I feel like most bands back in the day wrote records the same way. Did it feel like the old days to you?
Yeah, it was like the best of the old days. It was just an empty barn set up with a little club stage with all the great gear like the "Gold Rush" upright piano, and the "Tonight's The Night" grand piano was on the floor in the middle of the barn. We had a PA halfway out of the barn aimed at us and we just recorded as we were learning songs. It was super fresh and funky. One of the things I loved about the entire 10-12 day run was that we never once put on a set of headphones, ever. It reminded me of "Tonight's The Night", where we would just barely get the gist of a song and start playing it and once Neil got a powerful lead vocal, that was it, no matter how funky the track was, we were all down in it with him.
It was very raw and primitive, and we were playing on a club stage in a barn and our audience was really just the crew and each other. It just came out beautiful, thanks to Neil continuing to write and be inspired, instead of it being the first of a few trips, it was the only trip we needed, and we just hung in there with him and had a grand old time.
I think I got there June 18th or 19th to acclimate and on June 21st I turned 70, on June 22nd, Ralph turned 79, on June 23, Frank our manager and friend had a birthday too. So we had three birthdays in a row, and like my wife Amy pointed out, if I was going to be away from home, she couldn't have planned a better birthday for me than being with friends of over a half a century, making new music.
How did you first meet Neil?
Well, I had loved Neil's music in Buffalo Springfield and on the first Crazy Horse Tour, he was playing at the Cellar Door in Washington DC and I went to see him. My band Grin was about to leave in a few weeks' time for LA and we were just starting our professional career and didn't know what we were doing. So I tried to sneak backstage and get advice.
I walked in on Neil and Crazy Horse before their show. Long story short, Neil was kind enough to hand me his guitar and let me sing him some songs I had written for the first Grin album and he liked them. He got me a cheeseburger and a coke, and a table and I hung out with him for two days and four shows – the last two nights of a run at the Cellar Door, with Crazy Horse. That started a 52-year friendship with him and the band.
He said, "look me up when you get to LA" and I did. David Briggs, his producer took me under his wing. I was living in Topanga with David – he had a rental house in Laurel Canyon. As Grin made our way with David Briggs, who was certainly my greatest mentor, big brother, and friend – him and Neil were such inspiring mentors. I hung out with Neil a lot because I was living with David.
A year later, when I was 18, he said, "we're doing this album called 'After The Gold Rush' and we want you to play guitar, sing, and play piano." I told him I wasn't a professional piano player, but he felt, thanks to my ten years of classical accordion studies, I would be able to come up with some simple parts. I was surprised, but at that point I was smart enough to shut up and say thanks.
So I practiced my ass off and came up with some piano parts on that great album. Its been a long great history, but that led to making the first Crazy Horse album without Neil, featuring Danny Whitten, which was always the plan, even before I met them. Jack Nitzsche joined the band for that, which was fabulous and that led to Tonight's The Night, we did Trans in the 80s, an album and tour. In the 90s we did the MTV Unplugged with that great Harvest Moon Band that came out beautiful.
Then more recently we did "Colorado" a year and a half ago and now we have "BARN" coming out. I still love that we never put on headphones once, even for the background singing. We just got around Neil's mic, create a blend in the room, turn the PA way down, and we'd have the track play back at us quietly so our voices would be getting a good signal on the mic.
It was very loose and raw, and we were all over the place. I played the Gold Rush upright that I played all those songs on when I was 18 – that was a beautifully spooky experience sitting at that instrument. Of course, I played some acoustic and some electric, some accordion. I jumped around a lot as I've always done through all the great chapters I've had with Neil and Ralph and Billy. It's been such a great thing and unexpectedly in the middle of this horrible pandemic, we got a whole album done.
There's so much to be proud of on this record. Is there a moment or a song on there that you're most proud of?
I love the whole thing, I really do. I do love one song in particular. I was looking forward to touring last year because for me the place I learn the most is on stage in front of an audience. I love to perform, and I was really excited to get to get 20 shows under our belt with Neil in front of an audience and move the two guitar thing forward. We were tracking "Welcome Back" and we were approaching it pretty aggressively. It was good and fun and then all of the sudden, we took a break, went back up and Neil started it, but he started singing this spooky kind of jazz beatnik after hours club kind of thing. He kept a real spooky sedate vibe going and we all started down in there with him and we got this 8-minute jam around this really spooky lyric, which of course we're still living. We're trying to get back to something but, "It's Not The Same". That was one of the great moments for me, but it was all fun.
I remember playing "They Might Be Lost". I played accordion on "Song Of The Seasons" and I was trying to decide what to use, and I tried the Gold Rush upright and Neil was right in front of me and as we learned it we sang "They Might Be Lost" which is another haunting, beautiful piece. Just sitting at that upright piano that has been such a big part of my history. Of course, anytime we tour, Neil takes it on the road all over the world and has a team of people taking care of it. It was all fun and emotional.
It wasn't lost on any of us that we're a half a century in and getting to be together and swap war stories and share what's new with our families and then get up and make new music – that really made it a whole other vibe and experience, again, thanks to Neil for staying inspired and writing, and before you know it, we had ten songs together and we were mixing and starting to think about running orders. By the time I got home Neil had a plan to master it and have a listening party on sunset strip at the Roxy. We actually opened that place -we christened that club in 1973 with the Tonight's The Night band and I got a call to come to the Roxy weeks later for a listening party for Warner Bros. and the band. My dear old friend Ringo [Starr] asked me to put him on the list and him and Barb came down and listened to the record with us.
It was an incredible experience – the fact is all got done so quickly in a big, beautiful barn up there. The film that goes along with it that Neil's wife did such a great job capturing the vibe of those 10 or 12 days or whatever it was. I'm really glad that's coming out with the album too.
What did you use for guitars?
I brought a whole bunch of great guitars. I brought my 1961 Stratocaster that I played a lot on the Tonight's The Night album. When we did the Trans album and tour, I have a great old 52 Les Paul GoldTop and Neil asked Larry Cragg who is a great old friend who traveled with us in the early days. There's nobody better at keeping your guitars in tune and in shape. He, as a favor to Neil, came out and kept all of our guitars in great shape. My 61 Strat I used and then I put a Bigsby on my 52 GoldTop so that I could simulate Old Black once in a while if Neil wanted to go off and do something else. So I had that, I had a cool old Black Falcon that I used.
Of course, Neil had his army of guitars and on the guitar case, we had a picture of Elliot [Roberts] who, along with David Briggs and Ben Keith are always in the room with us, their spirit is always on our minds and they are dear old friends that are part of this team – this family, that we have lost. So those three were on all our minds s we recorded, just because of the history we all had with them.
We jumped around a lot. I would go from acoustic to electric to piano to accordion until you figure out what is right for a song. It was pretty organic and quick and a lot of it was done as we learned the songs – Neil loves to do that. He loves to capture a take before people become too familiar with a song and start subbing in parts. That's the classic way to record with Neil to achieve a live vibe, but this really was live, on a club stage in a barn.
What's next for you guys? Are you guys hoping to get out on the road? Because this album came together so quickly, are there plans to keep recording?
Well, that's a freeform thing that's up to Neil. He did let us know that he started writing some more songs for Crazy Horse. As far as the live thing, he wants to wait until it's a lot safer and of course, no one really knows when that will be.
We had a tour, and we were booked for months and I was really excited about it but of course everything went away because of covid. So the live thing has to wait until there's a safer environment for everybody – not just the bubble backstage, but for the audience too. Neil is writing so that's up to him. But any time I get to get together with a musical family I've been with for over 50 years, it's a chapter that I'm very grateful for.
Just before the pandemic hit, I took my own electric band out for the first time in over fifteen years because I mostly play acoustic, and we did a great live double album with me and a band called Weathered – you can get that at my website. That came out great. So I'm still doing my own thing too and I take great joy in these great bands I get to play in occasionally – case in point is BARN, which I'm really excited to see it come out.
“Do not postpone happiness”
(Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)
@mrussel1 is a great guy. He also gave me the heads up and I was able to order a copy from there as well. Looks like we will owe him some beers at a pearl jam show in the future for being so swell.
@mrussel1 is a great guy. He also gave me the heads up and I was able to order a copy from there as well. Looks like we will owe him some beers at a pearl jam show in the future for being so swell.
Nils Lofgren is one of the unsung guitar heroes of a generation. He has been a member of the E Street Band and Crazy Horse in addition to a successful solo career. This past summer, during the pandemic, Neil Young got together with Nils and Crazy Horse to record a raw viscerally emotive new record in an old barn. The album, aptly titled "BARN" was recorded in just under two weeks in a manner that resounds of days gone by - just four friends jamming in a barn, writing songs, just like they did back in the early 70s. The new album stands as a celebration of a five-decade friendship between Neil Young, Bill Talbot, Nils Lofgren, and Ralph Molina, and testament to the joys and struggles of being alive in such strange and uncertain times. I recently caught up with Nils to discuss the new album in this exclusive interview. Check out BARN – out December 10, 2021, on Warner Bros.
The concept of recording a record with your buddies in a barn is such a cool concept. How did this project come about?
Well, we were right in the middle of the pandemic and we were all realizing that it might be a year or a year and a half before we could play live. We had a tour planned for last year, starting in April, we were going to tour as Neil Young and Crazy Horse, which was very exciting and that went away.
At some point, while we were all hunkered down, being safe, Neil called, and said he had about four songs completed, so rather than not seeing each other for a year or indefinitely, he suggested we get together and record and just be together as a band. We would do it safely with vaccines and all that – the crew and everyone was vaccinated and being careful. He said if it all goes good, then maybe we could do that two or three times through the year and try to get a record completed.
That was the initial plan, rather than doing nothing, and be in isolation indefinitely, we would record a few songs safely with a crew of trusted friends and vets who had been working with us for decades. That was the initial plan – just to start the process of making the record and have a successful week and a half or so and record four or five songs.
Of course, once we got there, the short story is that Neil kept writing and near the end of a week of recording, we were up to nine songs, and Neil said, "I have one more idea. Give me the night to try to finish it and tomorrow we can record it and then we might have an album." That's the short story of how it started off as just wanting to be together as a band and be safe, and try to chip away at a record, and instead of chipping away, we got the whole thing done.
I feel like most bands back in the day wrote records the same way. Did it feel like the old days to you?
Yeah, it was like the best of the old days. It was just an empty barn set up with a little club stage with all the great gear like the "Gold Rush" upright piano, and the "Tonight's The Night" grand piano was on the floor in the middle of the barn. We had a PA halfway out of the barn aimed at us and we just recorded as we were learning songs. It was super fresh and funky. One of the things I loved about the entire 10-12 day run was that we never once put on a set of headphones, ever. It reminded me of "Tonight's The Night", where we would just barely get the gist of a song and start playing it and once Neil got a powerful lead vocal, that was it, no matter how funky the track was, we were all down in it with him.
It was very raw and primitive, and we were playing on a club stage in a barn and our audience was really just the crew and each other. It just came out beautiful, thanks to Neil continuing to write and be inspired, instead of it being the first of a few trips, it was the only trip we needed, and we just hung in there with him and had a grand old time.
I think I got there June 18th or 19th to acclimate and on June 21st I turned 70, on June 22nd, Ralph turned 79, on June 23, Frank our manager and friend had a birthday too. So we had three birthdays in a row, and like my wife Amy pointed out, if I was going to be away from home, she couldn't have planned a better birthday for me than being with friends of over a half a century, making new music.
How did you first meet Neil?
Well, I had loved Neil's music in Buffalo Springfield and on the first Crazy Horse Tour, he was playing at the Cellar Door in Washington DC and I went to see him. My band Grin was about to leave in a few weeks' time for LA and we were just starting our professional career and didn't know what we were doing. So I tried to sneak backstage and get advice.
I walked in on Neil and Crazy Horse before their show. Long story short, Neil was kind enough to hand me his guitar and let me sing him some songs I had written for the first Grin album and he liked them. He got me a cheeseburger and a coke, and a table and I hung out with him for two days and four shows – the last two nights of a run at the Cellar Door, with Crazy Horse. That started a 52-year friendship with him and the band.
He said, "look me up when you get to LA" and I did. David Briggs, his producer took me under his wing. I was living in Topanga with David – he had a rental house in Laurel Canyon. As Grin made our way with David Briggs, who was certainly my greatest mentor, big brother, and friend – him and Neil were such inspiring mentors. I hung out with Neil a lot because I was living with David.
A year later, when I was 18, he said, "we're doing this album called 'After The Gold Rush' and we want you to play guitar, sing, and play piano." I told him I wasn't a professional piano player, but he felt, thanks to my ten years of classical accordion studies, I would be able to come up with some simple parts. I was surprised, but at that point I was smart enough to shut up and say thanks.
So I practiced my ass off and came up with some piano parts on that great album. Its been a long great history, but that led to making the first Crazy Horse album without Neil, featuring Danny Whitten, which was always the plan, even before I met them. Jack Nitzsche joined the band for that, which was fabulous and that led to Tonight's The Night, we did Trans in the 80s, an album and tour. In the 90s we did the MTV Unplugged with that great Harvest Moon Band that came out beautiful.
Then more recently we did "Colorado" a year and a half ago and now we have "BARN" coming out. I still love that we never put on headphones once, even for the background singing. We just got around Neil's mic, create a blend in the room, turn the PA way down, and we'd have the track play back at us quietly so our voices would be getting a good signal on the mic.
It was very loose and raw, and we were all over the place. I played the Gold Rush upright that I played all those songs on when I was 18 – that was a beautifully spooky experience sitting at that instrument. Of course, I played some acoustic and some electric, some accordion. I jumped around a lot as I've always done through all the great chapters I've had with Neil and Ralph and Billy. It's been such a great thing and unexpectedly in the middle of this horrible pandemic, we got a whole album done.
There's so much to be proud of on this record. Is there a moment or a song on there that you're most proud of?
I love the whole thing, I really do. I do love one song in particular. I was looking forward to touring last year because for me the place I learn the most is on stage in front of an audience. I love to perform, and I was really excited to get to get 20 shows under our belt with Neil in front of an audience and move the two guitar thing forward. We were tracking "Welcome Back" and we were approaching it pretty aggressively. It was good and fun and then all of the sudden, we took a break, went back up and Neil started it, but he started singing this spooky kind of jazz beatnik after hours club kind of thing. He kept a real spooky sedate vibe going and we all started down in there with him and we got this 8-minute jam around this really spooky lyric, which of course we're still living. We're trying to get back to something but, "It's Not The Same". That was one of the great moments for me, but it was all fun.
I remember playing "They Might Be Lost". I played accordion on "Song Of The Seasons" and I was trying to decide what to use, and I tried the Gold Rush upright and Neil was right in front of me and as we learned it we sang "They Might Be Lost" which is another haunting, beautiful piece. Just sitting at that upright piano that has been such a big part of my history. Of course, anytime we tour, Neil takes it on the road all over the world and has a team of people taking care of it. It was all fun and emotional.
It wasn't lost on any of us that we're a half a century in and getting to be together and swap war stories and share what's new with our families and then get up and make new music – that really made it a whole other vibe and experience, again, thanks to Neil for staying inspired and writing, and before you know it, we had ten songs together and we were mixing and starting to think about running orders. By the time I got home Neil had a plan to master it and have a listening party on sunset strip at the Roxy. We actually opened that place -we christened that club in 1973 with the Tonight's The Night band and I got a call to come to the Roxy weeks later for a listening party for Warner Bros. and the band. My dear old friend Ringo [Starr] asked me to put him on the list and him and Barb came down and listened to the record with us.
It was an incredible experience – the fact is all got done so quickly in a big, beautiful barn up there. The film that goes along with it that Neil's wife did such a great job capturing the vibe of those 10 or 12 days or whatever it was. I'm really glad that's coming out with the album too.
What did you use for guitars?
I brought a whole bunch of great guitars. I brought my 1961 Stratocaster that I played a lot on the Tonight's The Night album. When we did the Trans album and tour, I have a great old 52 Les Paul GoldTop and Neil asked Larry Cragg who is a great old friend who traveled with us in the early days. There's nobody better at keeping your guitars in tune and in shape. He, as a favor to Neil, came out and kept all of our guitars in great shape. My 61 Strat I used and then I put a Bigsby on my 52 GoldTop so that I could simulate Old Black once in a while if Neil wanted to go off and do something else. So I had that, I had a cool old Black Falcon that I used.
Of course, Neil had his army of guitars and on the guitar case, we had a picture of Elliot [Roberts] who, along with David Briggs and Ben Keith are always in the room with us, their spirit is always on our minds and they are dear old friends that are part of this team – this family, that we have lost. So those three were on all our minds s we recorded, just because of the history we all had with them.
We jumped around a lot. I would go from acoustic to electric to piano to accordion until you figure out what is right for a song. It was pretty organic and quick and a lot of it was done as we learned the songs – Neil loves to do that. He loves to capture a take before people become too familiar with a song and start subbing in parts. That's the classic way to record with Neil to achieve a live vibe, but this really was live, on a club stage in a barn.
What's next for you guys? Are you guys hoping to get out on the road? Because this album came together so quickly, are there plans to keep recording?
Well, that's a freeform thing that's up to Neil. He did let us know that he started writing some more songs for Crazy Horse. As far as the live thing, he wants to wait until it's a lot safer and of course, no one really knows when that will be.
We had a tour, and we were booked for months and I was really excited about it but of course everything went away because of covid. So the live thing has to wait until there's a safer environment for everybody – not just the bubble backstage, but for the audience too. Neil is writing so that's up to him. But any time I get to get together with a musical family I've been with for over 50 years, it's a chapter that I'm very grateful for.
Just before the pandemic hit, I took my own electric band out for the first time in over fifteen years because I mostly play acoustic, and we did a great live double album with me and a band called Weathered – you can get that at my website. That came out great. So I'm still doing my own thing too and I take great joy in these great bands I get to play in occasionally – case in point is BARN, which I'm really excited to see it come out.
What a great interview! Thanks for posting it. I really felt the emotions coming on when he mentioned Elliot Roberts, David Briggs and Ben Keith being gone but there with them in spirit. Oh man!
Long live the Horse!
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
So what info does anyone have about Massey hall? Why is it hard to get and whatever else?
1. Best NY live record. It's a masterpiece in sound quality, the setlist and Neil's performance. His voice was just perfect that night. This was also before Harvest was released, but he played so much from it, while leading with stories about the songs. It's just really cool that he's playing these classic songs to a full hall of Canadiens and no one had ever heard them before.
2. This has been pressed twice before. First time in 2008 and now again just recently. It's very hard to find and the price was just sky rocketing. It will jump again, that's why people who missed out on the first pressing years ago are so keen to get it now before it shoots up again.
Neil Young rebuilds a Rockies barn and reunites Crazy Horse
By ANDREW DALTON
Today
A horse needs a barn.
Neil Young didn’t rebuild a log barn from the 1850s that was falling into the ground in the Colorado Rockies just so he could make an album in it with Crazy Horse, his frequent collaborators for more than 50 years, but that was a big part of the inspiration.
“We got some people to restore it back to the original greatness, with ponderosa pines, it’s just beautiful, just a beautiful building,” Young told The Associated Press via Zoom from the property there that he shares with wife Daryl Hannah. “I felt like it was going to be a great place to make music.”
The space was so significant to the process that “Barn” became the name of both the album and a companion documentary, directed by Hannah, being released Friday.
It was also an ideal spot for Young to cautiously reunite with drummer Ralph Molina, bassist Billy Talbot and multi-instrumentalist Nils Lofgren.
“It’s remote,” Young said. “With the pandemic and everything we felt like we could get everybody there safely and have everybody vaccinated and pure.”
Crazy Horse has always taken Young, now 76, to remote places musically too. He says they still provide the same “cosmic vibe” they did on 1969's “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere,” 1975's “Zuma,” 1979's “Rust Never Sleeps” and 1990's “Ragged Glory.”
“It’s just a place where we get to that I don’t get with anybody else, with Crazy Horse’s ability to jam and the ability to carry on and keep going with not a care in the world,” Young said. “They are as happy to play a song for 20 minutes as they are for three minutes.”
A “barn” is normally musicians’ shorthand for a cold, cavernous room. But this one brought only audial warmth.
“It sounds like God because there’s no square to it, it has no standing waves, because it’s all the insides of these big logs one on top of another,” Young said. “It’s a bunch of round surfaces. From an acoustic standpoint, it’s flawless.”
They built a stage inside and played in their live-and-loose style to a recording truck known as Le Mobile, where engineer Guy Charbonneau and producer Niko Bolas sat parked outside.
“It had just been converted to digital. We took all the digital stuff out and put the analog back in," he said with a smile.
Beyond barn-raising, Young stayed busy during the coronavirus pandemic, writing all nine songs for the album and assembling the next wave of recordings for release through his archives website.
“There were no distractions," he said. "And we didn’t have any superfluous jobs to do, none of the trappings of keeping everything going and keeping touring, all that all went away. It was fine with me. I have so much to do.”
Volume three of the career-spanning archives, covering a period in the mid-1970s, was collected with an assist from fans who write in with their memories of his music, at times pointing him to things he didn't remember existed.
“It’s really a beautiful piece of work, all of the songs that made me feel so good to hear, and things that I’ve never heard in my life that we’ve uncovered,” Young said. “There’s a Crazy Horse record, a live Crazy Horse performance that opens up volume three, which I think is the best thing ever recorded with Crazy Horse.”
Hannah's film patiently lets the album process play out, with slow gazes of the barn at sunset, a pair of dogs lazing outside, and long shots of the band's jams unfolding.
“I’m very lucky," Young said of Hannah. "She’s the other side of everything. We create it and turn around and we see what she saw when we were creating.”
The album has songs celebrating love, memory, and old friends, but it's darkened by the state of a world that stokes Young's sadness and anger.
The pandemic feels present on the long signature song, “Welcome Back.”
“For the world has closed us in but we must allow for changes to be made,” Young sings. “Welcome back, welcome back, it’s not the same. The shade is just you blinking.”
His anger over lethargic global action on climate change is felt on “Human Race,” in which he sings of “children of the fires and floods today’s people have left behind.”
“It pisses me off that we’re not doing as much and that we’re so distracted,” he said. “We’re losing track of what we’re supposed to be doing. I guess, you know, the Earth is challenged if we want to have a place for our children, for our grandchildren, we better get our stuff together.”
He sighed and said "the best thing I can do is create art or music or something that gives people a place to go.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Comments
@static111 or @mrussel1 maybe
Nils Lofgren is one of the unsung guitar heroes of a generation. He has been a member of the E Street Band and Crazy Horse in addition to a successful solo career. This past summer, during the pandemic, Neil Young got together with Nils and Crazy Horse to record a raw viscerally emotive new record in an old barn. The album, aptly titled "BARN" was recorded in just under two weeks in a manner that resounds of days gone by - just four friends jamming in a barn, writing songs, just like they did back in the early 70s. The new album stands as a celebration of a five-decade friendship between Neil Young, Bill Talbot, Nils Lofgren, and Ralph Molina, and testament to the joys and struggles of being alive in such strange and uncertain times. I recently caught up with Nils to discuss the new album in this exclusive interview. Check out BARN – out December 10, 2021, on Warner Bros.
The concept of recording a record with your buddies in a barn is such a cool concept. How did this project come about?
I feel like most bands back in the day wrote records the same way. Did it feel like the old days to you?
How did you first meet Neil?
There's so much to be proud of on this record. Is there a moment or a song on there that you're most proud of?
What did you use for guitars?
What's next for you guys? Are you guys hoping to get out on the road? Because this album came together so quickly, are there plans to keep recording?
(Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)
“Put yer good money on the sunrise”
(Tim Rogers)
There are no kings inside the gates of eden
There are no kings inside the gates of eden
YOUNG SHAKESPEARE BETTER WATCH OUT. A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES.
There are no kings inside the gates of eden
2. This has been pressed twice before. First time in 2008 and now again just recently. It's very hard to find and the price was just sky rocketing. It will jump again, that's why people who missed out on the first pressing years ago are so keen to get it now before it shoots up again.
A horse needs a barn.
Neil Young didn’t rebuild a log barn from the 1850s that was falling into the ground in the Colorado Rockies just so he could make an album in it with Crazy Horse, his frequent collaborators for more than 50 years, but that was a big part of the inspiration.
“We got some people to restore it back to the original greatness, with ponderosa pines, it’s just beautiful, just a beautiful building,” Young told The Associated Press via Zoom from the property there that he shares with wife Daryl Hannah. “I felt like it was going to be a great place to make music.”
The space was so significant to the process that “Barn” became the name of both the album and a companion documentary, directed by Hannah, being released Friday.
It was also an ideal spot for Young to cautiously reunite with drummer Ralph Molina, bassist Billy Talbot and multi-instrumentalist Nils Lofgren.
“It’s remote,” Young said. “With the pandemic and everything we felt like we could get everybody there safely and have everybody vaccinated and pure.”
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Crazy Horse has always taken Young, now 76, to remote places musically too. He says they still provide the same “cosmic vibe” they did on 1969's “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere,” 1975's “Zuma,” 1979's “Rust Never Sleeps” and 1990's “Ragged Glory.”
“It’s just a place where we get to that I don’t get with anybody else, with Crazy Horse’s ability to jam and the ability to carry on and keep going with not a care in the world,” Young said. “They are as happy to play a song for 20 minutes as they are for three minutes.”
A “barn” is normally musicians’ shorthand for a cold, cavernous room. But this one brought only audial warmth.
“It sounds like God because there’s no square to it, it has no standing waves, because it’s all the insides of these big logs one on top of another,” Young said. “It’s a bunch of round surfaces. From an acoustic standpoint, it’s flawless.”
They built a stage inside and played in their live-and-loose style to a recording truck known as Le Mobile, where engineer Guy Charbonneau and producer Niko Bolas sat parked outside.
“It had just been converted to digital. We took all the digital stuff out and put the analog back in," he said with a smile.
Beyond barn-raising, Young stayed busy during the coronavirus pandemic, writing all nine songs for the album and assembling the next wave of recordings for release through his archives website.
“There were no distractions," he said. "And we didn’t have any superfluous jobs to do, none of the trappings of keeping everything going and keeping touring, all that all went away. It was fine with me. I have so much to do.”
Volume three of the career-spanning archives, covering a period in the mid-1970s, was collected with an assist from fans who write in with their memories of his music, at times pointing him to things he didn't remember existed.
“It’s really a beautiful piece of work, all of the songs that made me feel so good to hear, and things that I’ve never heard in my life that we’ve uncovered,” Young said. “There’s a Crazy Horse record, a live Crazy Horse performance that opens up volume three, which I think is the best thing ever recorded with Crazy Horse.”
Hannah's film patiently lets the album process play out, with slow gazes of the barn at sunset, a pair of dogs lazing outside, and long shots of the band's jams unfolding.
“I’m very lucky," Young said of Hannah. "She’s the other side of everything. We create it and turn around and we see what she saw when we were creating.”
The album has songs celebrating love, memory, and old friends, but it's darkened by the state of a world that stokes Young's sadness and anger.
The pandemic feels present on the long signature song, “Welcome Back.”
“For the world has closed us in but we must allow for changes to be made,” Young sings. “Welcome back, welcome back, it’s not the same. The shade is just you blinking.”
His anger over lethargic global action on climate change is felt on “Human Race,” in which he sings of “children of the fires and floods today’s people have left behind.”
“It pisses me off that we’re not doing as much and that we’re so distracted,” he said. “We’re losing track of what we’re supposed to be doing. I guess, you know, the Earth is challenged if we want to have a place for our children, for our grandchildren, we better get our stuff together.”
He sighed and said "the best thing I can do is create art or music or something that gives people a place to go.”
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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
(Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)
“Put yer good money on the sunrise”
(Tim Rogers)
So excited- I'm definitely looking forward to it showing up!