Neil Young News

REPORT - 1-30-2010: Neil Young Honored As MusiCares Person Of The Year

Neil Young
MusiCares Person of the Year

2010 already looks to be shaping up as another blowout year for Neil Young.

The MUSICARES Tribute to Person of the Year already has an impressive roster of musicians lined up of which Booker T. Jones, Lucinda Williams and Ben Harper have just been added. The all-stars will honor 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year honoree Neil Young on Jan. 29 in Los Angeles, two days before the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards.

Artists on board to fete the legendary rocker are Jack Black, Jackson Browne, T Bone Burnett, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Sheryl Crow, Everest, Patty Griffin, Josh Groban, Ben Harper, Emmylou Harris, Elton John, Norah Jones, Lady Antebellum, k.d. lang, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Ozomatli, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Leon Russell, James Taylor, Wilco, and Lucinda Williams.

Some really great news is that portions of the Person of the Year event this year will be streamed live for the first time ever at GRAMMY.com.

From Lady Antebellum Feel 'Faint' Over Neil Young Tribute Concert - The Boot:

"Lady Antebellum are among the acts performing at a tribute concert honoring Neil Young as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year. The event's lineup of musical talent has Lady A giggling like starstruck teenagers. 'I'm so excited about that,' Charles Kelley tells The Boot, turning to his bandmates and adding, 'I was thinking about that, guys ... We need to rehearse! We're going to sing a song, 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart.' It's gonna be really exciting for us. I mean the lineup, too, that night ....'

'I saw Elton John [on the list] and fainted!' a beaming Hillary Scott interjects."

The Grammy honors will be followed by a Canadian Neil Young tribute concert at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre on February 18, hosted by Hal Wilner. That lineup will feature Lou Reed, Iron & Wine, Vashti Bunyan, Ron Sexsmith, Mark Kozelek, and members of Broken Social Scene.

So when -- oh when -- will Neil ever find time to work on Linc-Volt?? Or NYA #2?! Or release 17 discs like in 2009?

Slacker.

UPDATE 1/28/10: From Variety:

Crosby tells Daily Variety of "Long May You Run": "I like what it says, and he will know what we're saying about our relationship by doing that (song)."

"'Neil Young is one of the best artists of our time,' Crosby says.

'He's an unbelievably good singer-songwriter and a fantastic guitar player. He's also very goddamn brave. Knowing how he has lived his life and the choices he has had to make make him stand out as a very courageous man.'"

From Toronto Sun:

“I’m more excited about that, to be completely honest with you, than the Grammys,” says Lady Antebellum vocalist Charles Kelley, whose Nashville trio is up for two awards at Sunday night’s ceremony thanks to their hit single I Run to You. “I have no idea how we got invited, but it’s a huge honour and I can’t wait. In my old cover-band days we used to play Southern Man and Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World.

“We’re getting to perform Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” he said. “I wanted to do Helpless so bad, but I think they said Elton John was going to do it, so I’m not going to argue against that!”

Wilco bassist John Stirratt didn’t want to give out any spoilers about what the Chicago alt-rockers will play, but he wasn’t shy about discussing Young’s impact on the band.

“Had he not picked up a guitar and made music, we would not be around,” said Stirratt. Wilco’s eponymous CD Wilco (The Album) is up for Americana album of the year on Sunday, but he says honouring Young is “the main reason” they’re going to L.A.

“Boy, does he deserve this — if only for all the work he puts in every year on the Bridge School Shows. You know how annual events are; they come around so fast. But they’re so nice in how they treat the artists, and they have a big party out at their house.”

Now, he just has to forget the fact that he has to play Neil Young songs in front of the man himself.

“You know, I never really thought about that until you mentioned it. That’s going to be brutal. Thanks a lot.”

From Brandon Sun Online:

"I've met a lot of my heroes, but I haven't met Neil and I haven't met (Bob) Dylan," Ron Sexsmith said in a phone interview.

"I don't really set out to meet people. ... But the year that I won my Juno in Winnipeg (in 2005), Neil was supposed to perform and I was really excited about possibly getting the chance to meet him but that was when he got sick, you know, and had the close call. If it happens, it happens."

Still, he says he loves Young's work.

"When I started out playing bars, I had to learn an awful lot of Neil Young songs, because that's pretty much all anyone wanted to hear," he recalled.

"I'm sure if you went to any bar in Ontario or across Canada, you'd still hear it. ... He has this strange place, anyone can pick up an acoustic guitar and play one of those songs. As a songwriter, that's something you kind of aspire to."

Randy Bachman, who grew with Young in Winnipeg, echoed that sentiment.

"You could go to any street corner in the world, and I mean in the world, and play a cassette or CD or whatever of Neil Young and (people) will say '(That's) Neil Young," he said.

"He has a voice like no one else, he plays guitar like no one else and he writes these songs that are so honest and ... first takes, if you know what I mean. He doesn't really polish up anything. It's whatever comes out.

Added Jeff Tweedy, whose Chicago band Wilco will perform at the MusiCares event: "He's right up there in terms of a constant in my musical life as an influence and as a mentor. He's kind of just a force of nature. And I take him for granted sometimes like I take the sun for granted ... I'm really happy the sun comes up every day and I'm happy Neil Young keeps making records."

"He's always been a really gracious guy, a really down-to-earth guy," added Tom Cochrane.

"That's what impressed me the most about him, outside of obviously his prodigious songwriting talents and the fact that he's a lot like John Lennon. He's like our Canadian John Lennon. He always wrote songs from his heart and never pulled his punches. He's been a great role model for me and countless numbers of other artists and I'm very proud to say that he's a Canadian singer/songwriter.

"Good for Neil. He's a big influence."