Bob Dylan, Neil Young & Eric Clapton, Madison Square Garden, New York City - 1992
Jammin' with Neil Young
Bob Dylan, Neil Young & Eric Clapton, Madison Square Garden, New York City - 1992
Influences and Musical Collaborations
Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam and other Artists
Neil Young has struck up musical collaborations throughout his career. From Buffalo Springfield to Crazy Horse to Crosby, Stills, & Nash -- these have been his most renowned influences and inspirations.
But over the years Neil has played with countless others including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and the Grateful Dead.
I've been fascinated with Neil's influence on other bands ever since I heard Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" which was written in response to two Young songs, "Southern Man", from the album After the Gold Rush, and "Alabama", from the album Harvest. From "Sweet Home Alabama" lyrics:
For more on the connections, see the Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young page.
In an article on Neil's influences in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
All the while, Young has recorded exciting, challenging, sometimes exasperating (see the 1980s), occasionally confounding but never boring music in a career that continues to flourish. Young is such a singular artist, it's easy to hear whom he influenced. But it's harder to pick out his influences: perhaps Del Shannon (listen to 'Burned,' his first studio vocal, from 'Buffalo Springfield'), maybe some Roy Orbison, some Woody Guthrie and some blues. '"
The latest Jammin' with Neil chapter chronicles the legendary Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Also, check out Neil's long running relationship with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and grunge influence on Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. Neil has also been inspired by numerous others including The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols, Booker T. & The MG's, blues legend Jimmy Reed, and influential guitarist Bert Jansch among others.
I was going to title this page "Six Degrees of Separation from Neil Young" a la the infamous Kevin Bacon game. Because you really can connect just about every major folk-rock figure from 1960's through today back to a Neil connection. Or maybe my favorite Neil "mashups" -- sort of like why do I keep mashin' up? But -- in the end -- decided just to keep to Jamming with Neil.
A number of today's musician's were heavily influenced by the music of Neil Young. From an interview in Rolling Stone magazine (RS#648, January 21, 1993) by Alan Light:
Young is loath, however, to take credit as an influence on anyone. "It's not me, it's just the music," he says wearily. "I play it, and they play it. Link Wray was doing it a long time ago. Then Hendrix, now we've got all the grungers and the distortion thing. It's just going farther and farther, which it should. It's being developed."
From punk to alt.country to grunge, artists and bands which cite Neil's influence include Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Son Volt, Jayhawks, and Lucinda Williams. For more on Artists That Were Influenced and Inspired By Neil Young see Thrasher's Blog.
Music Blog - Neil Young Influences
Thrasher's Wheat - A Neil Young Archives
Friends of Neil Young