BROTHER
Hey Neil,
At 72, it’s time I told you what a brother you have been to me. When I was at the University of Pittsburgh in 1971 I discovered After the Gold Rush and learned extraordinary songs like Cripple Creek Ferry and others on my guitar. Music was a backseat passion for most of my life—writing was my goal—but when younger I took my guitar with me everywhere and played your songs for friends and family. My sister and I even did a duet of Down By The River. Cowgirl in the Sand became my go-to first song to play for people.
I related to your music so deeply that I came to think of you as a friend and brother. I’ve seen you live five times. I was so freaking disappointed when the sixth was rained out at the amphitheater in Austin with Crazy Horse spring before last.
I was the guy at the Hollywood Bowl Vocoder concert who kept yelling “Pickup,” when I wanted you to play Out on the Weekend. I take pride in singing IMHO pretty well as a backup singer/harmonizer with you through my iPods.
I wrote a story of my concert experiences at your performances that I hope I can find to send you. My writing pursuits dovetailed into technical writing for high tech and I am still at it out of financial necessity. I live 10 minutes from Austin.
My blood brother has always had severe cerebral palsy. And I lost my son Kris, who loved you too, to an overdose 10 years ago. I’ve been through dark periods, Neil, and the whole aura of Rust Never Sleeps kept me going when I was taking any substance I could find. I burned out the cassette in my car. Foolishly, I caught DUIs in Texas and I have published a book called Memories of Broken Dreams: A Prison Memoir about my years in Texas prison. It’s available on Amazon under James Lee Rethi. The book has a Canada story in it.
More to come, sir. Thank you for being you.
Hey, brother,
keep on !
life is ours!
LOVE
be well
neil
CASTLE ALBUM
Hi Neil,
Thanks for the wonderful shows in Europe. I’d waited a long time to see you, and unfortunately had some very sad news about two friends’ health hours before your Belgium show, but hearing songs like Harvest Moon and Sugar Mountain brought me a little peace whilst I processed it.
When you return from touring, is a release of the 1985 Castle Recording Studios songs still on the cards? I think a reappraisal of that underrated country-leaning material is due, and I’d love to hear Silver and Gold from those sessions.
Thanks, Mark
Mark
We have them and I’ll take a shot at it..
LOVE
be well
neil
COMPLEX SESSIONS
Dear Neil—To celebrate my birthday today I’m playing The Complex Sessions at high volume. A true unsung gem imo. I think it’s worthy of vinyl EP treatment.
If you don’t agree I really I hope you … change your mind. 😉
Love Tom
Hey Tom
We’ll take a look see
LOVE
be well
neil
DECADE
Decade
Wow listening to Decade today. Those are some fantastic versions. Thanks so much for your work in music!!
Peace and Love
Jason
Thanks Jason
LOVE
be well
neil
DENVER
Hey buddy, see you in Denver.
Texas Dave
See you Dave
LOVE
be well
neil
CHICAGO BIRTHDAY
It was very thoughtful of you to schedule the Chicago do-over for my birthday. I was pleased to see from previous concert reports that “Like a Hurricane” could be in the play list, since I was born during, and named after, the last unnamed hurricane to make landfall in Florida (my middle name is Gail).
Whatever songs you choose to you perform, it’ll be one of my favorite birthdays ever.
Thanks,
Brandy
Happy birthday Brandy
LOVE
be well
neil
THE ITCH / MEN AND DUST
Hey Archives gang! We had emailed back and forth about the long shot possibility of Neil hearing a record he heavily influenced. I understand he must get these all the time, but if there was any curiosity about the letter he answered here are Bandcamp and YouTube links.
I would still send in a vinyl LP if allowed. It has a 30 page book. The bio I wrote for the band is below as well. Thank you for reading. Let me know!
The itch has been playing together on and off for 20 years. Interested more in a creative project with friends more than being a “successful” band, they have done things their own way. The overall sound is a mish-mash of punk, surf rock, and garage rock and roll.
Their latest release is a love letter to the Midwestern town where they grew up and continue to live. Examining its history, its people, and its purpose. “Men and Dust” strips away the romantic notions of small towns and asks why things are they way they are. The itch has done this consistently with every release.
The Itch.
I’ll give it a scratch!
Great name
LOVE
be well
neil
OLD BLACK
Dear Neil,
We are really looking forward to your August 17th show in Toronto in our NYA seats next to the sound board. This will be a bonus experience for two longtime fans. I saw the NC show set and excited we might also hear ‘Ambulance Blues’. Such a cool song.
Quick guitar question: What did you hear or feel about ‘Old Black’ to inspire the trade with Jim Messina?
Best wishes,
Rob Campbell
Toronto/Picton
Rob
I liked it better than the one I traded him for it.
felt good about it having a bigsby
LOVE
be well
neil
MARATHON
I am hosting a Neil Young Marathon on Thursday August 14th near Cleveland in advance of the show here this Friday. 18 hours of Neil Young from 7:00am ’til 1:00am on WBWC 88.3fm. I’ll try to make the concert Friday. Break a leg and have a great show!
Peace
joe
thanks joe
Enjoy!
LOVE
be well
neil
GLASTONBURY
Hey Neil,
Saw you at Glastonbury for the first time this year, and it completely hooked me. Seeing you perform Old Man with my dad (I’m 24, he’s 67) was something I’ll always remember. I’m a new subscriber and have been digging through your archives—currently obsessed with Greendale. I really love the storytelling and how it calls out corporate greed and the ongoing failure to care for the environment, even 22 years later.
I recently watched your performance of Ordinary People at the Greek Theatre—such a moving song, again still so relevant. Would be great to hear it live again; more people deserve to experience it!
Any chance you’ll be back in Liverpool? It’s been since 2014, and it’d be great to have you back up in the North of England. It would be cool to see you play in one of our great UK forests—then you’d really be talkin’ to the trees!!
Alex
Alex,
Hope we get to Liverpool!
LOVE
be well
neil
LIFE
Dear Neil,
I’m 43 and live in Milwaukee. When I was 14 I bought Harvest on vinyl from my neighbor’s garage sale; I hadn’t heard your music before but I liked the cover art. I brought it home and played it on my dad’s record player. It was an emotional education for me, the most direct contact I’d had until then with the restlessness and hunger for mystery and meaning that I understand now as the core of who I am. The day to day world doesn’t create a lot of space for those kinds of feelings but your music made that space for me and still does. I don’t play guitar well but I have taught myself to play “Thrasher,” “Helpless,” and “Pocahontas” and playing those songs for myself is how I shake tears loose if I am holding them in too tight.
I have two daughters; they are 11 and 14. This spring I drove with them from Milwaukee to LA and back. We camped along the way including a few nights in the Mojave. I wanted them to feel the freedom and weirdness of the desert, mostly just for them to understand that those feelings are possible and also for them to understand me a little more. It was beautiful and it did unlock things in our relationship.
A couple weeks after we got back, my dad died. He’d had dementia for several years.
I’m feeling a lot of things these days, about missing my dad and recognizing things I wish I knew about him, and loving my kids so much and wanting to give them what I can, and also about my own life unfolding, things that are beautiful, things that are passing by, things that are untranslatable, things that are still to come. I am grateful for the desert and for your music giving me space to feel it all and find my way through.
I’ll be bringing my daughters to your Milwaukee show in a couple weeks. They know it is a big deal to me to be there with them and with you. I don’t think they fully understand it, but maybe they will in years to come. It is one of the most precious things I can think of to share.
I love you and I am so grateful for you.
Elisabeth
PEACE Elisabeth
LOVE
be well
neil
COASTAL
Hi Neil,
My wife, Jeni, and I really enjoyed your Coastal tour at the Greek. And then Daryl’s movie that followed, so awesome! My 21 year old son Dylan and I missed you last year at the Hollywood Bowl, really wanted to take him to see the Horse. But were all set for your closer for this tour at the Bowl again this year and are really looking forward it.
Keep doing what you do my friend,
Daryl
Thanks!
We will….
LOVE
be well
neil
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Dear Neil … thanks for making your way to New Hampshire
We all appreciate you are making your way around in order to spend just a little more time with you and all of us.…
Peace Ara
PEACE
We are on our way!
LOVE
be well
neil
SASKATCHEWAN
Hi Neil,
I’m writing from Saskatchewan, where your music has been the soundtrack to my life so far. I’m 21 years old and will be travelling all the way to Toronto to see you live—something I’ve dreamed about for years. I think you would love Saskatchewan by the way, however I know you only do outdoor shows … something we don’t have a big enough venue for (lol)!
Out here, the prairie roads seem endless, and “Slow Poke” has always been my favourite for those drives. There’s something about the way it rolls along that feels like home to me. If it’s at all possible, it would mean the world to hear you play it in Toronto.
No matter what’s on the setlist, I’m just grateful to finally be in the GA and hear you sing in person. Thank you for all the music you’ve made—it’s been a steady companion on my journey so far.
With gratitude and love,
Emma from Saskatchewan
Thanks Emma
Hope you had a good time. We just left Toronto.
LOVE
be well
neil
BRIDEY AND PEDRO
Amigo, we’re risking life & limb to cross into Kanata for your show in Toronto … please consider playing Albuquerque. We love u & dig your ❤️ of mankind. Bridey & Pedro Jameson
Love to you both
be well
neil
BOOKER T AND THE MGS
Hi—will there ever be an official release from the Booker T & The MGs tour?
It’s great to have the shows that are available on NYA but it sure would be cool to have this tour represented out in the world. It was such a great mixture of class, grunge, and beauty. Plus—LIVE TO RIDE!
Cheers and keep going!
das
We will take a look
Thanks
LOVE
be well
neil
TALKIN TO THE TREES
Hey hey Neil,
Been enjoying the new record ! I’ve been drawn to Bottle of Love and Thankful. That’s quite a one two punch there. Thankful just reverberates with some secret magic. It dances out of the speakers with such good vibrations. It’s lovely Neil. Thank you..
Jeremy
Thanks Jeremy
LOVE
be well
neil