Being born in Glasgow, my first exposure to Neil was my dad’s cassette tape of “Freedom.” My dad was my hero and best friend. He certainly influenced my musical tastes. But my dad was more of a deadhead. He went to all the Dead shows in Britain in 1972 and was even taken in to one of those shows at Wembley by Jerry Garcia. He was given a cassette of “Freedom” by his friend, and when I was a baby, he used to play that tape to calm me at night. So, I guess that’s where my love of Neil first blossomed. At 3 years old I knew every word to Rockin’ In The Free World. I saw Neil with Booker T. & The M.G.’s at 7 years old. I had the VHS tape of Weld and watched it to death, so the Horse was always my favourite band Neil played with.
I remember having a video of Neil solo in Amsterdam in maybe 1989, and that was when I started “performing” along with Neil. But my real love of Neil came when I first heard him with Crazy Horse. I think through the maybe 3 times a day I insisted on watching the video of “Weld,” my dad was brought around to the genius of Neil and the Horse. I even helped my aunt win a pub quiz one night. The question asked was, “Who has a hit single with Rockin’ in the Free World”? And due to me always singing it and championing it, she knew right away!! My birthday gift from my parents for my 7th birthday was tickets to see Neil with Booker T. & the M.G.’s. What a bill for my first ever concert! We were way up in the gods, but I didn’t care. I was going to be in the same room as Neil Young!! None of my friends my age had ever heard of Neil, as Scotland was in a wave of “Oasis mania” at the time. But I didn’t care. Neil was and still is my hero.
Three years later my dad broke my heart. He managed to get a ticket to see Neil with Crazy Horse on the “Broken Arrow Tour” and couldn’t get me one. I didn’t speak to him for a week. However, in 2013 he finally made up for it by getting me a ticket for the “Alchemy Tour,” and wow were the guys worth the wait. What a night! They completely blew my mind. Los Lobos was the opening act, and what an opening act to see! I returned the favour and took my dad to see Neil with Promise of the Real in 2016. This turned out to be the last show me and my dad went to together, as he sadly passed away in 2017. So, Neil has been in my life since almost day one. In later years, I got into another band called Drive By Truckers. I heard their song “Ronnie and Neil” about the relationship Neil and Lynyrd Skynyrd had in the 1970s, and I knew if these guys are Neil fans, they’ll do for me! Long live the Horse!!!!