Here are some more musical collaborations Neil Young has struck up over the years.

See the Jammin with Neil page for his well known collaborations and influences with Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Bob Dylan, Uncle Tupelo, Wilco and Lynyrd Skynyrd and others.



Joni Mitchell & Neil Young photo from The Last Waltz

Photo from Thrasher Archives

From Joni Mitchell's introduction to the song "Circle Game" on the album "You Can Close Your Eyes":

And I thought, God, you know, if we get to 21 and there's nothing after that, that's a pretty bleak future, so I wrote a song for him, and for myself just to give me some hope. It's called The Circle Game."

So he wrote this song that was called "Oh to live on sugar mountain" which was a lament for his lost youth. And it went like this... [sings a few verses].

He had just newly turned 21, and that meant in Winnipeg he was no longer allowed into his favorite hangout which is kind of a teeny-bopper club and once you're over 21 you couldn't get in there anymore, so he was really feeling terrible because his girlfriends and everybody that he wanted to hang out with, his band could still go there, you know, but it's one of the things that drove him to become a folk singer was that he couldn't play in this club anymore. But he was over the hill.

Also, see more on Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.



Paul McCartney & Neil Young photo from Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Photo from Thrasher Archives

In March 1999, Neil Young inducted former Beatle Paul McCartney into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. During Neil's induction speech he said:

After Neil handed Paul the Hall of Fame statue, Paul commented: "Thank you all. I love Neil!"



Keith Richards & Neil Young at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, January 15, 1992

Photo from Thrasher Archives

Rolling Stones and Neil Young

From a review of the biography Shakey on Powell's Books by Douglas Cruickshank:

"Three of Young's principal influences, he tells McDonough, are guitarist Randy Bachman, a friend from Canada and member of the Guess Who who went on to found the enormously successful Bachman Turner Overdrive, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. Young: 'What I really liked about the Rolling Stones, was Brian Jones and Keith Richards playin' together. Even though Brian Jones was just kind of a bratty, sub-blues kind of guy. He still had the exuberance ... 'Satisfaction' was a great record. 'Get Off My Cloud,' even better record. Looser, less of a hit. More of a reckless abandon. 'Get Off My Cloud' - I know it's not as good of a song, and I know the performance is probably not as good as the 'Satisfaction' performance, maybe it is - but the thing about it is it's obviously just such a throw-together song that they came up with on the way to the studio or the night before, y'know? That's what I liked about it. It really sounded like the Rolling Stones.' "

On the song 'Borrowed Tune' from the 1973 album Tonight's The Night, Young sang: "I'm singing this borrowed tune/ I took from the Rolling Stones" to the tune of 'Lady Jane'.



Bruce Springsteen & Neil Young photo in Sydney, Australia, March 22, 1985

Photo from Thrasher Archives

Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young

Article moved to: Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young: The Difference in Greatness



Led Zeppelin & Neil Young at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 1995

Photo from Thrasher Archives

Led Zeppelin and Neil Young

A bit of history was made on the evening that Neil Young was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on January 13, 1995. After the induction ceremony, Young joined Led Zeppelin onstage for an all out guitar duel with Jimmy Page. Performing a 10 minute "When The Levee's Gonna Break", Page and Young traded licks in what turned out to be a remarkable moment in TV rock.

Plant segues into the Buffalo Springfield classic "For What It's Worth" at one point. Not to be outdone, Robert Plant picked up a guitar and began to jam with the guitar greats and seemed to be having the time of his life hopping and twirling about.

See video of Jimmy Page and Neil Young jam on "When The Levee's Gonna Break". Jimi Hendrix and Neil Young

During 1978's Rust Never Sleeps tour, Neil wore a Jimi Hendrix button prominently on his peace sign guitar strap as a homage to the guitar genius' influence on rock.

From a radio interview program "On The Record" by Mary Turner in 1979, Neil was asked about what he remembered about Woodstock.

Young: "One of things I remember about Woodstock was trying to get there to play. As it turns out, the charter plane I was on with Jimi Hendrix flew into the wrong airport. We were supposed to be picked by a helicopter. The roads were jammed and there was nobody at the airport, so we had no way to get to the concert. So we're standing at the airport with Melvin Belli [an attorney] trying to figure out what to do. And Melvin Belli steals this pickup truck parked at the airport. So it's the three of us in this stolen pickup truck trying to get to the Woodstock concert to play -- Jimi, Melvin & me. That's what I really remember about Woodstock."

On January 15, 1992, Neil Young inducted Jimi Hendrix into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In his induction speech for Jimi, Neil said:

Young:"Guitar -- you can play it or transcend it. Jimi showed me that. He was at one with his instrument. I just looked at it, heard it, and felt it and wanted to do it. Hendrix threw a Molotov cocktail onto rock & roll."

Later that night, Young would pay tribute to Hendrix's guitar legacy by performing "Purple Haze" with Keith Richards.

On the album Harvest Moon, Neil paid homage to the Hendrix legacy in the song "From Hank to Hendrix". The lyrics of the song site the influence of the musical guitar giants Hank Marvin from the Shadows (not Hank Williams, as often cited) and Jimi Hendrix.

From Hank to Hendrix

I walked these streets with you

Here I am with this old guitar

Doin' what I do.



I always expected

That you should see me through

I never believed in much

But I believed in you.

In Jimmy McDonough's biography Shakey, Neil said of Hendrix's work: "he was the greatest electric-guitar player who ever lived."

Also, see Neil Young News: Jimi Hendrix and Neil Young at Woodstock. Pete Townshend and Neil Young

From the Who Tabs page on Pete Townshend's guitar equipment. The story is that Joe Walsh gave Townshend the guitar that made Pete’s defining electric sound on record -- a 1959 Gretsch 6120 ‘Chet Atkins’ Hollow Body -- which is similar to the guitar Neil Young began using with the Buffalo Springfield.

Combined with an Edwards pedal steel volume pedal, a Whirlwind cable and a ’59 Fender 3x10 Bandmaster amplifier, all a gift from Joe Walsh in 1970, Pete created the feedback-laden sound heard on most all post-Tommy Who and solo recordings, most significantly, Who’s Next (1971) and Quadrophenia (1973).

In a September 1993 Guitar Player interview with Pete Townshend he was asked about the Gretsch guitar and his equipment's sound:

Pete: Guitar players have always known. You get the right Strat. You get the right guitar cable. You plug it into the right old Fender amp and you get the sound. I’m just taking a safe route there. There are lots of other chains that produce great sounds. I remember when I gave Joe Walsh an ARP 2600. He went, [mimics Joe Walsh] “Pete. I don’t know what to get you in return so I bought you a Gretsch Country Gentleman, like Neil Young uses. I know you don’t really get into them, but you should try this. And I bought you a Fender Bandmaster amplifier with three 10s so the ohmage is crazy, and an Edwards pedal steel volume pedal.” I linked it all up, went “Ya-a-ang” and it was there. When I get those three things out and put them in a chain, it’s a sound from paradise. If I try to fuck with it and say, “Wouldn’t it be interesting if I took the Gretsch and put it through a Zoom pedal,” it doesn’t work. It’s got to be just that combination of stuff. Guitar Player: You recorded some incredible music with that Gretsch. Pete: I’ve still got it. It got broken by accident. I trod on it. It still sounds wonderful. I’ve still got the amp and I often use it. I used it on the album. It’s the same chain, even the same guitar cable — an old Whirlwind.

More on Neil Young & Pete Townshend and Neil's sound.

Also, see Pete Townshend's blog entry on Neil Young's artistic integrity. Bonnie Raitt and Neil Young

From The Australian on Bonnie Raitt's upcoming tour of Australia in an interview with Mike Safe:

"Blues and roots champion Bonnie Raitt finishes a long discourse on being true to herself, to her long-time fans and to her craft. Then she pauses and adds: "I don't have the luxury of being a jerk."

Raitt talks about Neil Young - another survivor, often against the odds and, like her, on his terms.

'It plants a seed about ferocity and passion. It's not about chops (technique) with Neil, even though he's a great guitar player. The guy just inhabits the damn music. It doesn't matter if he looks like Ebenezer Scrooge, the truth is he still kicks arse. When some 12-year-old kid sees that, he's going to remember and one day he's going to play like Neil Young, not like some wuss.' "



Warren Zevon and Neil Young photo from Winter Park, Colorado, 1992

Photo by Richard Creamer

Warren Zevon and Neil Young

From Sugar Mountain Set Lists, Warren Zevon and Neil Young performed together on 07-11-1992 in Winter Park, Colorado Guests on two songs: "Splendid Isolation" and "Comes A Time".

Also, on 11-06-1993 at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California for the Bridge School Benefit Concert, they performed "Splendid Isolation" again.

More on Neil Young News: Warren Zevon and Neil Young. David Bowie and Neil Young

In an article on David Bowie in The Kansas City Star By TIMOTHY FINN (May. 09, 2004) on artistic relevance, musical innovation why he is still a rebel:

Bowie: "When things go bad, I've always looked to my peers and, in a way, my musical mentors to see what they've done in similar situations. Neil Young and Bob Dylan have done similar things: They have both made a few disastrous albums, but they always end up coming back to the point of what they started in the first place. You've got to go back to what you were doing when you were rooting around with experimentation, ideas that are going to work for me, not my audience."

From Powell's Books , David Bowie on Neil Young:

Bowie: "There's youthful redemption in everything he [Young] does, a joyfulness about being an independent thinker in America.'

On the 2002 album Heathen Bowie covers Young's song "I've Been Waiting For You". Incidentally, the riotous guitar treatment is by Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and former Nirvana drummer.

Also, see YouTube video of David Bowie Covers Neil Young's "I've Been Waiting For You". Johnny Rotten and Neil Young

In an interview in the Boston Globe in 1990, when asked about being practically the only old-guard rocker to get the punk movement, Young said:

Young: "I understood where they were coming from because what they were trying to do was . . . wake everybody up, because that's what rock 'n' roll is about. It has to have substance to it. There's an edge to real rock 'n' roll, where it's all that matters." "What was happening is that we started making these layered, . . . produced-sounding records, which are the foundation of schlock- rock that we have today. And we were starting to do that in the late '70s heavily. So when the punk thing came along and I heard my friends saying, 'Oh, I hate these . . . people with the . . . pins in their ears, these people are disgusting,' I said, 'Thank God, something got their attention. These people obviously are doing something right because they're waking up these other people who are sleeping who shouldn't be sleeping.' "

From interview in French magazine Guitare & Claviers, April 1992 with the Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten on Neil Young:

Q: How did you react the first time you heard yourself mentioned in Neil Young's song Hey Hey My My? JR: I was scared to death, I didn't have the slightest idea I was that important! Besides, it's not that clear (smile). It's like left and right - - it's all open to interpretation. When I went to see him live he played that song and had the whole audience chanting "THis is the story of Johnny Rotten!" (Laugh) How embarrassing! But also what a compliment! He noticed me. Q: At the time you were a fan of his stuff? JR: Yeah, I've always loved his music. He's great, he takes risks all the time. You can't label him. He can do everything. He's totally free.

Sid Vicious and Neil Young

In an interview with Elliot Roberts, Neil's manager, Roberts was asked about a comment Nils Lofgren made about Young inventing punk rock:

Elliot Roberts: "Well, I think that came from the first Sex Pistols interviews when Sid Vicious was interviewed in America and was asked what his big influences were and he said that one of them was Neil's Tonight's The Night tour, which he'd seen in Manchester, because it was so dark and raw and anti-pop and he had done none of his old songs. The fans booed it after they thought he was gonna do another half of the show when in fact the show was over, and on some level it was that anti-pop attitude that people interpret as the start of the Punk movement which was an aggression and hostility. "

Nils Lofgren and Neil Young

From Shine Silently , Marshall Terrill's interview with Nils Lofgren on Neil Young:

"NL: Just before we left for Los Angeles, I snuck in on Neil Young and Crazy Horse at the Cellar Door in Washington D.C. I got to be friends with them, spent two days hanging out with them, and Neil stayed in touch from the road. It was unbelievable that Neil Young would stay in touch, but we were going to LA anyway. When we got to LA, David Briggs, Neil's producer, took us under his wing and we became the house band at the Topanga Corral, but we also played anywhere and everywhere. Q: You made "After The Gold Rush" with Neil Young, which was made in 1969 and released in 1970. How was that experience? NL: It was through David Briggs, who was still helping Grin trying to make it big, and our album came out around the same time as "After The Gold Rush" came out. We made that record at his house in 1969 with a mobile truck, which was an amazing experience. Neil pushed me on the piano, not because I could play but because of my accordion experience. I was able to do very simple, basic rhythmic things. It was just a classic record. Q: In a paragraph or less, what is Neil Young’s particular brilliance? NL: In a paragraph or less, it would have to be that he is as great a songwriter as there will ever be. Everything else is a distant second. Neil’s a great musician, he’s very eccentric, eclectic and has a beautiful, haunting voice. But you know what? All of those things are a distant second to being an amazing, amazing songwriter. The same thing could be said about Bruce Springsteen. When you combine the words with the melody and the music, it’s a power that everything emanates from. They happen to be amazing singers and musicians, but if they weren’t, they couldn’t ruin those songs. They would be still be part of our emotional landscape and be just as powerful. You can’t hurt songs that good."

Nils has also covered Young's songs including "Long May You Run" at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA on January 30, 2004 .

More on Nils Lofgren [search] Emmylou Harris and Neil Young

From Blogcritics.org StarPolish interview with Emmylou Harris on Neil Young:

Harris: "I will say that being out with Neil Young has been so fantastic. Here's an artist that is one of the great voices, both literally and figuratively, of rock and roll, of American music, of world music, who has never stopped, as he says, following the muse. Everything goes into the music. And he gets an idea and he trusts that idea and he follows it. And he has had the success and made the money to be able to do it, but everything has gone back into the well."

More on Emmylou Harris and Neil on the "Wrecking Ball" album.

Also, see more on Emmylou Harris [search] Lou Reed and Neil Young

An interview long ago with Lou “I Heard Her Call My Name” Reed, back when this opinion wasn’t very fashionable, and Lou got all secretive and told the interviewer “you want to hear who I think is a great guitar player?” as if Lou was embarrassed to admit it, then put “Danger Bird” on the stereo.

(from Michael Bérubé, International Professor of Danger)

Also, see Lou Reed plays "Helpless" at Vancouver Olympics Tribute to Neil Young. Elvis Costello and Neil Young

Also, see Elvis Costello plays at Vancouver Olympics Tribute to Neil Young.

Also, see Elvis Costello honors Neil Young as MusiCares Person Of The Year. Randy Newman and Neil Young

From Powell's Books , Randy Newman on Neil Young:

Newman: "Most people did their best work when they were younger. Neil Young is as good as he ever was, which is quite an accomplishment ... It seems like there's no tricks to him. I don't know if you could name anybody better who came out of rock and roll."

Commenting on his album Roman Holiday, Randy Newman blogs:

"When I write songs again, to a greater extent than you might ever believe, it will be for you. I'm glad so many of you seem to like each other and if I've been the agency by which some of you have been brought together, that makes me greater than I already am. If the public only knew. Neil Young doesn't do stuff like that. I have nothing against epileptics but come on. Neil Young once drew 80,000 people in Italy and he doesn't speak a word of Italian."

(Link via stereogum: You've Got A Friend In Stereogum, Not Randy Newman)

More on Randy Newman and Neil Young. Sheryl Crow and Neil Young

From Vanity Fair magazine (November 2005):

"My hometown of Kennett, Missouri, sits right on the Arkansas and Tennessee borders. The Mississippi River makes the air hang heavy with moisture. About 10 miles away, there's a town called Senath, famous for its legend of a mysterious, otherwordly light. As kids, we would drive out to an empty field and sit for hours waiting for its light to appear. Neil Young's "Harvest" was the soundtrack of my last summer in Kennett, and although I told many boys, I'd seen "the light," I never really did."

Roger Waters and Neil Young

From Rockline Interview by Bob Cockburn (Feb 8, 1993 - Transcript: http://www.rogerwaters.org/rocklineint.html)

BC: As we roll "It's A Miracle" underneath us (It's a Miracle played in the background) by Roger Waters from Amused To Death I'll pose this question. When you write songs and create an album, are responses like Dan's that you just got, what you hoped for? That you can take a microcosm of a situation, and someone like Dan can hear it and expand on it, expound upon it and take it to another interpretation? Is that what you hope people will do with your music? RW: I just a... you know, if I move people and they listen to something and they get a shiver down their spines then I've fulfilled my function. If I make them think about something, above their own lives, and about the way they relate to other human beings, than that's an added bonus. I've been listening to Neil Young's new album recently. When we cook dinner in the evenings we put it on and listen to it, you know? "I'm a Dreaming Man" (sings the title verse) maybe that's my problem. I can relate to that.

From Q special edition October 2004 on Pink Floyd:

Q) Did you feel any sense of of common cause with the Punks, or understand why they were doing what they did? RW) Do you know, I`ve never been very interested in modern music. I might find some of it enjoyable, but it`s never really been interesting. I never really heard the Clash, and certainly not the Sex Pistols, so I can`t really answer that question. As I still am now, I was listening to Neil Young when all that happened. It passed me by. I`ll always listen to a new Dylan album. But it takes an awful lot of something for anyone else to break in to what I listen to.

From October 2005 interview on http://www.brain-damage.co.uk/

Q: Is there any artist that you would love to perform with? Or one artist in particular that you really love to jam it out with? Roger Waters: I always enjoy working with Eric [Clapton] who was in my band in 1985. I also worked with Don Henley, but these are friends of mine, and I'm trying to think of somebody. I'm a big fan of singer songwriters like Neil Young who are loners and sometimes hard to imagine working with. I find it hard to answer that question, I don't really jam with people so it doesn't enter my mind when it comes to fun. Fishing, sex, but jamming, no.

From Transcript: Interview with Roger Waters | CLOSE UP | TV ONE | tvnz.co.nz:

"What modern-day music do you think might last the test of time? Roger Waters: Do you know to be perfectly honest with you I don't really listen to very much music and certainly not much contemporary pop music anyway. It's not to say that I don't think it's any good. It's just my interest lies in other areas. I still listen to music and I listen to a lot of classical music and I have my few favourite sort of song writers who, when they produce new work, I'll sort of listen to it. So I always buy the new Dylan album and the new Neil Young album and the new John Prine album and I'll sniff around one or two other things if I catch something on the radio. But by in large I'm not really interested in it."

Jay Farrar and Neil Young

From San Francisco Chronicle reporter Jane Ganahl interview with "the minstrel of alt-country" Jay Farrar (formerly of Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt:

"Of the latest, 'Terroir Blues,' he notes, 'I was using two albums that I like, (Neil Young's) 'Tonight's the Night' and (the Beatles') 'Revolver,' as touchstones.' " "I don't think in terms of owing the fans something, although you can't just act like what you've done in the past doesn't exist. I just try to find the songs that still mean something to me, that I can maintain a connection to. But most people seem pretty willing to go along with the new stuff."

Jay Farrar's 1994 album "Stone, Steel and Bright Lights" with backing band Canyon, features a cover of Neil Young’s “Like Hurricane” from The Blue Note in Columbia, MO.

In an interview, Farrar commented that Young's 'Like a Hurricane,' served as a common-interest song between him and Canyon.

"That's a song I haven't really done in my past. It's probably (Young's) most bombastic song. We were looking for a song to close out the set, and that's what we went for.' "

More on Jay Farrar's "Stone, Steel and Bright Lights".

Also, see more on Jay Farrar [search] Beck and Neil Young

From MTV.com News on 02.24.1999 on Rock The Vote's Sixth Annual Patrick Lippert Awards which were held at the House Of Blues in Los Angeles. Beck presented an award to Neil Young and his wife Pegi for their work with Farm Aid and The Bridge School Benefit concerts , as well as their community activism.

"'Pegi and Neil are amazing people,' Beck said, 'and I'm honored to be presenting this award, and I just wanna say how important [Neil's] music is and the world that he's created. It's made a big impact on myself and a lot of people I know.' Upon accepting the award, Young thanked the artists that had played at his past Bridge school benefits, but reserved a special thank-you to Pegi, his wife of more than 20 years. 'I'm proud of Farm Aid,' Young said, 'but I'm especially proud to be part of the Bridge School, which my wife Pegi thought up. She said, 'Well, y'know, why don't we have a concert, and then we'll get a bunch of money, and then we'll start a school for kids like our [son] Ben and other kids that need computers to communicate.' So, without [Pegi], it never would've happened.'"

Flea and Neil Young

In a RollingStone.com article "The Immortals: 50 Greatest Artists of All Time", Neil Young comes in at #34. The writeup is provided by the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea:

"There's a rare contradiction in Neil Young's work. He works so hard as a songwriter, and he's written a phenomenal number of perfect songs. And, at the same time, he doesn't give a fuck. That comes from caring about essence. There can be things out of tune and all wild-sounding and not recorded meticulously. And he doesn't care. He's made whole albums that aren't great, and instead of going back to a formula that he knows works, he would rather represent where he is at the time. That's what's so awesome: watching his career wax and wane according to the truth of his character at the moment. It's never phony. It's always real. The truth is not always perfect. "

More on Neil and Flea. Paul Simon on Neil Young

From Paul Simon interview in MOJO UK music magazine (January 1998):