Thrasher's Blog: 50+ Reasons Why Neil Young's Music Matters

Monday, February 21, 2022

50+ Reasons Why Neil Young's Music Matters

Bob Dylan, Neil Young & Eric Clapton,
Madison Square Garden, New York City - 1992

Not that we really needed any proof, but here are 50 reasons why Neil Young is the second most influential singer-songwriter of the 21st century still performing today.

Hopefully, you'll find it interesting. It's been a lot fun. Enjoy!

(Note: See methodology approach at bottom of post)

The Allman Brothers Band and Neil Young

Led Zeppelin and Neil Young

Stevie Nicks and Neil Young

Dave Grohl and Neil Young

Emmylou Harris and Neil Young

Johnny Cash and Neil Young

Buffy Sainte-Marie and Neil Young

Tom Waits and Neil Young

Ben Harper and Neil Young

Levon Helm and Neil Young

Sheryl Crow and Neil Young

Bryan Ferry (Roxy Music) and Neil Young

The Black Crowes' Chris Robinson and Neil Young

Norah Jones and Neil Young

Jakob Dylan and Neil Young

Gov't Mule and Neil Young

Ron Sexsmith and Neil Young

Devo and Neil Young

Jewel and Neil Young

Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) and Neil Young

Peter Buck (R.E.M.) and Neil Young

Randy Bachman and Neil Young
Johnny Marr (The Smiths) and Neil Young

The Everly Brothers and Neil Young

Dan Fogelberg and Neil Young

Six degrees of separation from Neil Young.

(NOTE on methodology to compile listing: This listing does NOT include musician in the core bands Buffalo Springfield, Crosby Stills Nash Young, or Crazy Horse. See those links for more details on band's musicians.)

And Neil has some pretty cool friends, too.

UPDATE: Over on Far Out Magazine, the editors have compiled a list of every musician to appear on Neil Young's studio albums. (Thanks Alan!)

While we did not do an exact count, it looks like well over 50 musicians. In a similar vein, we here at Thrasher's Wheat started a similar endeavor 25 years ago and this is what we came up with above on 50+ Reasons Why Neil Young's Music Matters.

Every musician to appear on Neil Young studio albums:

Ry Cooder
Jack Nitzsche
Jim Messina
Carol Kaye
Earl Palmer
Merry Clayton
Gloria Richetta Jones
Danny Whitten
Ralph Molina
Billy Talbot
Nils Lofgren
Stephen Stills
James Taylor
Linda Ronstadt
David Crosby
Graham Nash
Ben Keith
Tim Drummond
Kenny Buttrey
Rusty Kershaw
Tim Drummond
Rick Danko
Levon Helm
Frank Sampedro
Russ Kunkel
George “Chocolate” Perry
Joe Vitale
Joe Lala
Nicolette Larson
Emmylou Harris
Spooner Oldham
Rufus Thibodeaux
Joe Osborn
Larrie Londin
J. J. Cale
Johnny Christopher
Ray Edenton
Shelly Kurland
Bruce Palmer
Larry Byrom
Anthony Crawford
Waylon Jennings
Ralph Mooney
Hargus “Pig” Robbins
Gordon Terry
Terry McMillan
Béla Fleck
Bobby Thompson
Gove Scrivenor
Marty Stuart
Gail Davies
Janis Oliver-Gill
Kristine Oliver-Arnold
Steve Jordan
Danny Kortchmar
Chad Cromwell
Rick “The Bass Player” Rosas
John Fumo
Tony Marsico
Astrid Young
Maria Newman
Israel Baker
Donald Dunn
Wayne Jackson
Curtis Wright
Lukas Nelson
Micah Nelson
DRAM
Nico Segal
Robbie Robertson
Stan Szelest

See anyone missing? Drop a comment below or send us an email to:

thrasher ATSIGN thrasherswheat.org

Labels: collaborations, influences, musicians, neil young

11 Comments:

At 1/09/2007 04:44:00 AM, Anonymous said...: this is a song i wrote finished lasr week for a Iraq Vet that made it home but killed herself after she got here. I am a Disabled Vietnam Veteran so Iwrite a lot of songs about this crap in the Iraqii quagmire.Hope Neil reads thisand somebody out there comes to D.C. jan. 27th with me aa whole shit load of other people to contact our congress people. Hoa Binh
Tom Sithtomsmithhoabinh@msn.com
At 10/25/2007 05:20:00 AM, Unknown said...: Never seen Neil Young on concert, I was not going to see it, Neil Young tickets got sky rocked thanks to stupid brokers. But even if I had seen it, I wouldn't buy it. I'd rather wait and see it on DVD. Well suprise I changed my mind and I got 2 tix for the Neil Young show I was looking for tickets thanks god there sites like Ticketwood which work as comparators here is the site
Neil Young Tickets http://www.ticketwood.com/concerts/Neil-Young-Tickets/index.php . So any body going to the Neil Young concert ??
At 11/03/2007 06:06:00 PM, Snave said...: I had the pleasure of seeing Neil and the Horse at the Gorge in 1996, and it was a fantastic evening. I haven't seen Neil play since then, and had I been paying any attention at all that he was in Boise, ID I might have tried to get a ticket and driven the 2 1/2 hours to see him play. I LOVE the Heart of Gold movie, and if any of the live stuff nowadays approaches the quality of that, I'd be in heaven if given the chance to see it.

I didn't know there were links between Neil and Richard Thompson. I am a fan of Thompson's live stuff, and his site puts out a very, very good live disc called "Semi-Detached Mock Tudor" that I think is worth every cent if you like that kind of stuff!

That's a great list you posted. I would have to say that at least half of the artists on that list would qualify in my "favorites" category!
At 8/14/2008 01:58:00 PM, Tennyson Williams said...: I've never been a huge Neil Young fan, but I will say that I do like a good amount of his music and respect him a whole lot more.

I think that he is very diverse, and most importantly, he sings about things that are important. He's not a musical parrot, like a lot of other musicians are.
At 9/11/2008 01:42:00 AM, Anonymous said...: I generally like Neil Young's earlier tunes from "After The Gold Rush" and "Harvest". He also wrote some good songs later on but as time has worn on he has become more musically inconsistent in the quality of his songwriting.

I have recorded my own version of "Don't Let It Bring you Down" which you can hear a sample of on my website.
At 3/02/2009 07:19:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I am a HUGE Neil and Crazy Horse fan. Everything that they did with David Briggs is so right on for me. Pure and honest and definitely NOT phony...haha...Just wanted to throw out a heads up to anyone that feels the same way about a new band that is really doing it for me right now called Blues and Lasers. They're a little bluesier, less melodic, and more rhythmic than the Horse, but they rock incredibly hard and get up into each other's faces when they jam just like the Horse. If you love the Horse and are looking for new music, look no further.
At 5/07/2009 11:48:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I love Neil Young's music and I play many of his songs on my acoustic guitar. You can hear me on You Tube by searching WSD1952.
At 3/31/2010 08:13:00 PM, Brian H said...: There's an uplifting version of "Don't Let It Bring You Down" — retitled "Castles Burning" — by the great musical interpreters Manfred Mann's Earth Band.

You can find the live video performance on RockPeaks.com along with a whole ton of Neil content.

I was happily stunned to hear this upbeat and inspiring version of the song "that's guaranteed to bring you right down." :)

peace,
Brian, fellow alumnus of Kelvin High in Winnipeg
At 5/25/2010 08:54:00 PM, Mitch Ballings said...: Hey, this is Mitch Ballings. I live in North Dakota and I write songs for fun. I'm only 14 but i have a song on itunes called if she's got the time. I like to rock it out with my drummer jimbo and his dog. We go to his house and do pot and smoke weed trying to think of lyrics. It actually helps. I have wrote some other songs but they were fails, for examlpe, DEATH IN THE NIGHT, it was a fail. Ineeded a girl lead signeer but didnt have one so i had my gay friend do it. Anyway check out my blog if your interested.
Thanks,
Mitch
At 12/05/2017 09:38:00 AM, RBMunkin said...: I don't understand what Neil is trying to say in these new lyrics about the USA. Let's see...
"The freedom to act and the freedom to say". Seriously? There are tons of countries this is true of, including Canada.
"You're the promised land. You're the helping hand"
This hasn't been true since the end of WWII.
"You're looking at one of the lucky ones. Came here from there to be free"
Like he wasn't free in Canada?!
Thoughts?
At 11/12/2020 10:30:00 AM, Hammer said...: Happy Birthday Neil !