Rocking Out With Neil In The Rockies

It's been odd for me to write about my buddy Al the past couple weeks.

He encouraged me when I told him I was going to start a blog and was a regular reader, but he asked me not to include him in my narrative.

What can I say? When he put that .357 in his mouth, I felt it was fair to void our agreement. Selah.

I've written a lot about music since I learned of Al's death because it's something that strengthened the bond between us.

We went to many concerts together over the years and the one artist we saw more often than any other was Neil Young. Over a 30-year span we saw Neil Young in concert a dozen times, including one Farm Aid and two Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young shows.

The first time we saw Neil play out he was touring in support of Rust Never Sleeps. That was a great show and it came as no surprise to either of us that a live album followed, Live Rust.

Neil rocked out with Crazy Horse on Like A Hurricane...



When Neil cut a country album, with the band The International Harvesters we had seats about 10 rows back and it was a fantastic show.

One of the songs they played was Back To The Country.

Here they are doing that tune on Austin City Limits, which Al and I watched together, in support of the Old Ways album...



Neil and the International Harvesters doing Hawks and Doves...



When we heard that Willie Nelson, another of our favorites, was putting together Farm Aid with Neil and John Mellencamp there was no question whether we'd be there.

It didn't matter that we went to Champaign, Illinois with no tickets. In fact that worked out rather well for us, we scored a pair of tickets and a pair of coeds on the University of Illinois campus. Ho Ho

Here are two great tunes from that Farm Aid show, My My Hey Hey and Heart Of Gold...




Going to Farm Aid was a natural for Al, of course, because he came from a farm family.

This was one of his Neil Young favorites, This Old House...



Seeing Neil play with the Bluenotes was a treat.

We both thought the title track from This Note's For You was a classic...



Ten Men Working was another favorite...



The last time we saw Neil play he was touring with Booker T. & the M.G.'s on the Harvest Moon tour.

This is the title track from that album...



It should come as no surprise that the soundtrack of The Last Road Trip has included a healthy does of Neil Young. We've been listening to Decade, Harvest, Harvest Moon, Live Rust, This Note's For You and Old Ways.

I picked up two Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young albums for the trip, 4 Way Street and CSNY/Deja Vu Live.

We saw the band's reunion tour back in 2000 and they played Ohio, of course...



The last time we saw them, in 2006, Let's Impeach The President was a favorite...



Thanks for all the great memories, Al. I miss you, buddy.