Neil Young has always been an inspiration to me. His songs are the songs I always come back to. Along with James Taylor, Neil is my constant partner. I use his music as medicine. When I need simplicity or explanation, I return to singing "Helpless" or "Heart of Gold". Last summer I lived with four very close soul mates in Santa Fe for a month. The experience was filled with new friends and new places and so much subconscious musical growth. One night I kept coming back to singing "Old Man" over and over at the top of my lungs. Beltin' it in the living room, the kitchen, my bedroom, the bathroom, everywhere. It was a catharsis for me, and a huge turning point. That song really came to me as a gift. I was finding my own voice in his songs. The more I sang it, the more I started to deeply understand and appreciate the transformative quality of music. It was the experience of singing a song I had sang a million times before, but had found, that as I was growing, it was growing along with me. The song, in the words of Bob Dylan, had "grown legs". I craved that quality of music in my own songs, and I still crave it every time I sit down to write.
Neil made me hungry and brought me back to what I had always known, but sometimes forget in the midst of the noise and the chatter that often surrounds making music. That making people feel connected and understood through honesty and sincerity IS the point of all of this music hubbub. Forget perfection and be real!
I'm gonna go listen to Neil Young now.
n.
