Simply put, Neil Young is an artist of remarkable dexterity and durability. Aside from the fact that he boasts a song catalog rivaling that of Dylan, McCartney and, in fact, every other popular artist of the past half century, he's one of the few musicians whose every move is subject to speculation.
Even his most rabid fans find little consistency in his outings. One moment he's the yearning rambler embracing patchwork jeans and homespun sentiment, the next, he's a cranky grunge rocker, stomping across the stage clad in flannel shirt and backwards baseball cap. A genuine musical chameleon, he seems to switch his MO at will, or more precisely, with each new release, leaving listeners speculating as to his next digression.
Even now, nearly 50 years after his initial efforts as a solo artist, a member of the Squires, and his collaboration with future funk rocker Rick James in the Mynah Birds, he continues to defy categorization, meandering from rock to rockabilly, folk to country, grunge to thrash with occasional detours into techno, electronica and experimentation along the way. And that doesn't even include his moonlighting gigs with Buffalo Springfield, Crosby Stills Nash and Young and Crazy Horse.
Born Neil Percival Young on November 12, 66 years ago in Toronto Ontario Canada, Young's been a prominent player ever since assuming his role with Buffalo Springfield in 1966. Although his tenure in the band proved to be volatile and found him walking out at least a couple of times prior to the band's demise a mere two years later, it did give him with a testing ground for the more adventurous aspects of his solo career. Songs like "Mr. Soul," "Burned," "Expecting to Fly," "I Am A Child" and "Broken Arrow" provided a template for what would emerge as Young's singular style -- a sense of weary resignation tempered by unrelenting insurgency that's often found even his most tender impulses at odds with his ever-present irascibility.
Follow County Grind on Facebook and Twitter: @CountyGrind.
