For the better part of the last four decades—and indeed the better part of our lives—we’ve been Neil Young fans and followers. We’ve had our minds blown by favorites like Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Zuma, and Rust Never Sleeps and had our ears blown out by too many Crazy Horse shows to count. We’ve puzzled over odd, outré albums like Time Fades Away and Tonight’s the Night, which repeated listenings eventually turned into favorites. And we’ve sat through experiments like Trans, Everybody’s Rockin’, and the films Journey through the Past and Human Highway, figuring we owed the guy one now and then. Submerging ourselves in all of it once again during the intense period of this book’s creation was both a joy and a revelation. But it was also a challenge: Taken as a whole, Young’s body of work is about staying in the moment and fighting to stay relevant—refusing to either burn out or fade away—regardless of the consequences. In that sense, he asks more of his audience than almost any other artist. But he doesn’t do it without demanding it of himself first, which is why he’s deserved our continued attention for so long.
We’d like to thank Dennis Pernu at Voyageur Press for signing us on for this book and Danielle Ibister for her wise, patient, and occasionally indulgent management of the project. We’re also grateful for the work that Krystyna Borgen, design manager Katie Sonmor, and designer John Barnett put into this. Thanks are due to Doug Allsop, AP Images, Corbis, Jake Early (jakeearly.com), John Einarson, Emek (emek.net), Robert Ferreira, Gijsbert Hanekroot (gijsberthanekroot.nl), Getty Images, Cyril Kieldsen, Bob Leafe (bobleafe.com), The Library and Archives Canada, Bob Masse (bmasse.com), Robert Matheu, Tony Nelson (tonynelsonphoto.com), The Mad Peck, Peter Pontiac (peterpontiac.com), Retna, Reuters Pictures, Rex USA, Joel Schnell at Creative Publishing international, Chester Simpson (Rock-N-RollPhotos.com), Steuso (Stefano Manzi) (steuso.com), Todd Slater (toddslater.com), Nick Warburton (nickwarburton.com), Nurit Wilde (wildeimages.com), and Zuma for their contributions. And thanks, too, to Stephen Scapelliti for his legal stewardship.
Gary sends a fist bump to Dan, a brother from another mother whose friendship is treasured, even after the ardors of working in such close quarters. Great thanks also go to those I work with, and for, on a regular basis, who gave me the leeway and latitude to work on Neil Young: Long May You Run—even when they didn’t know they were doing it: Jacquelyn Gutc, Julie Jacobson, Nicole Robertson, Steve Frye, and Glenn Gilbert at the Oakland Press; David J. Prince, Jessica Letkemann, Bill Werde, and Rob Levin at Billboard; Judy Rosen and the gang at the Pulse of Radio; Gayden Wren at the New York Times Syndicate; Brandon Geist, Kory Grow, and Tom Beaujour at Revolver; Marcella S. Kreiter and John Hendel at UPI; Bob Kernen and Tom Sharrard at Grokmusic.com; Doug Podell, Jon Ray, and all at WCSX Detroit; Bob Madden, Brian Nelson, Eric Jensen, and Keith Hastings at WHQG (The HOG!) in Milwaukee; Laura Lee and Dave “Redman” Redelberger at Radio 106.7 in Columbus; and a partridge in a pear tree. My gratitude also to the too many friends and relatives to name without missing somebody important, but especially to my beloved Hannah, my dear Shari, and Liebe and Annie the wonder dogs, all of whom never minded when rust, and I, never slept.
Dan returns the fist bump and adds a bro-hug to Gary, without whom none of this would be possible, or nearly as much fun. Thanks to Jody Mitori, Kevin C. Johnson, Barry Gilbert, and Evan Benn at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Donna Korando at the St. Louis Beacon; John Carney, Jon Grayson, Steve Moore, and Kevin Ahern at KMOX; technical advisor and sounding board Jerome Peirick; and Neal Thompson, usurper of bandwidth extraordinaire. Also to Jesse Raya, Chris Peimann, Sarah Samples, Amy Moorehouse, and Angela Brown for service above and beyond the call of duty; the peanut gallery of the Carosello Connection for cheering me on; friends and family members too numerous to mention; and Thomasita Homan, O.S.B., whom I forgot to acknowledge last time. Last, but never least, thanks to the home team—my parents, Eric and Annie Durchholz; my wonderful wife, Mary; my great kids, Wolfgang, Eva, Stefan, and Hans; and the latest addition to our family, Ute—good dog!