Search - Steve Young :: Songlines Revisited 1

Sterling New Interpretations of "Old" Classics by a Country

Alan Rockman | Upland, California | 06/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Steve Young is a musician and a man whose life has encompassed some of the greatest trends in Americana Music. In the early 1960s, Young, regarded by many as a Southern Bob Dylan, was not afraid to face down the (say amazon edit, can you spell) Ku Klux Klan in Alabama and blast their bigotry and injustice. He was warned by friends to get out of Montgomery before something dreadful would happen. Those times would be later chronicled by the singer-songwriter in his bittersweet "Montgomery in the Rain".



His next stop would be Los Angeles, circa 1965-66, where he worked by day as a Postman, by night as a promising musician in a group which also featured Stephen Stills, Van Dyke Parks, and later Skip Battin. Note to all: Not only was Young a featured vocalist, it was he, not Steve Stills, who played the Lead Guitar! (I'm quite sure that Mr. Stills learned a lot from the ace flatpicker which he would later put to good use)



During this time, Young fine-tuned and honed his tunes, made aquaintances including fellow rebel Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman, Bernie Leadon, and Gene Clark, and recorded for A&M Records. One of the songs recorded back then would become a classic tune in the Eagles' repetoire "Seven Bridges Road". Yes, Glenn Frey and Don Henley listened and learned much from this Southern Troubadour with the full, emotive voice, and the excellent picking.



When Los Angeles started to get old, and Nashville more radical and more welcoming to Alt-Country musicians, Young went back to the South, becoming part of "Outlaw" Country and close friends with Waylon Jennings - whose version of Young's "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" resurrected the career of a musician respected as "straight" country - and returned him to the top of the Country charts for many, many years.



Stardom eluded Steve Young. His battles with the bottle and pills kept him derailed for many, many years. Young chose to survive, even when contemporaries like Parsons and Clark chose to drug and drink themselves into the grave, emerging a stronger singer and better man. While he never made it as big as those who had hits with his songs, Steve Young today is a man comfortable in his skin, who would prefer that his music be heard than seeing his name on some marquee. With this, Young has become a beloved ambassador of Americana Music, playing all over the world to workers and farmers in Scotland, Peasants and Campesinos in India and Mexico, and to devotees here in the U.S.A.



While Young doesn't record too often nowadays, anything he puts down on record is always sure to be a gem sparkling in the dust. This album of new, classic interpretations of old favorites like "Seven Bridges Road", "White Trash Song", "Montgomery in the Rain", "Ragtime Blue Guitar", (and just give a listen to the rollicking, all-stops-out version of "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean") among others is recorded with a very live feel, as if Mr. Young is sitting in your living room, singing and pickin' to his - and your - hearts content. He wouldn't have it any other way.



Young might be getting older like the rest of us, but no doubt about it, he is also getting better and better.



Great to have you back, old friend!"

Steve Young - Simply the best

Charles Nance | Ardmore, OK ...USA | 07/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First heard Steve in 1968-70. Got all he has ever recorded. This new spin on some of Steve's classics is wonderful. Songlines Revisted, Vol 1 is a must. He is a troubadour and great international ambassador for the USA. He once visited me and my wife up in our mountain cabin high up in the Great Smoky Mountains. He is a truly grounded person with wonderful insights on life. Listen to this album and begin to see.

For over 40 years he is my personal favorite person of music.

Listen to Steve, he is...simply...the best."