Genre: Album
Grade: A
Notable People: Neil Young, Ben Keith, Tim
Drummond, Karl Himmel, Levon Helm, Emmylou Harris, Produced by: Neil Young and
Ben Keith
Title: Homegrown
Review: Oh boy…this is like running into an old friend after
a 40-year absence……too good to be true. Max got this for me for pop’s day…on
VINYL. So after, a half day getting my old turntable hooked up and functional……Voila….
Originally recorded in 1974-5 and set for release then, Neil shelved it in
favor of the much darker and political “Tonight’s the Night” and “On the Beach”
…. saying at the time that it was too personal. Many incarnations and years
later, he felt ready to be more open. It’s a piece of time for sure….very much
of that period….CLASSIC…..some songs on the album have been around for years:
Love is Rose has been a Bunty Station staple for many years ; Homegrown….wow,
that was a staple of summer camp I worked in 1976, exposing the poor vulnerable
children to material that was thankfully over their heads (Mike G.- are you
reading this?)…played with just guitar and washtub bass if you can imagine; and
Star of Bethlehem showed up year later on his Stars and Bars album…..the crack classic
Neil country iteration band had Ben Keith on steel, Karl Himmel on drums and the
great Tim Drummond on bass. We also get some cuts with Emmylou on vocals, Levon
on drums, and even one with Robbie Robertson on guitar. Too good to be true…send
more, Neil….
