Astrid Young is making her own shadows

An interesting interview with Neil Young's sister Astrid Young in Here New Brunswick "Astrid Young is making her own shadows" by Kyle Mullin:

That's when she sat down to craft a book of her own, which outlined her family ties and the bonds she shared with her father. Titled Being Young, the book went on to become a bestseller across Canada and garnered Astrid a slew of new fans.

"I ended up dealing with issues I didn't expect to while writing it, like living up to my father's legacy," she said of her stream of conscious style dedication to him. "I didn't mean for it to be so much about him, but that's where I was drawn. He wrote so many books, became a household name. And in back of my mind, I thought 'Am I doing him justice with this book, can I accomplish this?'"

After she polished off the last pages and the book was published, Astrid sent a copy to her brother. But because Neil often ignores anything written about him, she figured he wouldn't give it a second glance.

He called her the next day, saying he'd thumbed through nearly all of it the night before. And suddenly both siblings were on the same page - Astrid found a new way to convey to Neil what it was like to work under the shadows he and their father cast over her.

"It's easy to be overshadowed by Neil. But he's a huge musical influence that I grew up with, it would be ridiculous to say otherwise," said Astrid, who gained one of her first big breaks as a backup singer on her brother's lauded Harvest Moon. "We're as close as we can be, but we're different. He's comfortable in a cozy living room (when recording), I like a sterile, futuristic studio. I like compression, he likes reverb."

And she says they've disagreed about much more than that. But their bond has been everlasting over the years, especially when she sneaks a peek of the legendary troubadour's softer side that he keeps shrouded from the public.

"Peggy (his wife) has been on the road with him for years now and it's like they're on their second honeymoon," she said. "They hold hands and hang out all the time, I don't think people realize he's been married for 30 years to this woman, and their love is as strong as ever."

The impact he's left on her has also stayed strong, even as Astrid dove into one genre after another in the search of her own musical voice - from collaborations with Heart's Nancy Wilson to Johnny Cash, to fronting a glam band called Sacred Child in the 80s.

(Thanks Roel @ ny.org!

More on Astrid Young and her book Being Astrid Young.

---