INTERVIEWS: Crazy Horse’s Poncho Sampedro Talks "Americana," Working with Neil Young Again

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From Crazy Horse’s Poncho Sampedro Talks "Americana," Working with Neil Young Again:

“I was so ready just to start jamming and having fun and all of a sudden, Neil started coming up with American folk songs,” Sampedro tells ABC News Radio. “It was a little different at first, but we played ‘em just like we would play any other song and they came out with our mark on ‘em.”

“When Neil walks in the room everything gets better,” he maintains. “He has a tremendous outlook on what we’re doing. And, he’s always…10 steps ahead of everybody in the room…It’s just a matter of following his lead and everything’ll be fine.”

On “Gallows Pole,” “When Neil pulled it out and we did it, I had no idea it was that song. It didn’t sound anything like it,” he admits. “When I listen to it now, it’s one of the more different-sounding songs on the record. And I really like it [but it's] so opposite of Led Zeppelin’s version.”

From Neil Young & Crazy Horse Eye Another 2012 Album | Billboard.com by Gary Graff:

The album is expected in the fall, but no release date or title have been announced. Sampedro, who resides in Hawaii, says he's been back and forth to Young's ranch and studio for more sessions when the moon is full, which is Young's preferred time to record. "We'll work five or six, seven days, then I'll just fly home," he explains, with Young, drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot handling "production stuff" between sessions. "Every time when I go back to work some more, everybody says, 'Everything sounds great. This sounds fantastic,' so we really seem to be onto something," Sampedro reports.

On recording old folk songs, "At first it didn't really go down that well," Sampedro says of the "Americana" songs. "I wasn't bummed or anything. I just thought, 'Here we are playing. He'll pull out some of his songs or some other songs,' and the next time we came it was more folk songs and then the next time it was more folk songs... for about five or six months in a row."

Ultimately, however, Sampedro feels that Young and the group turned the selections into Crazy Horse material. "I was jumping up and down and screaming and singing parts that I probably shouldn't be singing and just having a good time -- which is what we do," he says. "In my mind there's a little part of me that knows it's not Neil and it's not us. It's something else. But at the same time, when I listen to it, I like it."

More on new Crazy Horse recordings on Interviews with Neil Young: BBC Radio 4 Front Row, NPR Fresh Air & KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic .

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