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Monday, June 30, 2014

Crazy Horse's Billy Talbot Suffers Mild Stroke, Expects Full Recovery


Billy Talbot & Neil Young
Melbourne, AUS Concert Reviews of Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Mar 13, 2013
via Michael S.J. | Photos of Rusties

Official Press release from Warner Bros. Records Publicity:

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE BASSIST BILLY TALBOT SUFFERS MILD STROKE; EXPECTED TO MAKE FULL RECOVERY

YOUNG'S LONG-TIME BASSIST, RICK ROSAS TO STAND IN FOR TALBOT ON UPCOMING EUROPEAN CRAZY HORSE TOUR

June 30th, 2014 - (Burbank, CA.) - Neil Young & Crazy Horse bassist Billy Talbot has suffered a mild stroke and will not be able to join Crazy Horse on their upcoming European tour. Though Talbot's doctors expect him to make a full recovery, they have advised Talbot to sit this tour out and recover his strength.

Crazy Horse will be joined on tour by Rick Rosas, who has played with Young extensively throughout the years, including in Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

The Crazy Horse line-up will also be enhanced by backing vocalists, Dorene Carter and YaDonna West, best known for their memorable work with their own group Mahogany Blue.
Buffalo Springfield
Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Rick Rosas and Richie Furay
Fox Theater, Oakland, California, June 2, 2011

Photo by and courtesy of Suzi Roks Photography (all other rights reserved)

Neil Young and Crazy Horse kick off their 2014 concert tour of Europe on July 7!

Crazy Horse's Billy Talbot
photos via Bernie B. Shakey | Facebook

All the best Billy & get well soon. We'll miss you this summer and know you'll be riding the Horse in spirit! Long may you run.

29 comments:

  1. Then end of an era? Quite possibly. He is 70. The body recovers from a mild stroke in 24 hours. So I guess it depends on just how "mild" the stroke was?

    I hope he makes a full recovery and comes back but at his age, who knows? Doesn't sound good.

    Rick Rosa and female backup singers is not Crazy Horse to me. Sorry Europe. You'll still get great shows, no doubt, but no Crazy Horse for you.

    Get well Billy and thanks for all the years of joy you've brought us. Hopefully this isn't the end but if it is, we just love ya!

    God Bless Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

    Sad Old Neg

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  2. Sad Old Neg - don't be sad, old & neg.

    The Horse is riding in Europe again!

    Isn't that what matters? And Billy will be OK and will be back someday in CH?

    So what if you were around in '73 or so and heard Danny Whitten passed? Did you say that's it for Crazy Horse?

    We've never heard anyone say that ever since Danny left it hasn't really been the Horse.

    things change, things evolve.

    So we'll get setlist changes this summer. Will folks complain that there's no Powderfinger in set or something? Of course.

    If Billy was on tour this summer and the setlist was similar to the past 4 legs would folks whine?

    Just happy to be alive here at TW living in the moment.

    Remember: Alchemy - It doesn't work
    peace & love

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  3. GET WELL BILLY Its not crazy horse
    but its ok. The addition of female
    vocalists suggests perhaps a similar
    setlist to the 2002 friends and relatives tour. However on that tour
    there was Ben on steel and rhythm guitars and spencer on keyboards
    It will be interesting to get that first setlist Again best wishes to billy

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  4. Crazy Horse 2001 had back up singers too.

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  5. Peggy and Astrid only sang backup on a handful of songs. It was still Crazy Horse in 2001. Sorry, it's not the Horse without Billy. Or Poncho. Or Ralph. Or Neil. It's not 1973 anymore Thrash. Things get old. Things die. Things come to an end. Neil already cancelled once on Europe. The show must go on, but it's still not Crazy Horse. It's no different than Ben Keith passing. Some people, especially at this stage of the game, simply can't be replaced.

    Hopefully Billy will come back and the Horse will live on. Otherwise, it's over for Crazy Horse. Neil and friends are riding in Europe again, unfortunately Crazy Horse is not. I'm not complaining. Just stating the facts as I see them. Neil played with Danny for how many years before he OD'd? This isn't the same at all.

    Joseph Werfelman is right. It's not Crazy Horse but its ok.

    How can you not be sad? Living in the moment indeed.

    Old Neg

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  6. The experiment of the 1st side of ASAP with Crazy Horse and great backup singers (Nicolette Larson & Linda Ronstadt) was very interesting. I hope that we'll see great things.

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  7. wow...just wow...I will certainly be saying more than a few prayers for Billy & his family...this is life, folks...this is why I had to see the Horse in 2012 no matter what...even Neil said it last summer during several shows in Europe before Poncho "broke his hand". He was getting a bit emotional before the final song & he reminded the crowd that "we may not all be here the next time" or something to that effect...

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  8. @Andrea - American Stars & Bars, right (ASAB)?

    Yeah, Bite the Bullet would be perfect with the backup vocals.

    @Jonathan - right on "we may not all be here the next time" remarks. But Neil was probably thinking next time CH would in Europe would be at some future date... not 12 months later.

    Don't say it's over...

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  9. Billy, fell better!!!
    We're all thinking about you!

    With respect to Neil and CH the important thing is that the show will go on and anyhow Rick is an awesome bass player ... somehow over the past number of years (and going back to Danny) Neil has suffered losses in the line-up and managed to make great music, this will be no different ... call it CH or call it something else, its likely to be excellent ... and hopefully Billy recovers quickly and rejoins ...

    this is just another reminder of how good its been and how fortunate we're been and to never take it for granted ...

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  10. Thanks Dan! Exactly -- Billy's health is our primary focus. All else secondary... Rosas, setlists, backup vocals, etc

    Appreciate your positivity!

    Maybe we'll call you Old Positive -- like O+ ;)

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  11. All the best Billy. We will all be watching, and watching over you as you get back to full strength.

    Keep on rockin'. Ol' Bazzz is still tingling from the two NZ tours 2013 and will be seeing you again for sure. GO WELL. We love you.

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  12. All prayers and thoughts for Billy!
    Get lots of rest and come back strong when you can!!

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  13. Man this is sad news :(
    All the best Billy, Godspeed.
    No it ain't the horse, but if they announced a make up for the cancelled Capitol Theater show, with this line-up, I'd still wanna be there. heck with ANY line up I wanna see an intimate, LOUD show.
    It's Neil, playing with the best crazy horse tribute band!

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  14. As they say, Neil'll be making lemonade here, and that will be a sweet taste and sound to all ears. Can you imagine if Neil said no? Cancel it - it's not Crazy Horse? There'd be a stampede to the ranch as long as the continent is wide.

    Who could be more disappointed than the Horse? And Billy, and Neil?

    Thank God it's not worse news. All hope and prayers for a complete recovery for Billy, and that sweet beat. Rick Rosas is the natural fill in. Maybe now it's Neil Young and the Pony Express instead. Long may they run!

    Saddle up The Palomino! The way I feel this could be real.

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  15. @ForeverYounger - "best crazy horse tribute band" good one.

    @SONY - Rick is totally natural fit after all of these years together in various configs. Playing bass with Buffalo Springfield reunion was one thing. Crazy Horse bass is a whole another level.

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  16. Get well Billy, regardless of anything else. We all want to see you recover fully for your own reasons, everything else is crap. Long may you run.

    A Friend Of Yours

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  17. Aloha Billy,
    I miss having you as a neighbor in Santa Barbara and playing music on my deck with you. Thanks for the great times (Half Moon Bay 1996 was epic). You and Neil together building worlds of off the charts feedback into Oz has to be my top musical moments.
    Lot's of good lovins to you Bruddah, I still have my 805 number but I am now in Kauai. come and recharge.
    Anthony

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  18. it Crazy Horse as long as Neil Young calls it that.

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  19. Man has a potentially debilitating life event and people complain about band names. Good job internet.

    Hopefully Billy has a speedy recovery and this is just a blip in the radar for him.

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  21. it's so sad, that Billy suffers a stroke! in his age of 70 I sadly think it's over with touring ... i hope he can recover and maybe can go to studio again to record new crazy horse records...to me in Germany now the tour of Neil is no Crazy Horse tour without Billy ! to me it's Neil Young & Band X
    my last Neil Young & Crazy Horse concert was at the Paleo Festival of Nyon, Switzerland at july 23th 2013! what a farewell!!! it can't be a better farewell to Crazy Horse than that Hurricane Inferno of Nyon! looking forward to five concerts of Neil Young & Band X in Germany and France! maybe the last time to see Neil on stage...

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  23. I'm wondering what the pessimists said after Neil had that scary, terrible aneurysm, and here we are almost 10 years later with arguably one of his most prolific, productive, and incredible decades of music (and other projects) behind him … Billy is a surviver, anyone who was in the rock n roll scene in the 60s and is still relevant and touring is a surviver … Billy stay strong and know everyone is thinking about you and praying for you to have a complete recovery … just a year or two ago the naysayers were saying the Horse was never going to leave the barn and then all of a sudden … PP then Alchemy … one of the most epic Horse tours ever … as Yogi Berra once said, " it aint over till its over" … hope Billy knows how much love and care there is for him …

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  24. Get Well Billy! Love your work in CH and of course the solo albums. Great stuff!

    Now, if Neil's got Rosas on bass and backup singers, we might get a set similar to the 07 tour. More varied with lots of CH thrown in. That would be fun. Bust out some rare tunes from Stars and Bars or Hawks and Doves.

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  25. Good Luck Billy,Feel Better!

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  26. get well mr talbot

    this is gonna be a horse of another colour.

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  28. I was also around with the 1996 shows from OPD in Pillar Point Harbor. although I never saw one unfortunately. Billy I wish you only the swiftest of recoveries. your signed pic still hangs in the coffee shop across from Cheaper Liquor from the video where you get busted.. I couldn't find the video when googled. from the Broken Arrow record I think.

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  29. I've known Billy a while now, and through knowing him I got to know the human element, that its, all of us are real people, even icons. These guys are all 70ish, and at 41 I'm not sure I will be living at that age, let alone jamming. I've jammed with Billy, and the energy comes from the music. Otherwise he spends a lot of time trying to take care of himself to do this. He does it for the fans, and has a family to pay for too. This has happened last minute, and I am sure he is pretty devastated by it. I know of no bad vibes between Billy and Rosas, so I wish them all the best.

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