Nils Lofgren discusses his new box set’s major Neil Young find

Nils Lofgren and Neil Young
Vote For Change tour 2004
St. Paul, Minnesota
Photo by Joseph Quever
Something else to forward to in the ever expanding journey through Neil Young's past.

Now comes word of a semi-major recovery of "lost music" from Nils Lofgren. As we know, Nils Lofgren and Neil Young have quite a long history.

From ‘It was such a powerful day’: Nils Lofgren discusses his new box set’s major Neil Young find by Nick DeRiso:

The initial demo [of ‘Keith, Don’t Go,’], however, actually featured Young — with whom Lofgren had already collaborated on 1970′s After the Gold Rush, a stint that helped the guitarist get an initial contract for his band Grin. Lofgren subsequently appeared on 1975′s Tonight the Night and on 1982′s Trans with Young, before establishing yet another career as part of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. Somewhere along the way, that original take (featuring Young on piano, no less) got lost in the shuffle.

That is, until Lofgren started digging around for material to include as part of a forthcoming 9CD/1DVD box set called Face the Music. Due on August 5, 2014 via Fantasy Records, it features an astonishing 169 original songs from across his career. This newly uncovered nugget promises to be a highlight among many.

“We got this great live track of ‘Keith, Don’t Go,’ which I knew we did a primitive mix on a cassette,” Lofgren tells us, in an exclusive SER Sitdown. “So, I’ve been digging for the cassette, thousands of cassettes — from Arizona to Maryland — trying to find this thing. I knew, if I found it, it would probably have to be baked, and worked on and treated, if there was any chance. But looking for some other lost Grin gems, Bob Dawson [who owned the studio where 'Keith Don't Go' was cut] met me in my Maryland basement and we started rummaging through a closet full of old tapes. Lo and behold, we found some old Grin 16 tracks that weren’y labeled that well, but we dug through it, and we found the actual master. It was just a joy to go back into the same studio that we recorded it in, with same engineer, and make a more proper mix of it — and to share that great version of ‘Keith, Don’t Go’ with Grin and Neil Young as pianist, which he doesn’t do a lot of piano sessions for anybody else. And that great haunting voice, singing the harmonies with me. It was beautiful.”

Also, see more on Nils Lofgren and Neil Young.

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