The Making of ‘Heart of Gold Volume 1’ – A Neil Young Tribute Album Supporting The Bridge School

‘Heart of Gold Volume 1A Neil Young Tribute Album Supporting The Bridge School

 ‘Heart Of Gold Volume 1’, a compilation of Neil Young covers performed by artists including Fiona Apple, Brandi Carlile, The Doobie Brothers, Eddie Vedder, Mumford & Sons, and more, will raise funds for The Bridge School .  The Bridge School helps children with severe speech and physical impairments through assistive technology.

Cinema Music Group (CMG) a Los Angeles-based production house founded by longtime friends and collaborators Dave Resnik and Niko Bolas, produced the benefit album. Each artist on the album personally chose the song they covered, and nearly every track was recorded in just one or two takes, giving the record an intimate, live feel. The tribute benefit album has already raised $100,000 for The Bridge School, with Volume 1 out now, and Volumes 2 and 3 on the way. 

From HARLTON EMPIRE:

Kat Harlton: How did the idea for ‘Heart of Gold Volume 1’ come about, and what inspired you to make it a benefit project for The Bridge School?

CMG: We were recording an album with Chris Pierce in 2022. He’s such an incredible songwriter. We knew we wanted to record more with him and we started looking at cover ideas. Niko’s worked with Neil for a long time and their friendship goes back 30+ years! So, we ended up speaking with Neil and got his blessing to record a few covers but the idea only ended up growing from there and after a few more conversations we booked a studio session in 2023 and invited Chris Pierce, Sharon Van Etten and Draco Rosa along. We reached out to Brandi Carlile too and she said yes but her schedule was really busy. We tracked 3 songs in one day! The session was great success and we just kept going. Brandi recorded “Philadelphia” about 15 months later! The Bridge School is such a huge part of Neil’s legacy. The old benefit concerts were so memorable, it was such an exciting thing to be part of. It only felt natural for us to turn the Heart Of Gold project into a benefit record to benefit The Bridge School.

Kat: Neil Young is such a revered and complex artist—what was it like securing his blessing for this project, and how did that influence how you approached the covers?

CMG: It meant everything, we definitely couldn’t have done it without him. His songwriting is so good, His songs are some of the best ever written. We wanted to approach recording the record with as much care and respect for the original songs as possible and we believed the best way to do that was by letting the artists pick the songs they wanted to cover. By doing that it meant that they were able to pick and play the songs that they really connected with. We wanted to make a heartfelt record and this approach made it easier to record and capture all the emotive performances.

Kat: With artists like Fiona Apple, Brandi Carlile, Eddie Vedder, and The Doobie Brothers involved, how did you go about curating such a diverse and legendary lineup?

CMG: Similar to how the concerts were put together… The concerts had this family feel to them where everyone knew everyone. We wanted to keep that family feel so we reached out to people who we knew. Sometimes we were able to reach out directly to the artist and sometimes we reached out to the producer, or a manager or even the guitar tech! The whole project happened via word or mouth. We ran with the whole six degrees of separation… “who do we know who knows ___?”. We were really surprised by how many people wanted to be involved. It was amazing to have so many artists wanting to use their talents and music to do something good. 

Kat: You chose to record most songs live in just one or two takes—why was it important to you to keep the process raw and immediate, and how did that affect the final sound?

CMG: We used Neil’s “1 take” approach to tracking. It’s really difficult to capture the emotion in a session if it’s all been recorded in parts and sections. It’s best to do full takes, that’s when the magic happens! You feel the energy between the musicians. The drummer is playing with the bassist and they’re feeding off of that… the guitar digs in a little harder and the vocalist is feeling it too because they’re all in the same room together! You can’t get that with a computer. It’s not squeaky clean but the magic is found in all those subtle mistakes and nuances. If you listen to any of Neil’s records you can hear him use that process too. It has such a vibe to it. It feels much more intimate. 

Full interview @   Exclusive Interview: Cinema Music Group On Curating ‘Heart of Gold Volume 1’ – A Star-Studded Neil Young Tribute Album Supporting The Bridge School | HARLTON EMPIRE.

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