Jason Isbell: My Musical Life in Five Riffs (#2 - Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer”)

Jason Isbell’s top influences are Jackson Browne and David Linley’s “Running on Empty,” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “I Know A Little” and Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer”, from the album ZUMA (which has been in the space news of late as a mysterious, highly classified, beyond Top Secret MIC satellite payload, interestingly enough).

From Jason Isbell: My Musical Life in Five Riffs | Guitar Player

“CORTEZ THE KILLER,” NEIL YOUNG

“When I started coming up with melodies and chord changes on my own, this song kept coming back to me, because of the tension and release created when you hold that D note from one chord to the next. It creates this kind of cool suspension.”

And here is Jason Isbell covering Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer” with Dawes on Cayamo 2013 cruise. (Thanks Jim! excellent.)



Also, see Jason Isbell covers Neil Young on Fresh Air.

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