Diana Krall: "There's nobody else like Neil Young"

Diana Krall

In 2014, Neil Young and Diana Krall performed four benefit concerts across Canada for the "Honor The Treaties" tour. The "Honor The Treaties" tour raised funds for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) Legal Defense Fund.

From Diana Krall talks about her heroes who inspired her new album | The Sun by IAN HORNER:

You toured with Neil Young . . .

Yeah, I did.

. . . a little while ago and you called it a protest tour. You said "It opened me up to start thinking differently about stuff". Can you elaborate?

I was invited to be supportive without, hm, I don't know is "protest tour" is the best way to describe it necessarily but it was to make people aware the way the pipeline was being handled was not good for the environment or the people who live there.

And Neil wanted to make people aware of the seriousness of that in the traditional way – playing music.

So I watched Neil for two hours every night from the side of the stage and I thought I was gonna come out and play briefly.

He asked me weeks before. He said "I’ve got this thing in February I’m doing, you wanna do it with me?" And I was like "Yeah! Of course I do!" I thought it'd be like a whole pile of musicians and I said "Who else is doing it?" And he said "Just you".

I thought I'd be playing for just a minute and then Neil would come out. He said "No, we want you to play for an hour." And I thought an hour! I mean I can't play a tour protesting the way a pipeline's being handled and sing Peel Me a Grape!

So you start thinking differently about things. I opened with Every Grain of Sand and then I got turned on, again, to Gordon Lightfoot because Neil was doing Gordon Lightfoot tunes so I did If You Could Read My Mind and it was really good, it was really healthy, and it was a very lucky experience for me to watch Neil.

It was winter time in Canada. I'd go on in hiking boots and sit at Neil's piano and he told me "Play whatever you want".

There was no, like, I had to go up and do the Diana Krall show. It was really a great experience for me.

And I think it was brave and courageous, too, for Neil, you know? There's nobody else like Neil.

Full interview at Diana Krall talks about her heroes who inspired her new album | The Sun by IAN HORNER.

Also, more on 2014 Neil Young and Diana Krall benefit concerts across Canada for the "Honor The Treaties" tour.

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