Shirt of the Moment: More BARN! & Peace & Love

Brad "More Barn"Coastal Oregon
(Click photo to enlarge)
Our Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary T-Shirt of the Moment is from Brad "More Barn" out in
Coastal Oregon.

This is very special for us, as Brad "More Barn" is quite the legend in the Neil Rust world.

As so many of you know, the famous Graham Nash & Neil Young "More Barn" story has reached an almost mythical status -- what with t-shirts, hats and who knows what else blaring the call.

Brad "More Barn"Back In his Younger Days - 1996

So Happy 30th Anniversary to Brad and "More Barn"!

And if that's not enough, we're reminded of those hazy, hot summer days back in the last decade seeing Neil Young Solo @ Auditorium Theater, Chicago, Il on June 30 & July 1, 2018 with our buddy Brad "More Barn".

w/ Brad "More BARN!"

Neil Young Solo: Auditorium Theater, Chicago, Il - June 30, 2018 

 

More on Neil Young Solo: Auditorium Theater, Chicago, IL - June 30 & July 1, 2018. 

More photos we've been sent of fans flying the TW colors around the EARTH.

It's just a hippie dream, so let your freak flag fly & don't be denied! 

peace & love,

thrasher & thrashette

ps - so send us your photo flying the colors and we just might post it @ thrasher@thrasherswheat.org

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Neil Young Radio Coming Soon

Neil Young Radio NYA | Members
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Neil Young has announced that he will launch a radio station on Neil Young Archives.

Subscribers will be able to experience Neil's entire musical output. This was announced in a press release published on their website. The service will be completely via the NYA app or in the car with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The launch is set for next month or so.  In the meantime, how can forget to mention the beloved, long running Rust Radio, started in 2003. (Long may you run, Roel!)

More on Neil Young News: Rust Radio Redesigned & Goes 24/7!

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FINAL UPDATE: Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary T-Shirts Shipping Complete

Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary: 1996 - 2026
Design by Silver Moon Art & Design

Shirts Hand-dyed by artist Zach Wright, InnerLightTieDye

(Click photo to enlarge)

Here's the final update on the status of Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary T-Shirts shipping. Per earlier updates, the production run of tie dye shirts has been completed, the shirts have been shipped from Hawaii, received at TW Global HQ.  

As of Wednesday July 29 ALL shirts have been shipped, so expect in the coming couple of weeks.  As promised, everyone will have their shirts by early August.

"She came dancing across the water ..."

Down By The River w/ Thrashette

As we noted earlier,  2026 is the year that we here at Thrasher's Wheat celebrate our 30th anniversary of archiving Neil Young's musical talents and the rustie fan communities. (BTW, we had a lot of fun reviewing all the photos we've been sent of fans flying the colors around the EARTH!)

"Still separating the wheat from the chaff..."

This is really all about you cowboys & cowgirls out there -- our loyal and faithful readers here on Thrasher's Wheat and the entire Neil Young fan community.  So glad that so many folks got in on all the fun and adventure of being a "rustie-grain"  (as Neil refers to us).

It's just a hippie dream, so let your freak flag fly & don't be denied! 

peace & love,

thrasher & thrashette

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Neil Young Appreciation Society's Broken Arrow: “Here We Are In The Years” + Comment of the Moment

MEMBERS COLUMN | Neil Young Archives
(Click photo to enlarge)

We realize posting has been a bit sparse here on TW lately.

The good news is that we finally managed to pack up all of the Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary T-Shirts orders and prepare for shipping.  With any luck, we'll make a run to the post office tomorrow and get the first wave of shirts in the mail with the remainder to follow later in week.

In other Neil news, as most long time Neil Young fans know, the demise of the Neil Young Appreciation Society's Broken Arrow magazine was a real loss to our community.  Over on MEMBERS COLUMN | Neil Young Archives, David Clarke has filed two articles on "The History of Neil Young Appreciation Society's Broken Arrow magazine."

Thankfully, Sugar Mountain has archived all of the print editions of Broken Arrow magazine for posterity and we're immensely grateful to those dedicated to keeping the flame burning.

Which brings us to our Comment of the Moment by Dionys:

This early digital biosphere named Hyperrust was my entrance gate to the Neil Young underworld. 

I remember being a digester and lurker for a long time until I dared to contribute something myself. There were "Rusties of the month", a crown was sent around, a "More Barn" banner, too. People reminded each other that there was a "pledge of peace and rust" and commented on "flaming wars" elsewehere. 

I was lucky to get in touch with rusties in the Netherlands, completists apparently, who generously shared what before existed as very expensive vinyl bootlegs beyond my financial means. I was aware of "Broken Arrow" and NYAS at the time, but did not have any spare money to spend on a membership or subscription. 

Much later on and out of curiosity I bought a few copies at Ebay. Being a user of digital technology since 1987 currently I am weeding out a lot of digital surrogates and junk (replacing CDs by Vinyl again, being tired of of these gazillions of photos made with my mobile phone, therefore re-activating my analog cameras). 

But decades ago, Hyperrust was something when the internet was young, a promise somehow, not that the world's a village, but being online was somehow like being on a journey, meeting like-minded humans. This being an illusion I learnt here on TW. 

Not that there are no like-minded humans or humans who are differently minded to learn from, but...

Thanks for the comment here on the ground breaking and cutting edge Hyperrust site Dionys!

The 1990's seem so long ago, but not really.  Oh the early days of the Internet when things were text only.  Folks may chuckle at "ground breaking and cutting edge Hyperrust", but things were quite primitive back in the day.  And we here @ TW can not deny its huge influence on what would eventually become Thrasher's Wheat.

So again, gone but not forgotten ... thanks to those who remember the past to preserve our future.  Definitely a shrinking crew and a real shame that younger generations have been so captured.

Someday, maybe there'll be a need for Neil Young Preservation Society? And who will be there to pick up the flag, take on the cause and march on after the elder statespeople move along?

More on the gone but not forgotten of Neil world ...

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UPDATE #2: Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary T-Shirts Shipping

Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary: 1996 - 2026
Design by Silver Moon Art & Design

Shirts Hand-dyed by artist Zach Wright, InnerLightTieDye

(Click photo to enlarge)

Here's an update on the status of Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary T-Shirts. The production run of tie dye shirts has been completed, the shirts have been shipped from Hawaii and now have arrived @ TW HQ.  

Shirt shipping to begin this week, so expect in the coming couple of weeks.  Hopefully everyone will have their shirts by early August.

As we noted earlier,  2026 is the year that we here at Thrasher's Wheat celebrate our 30th anniversary of archiving Neil Young's musical talents and the rustie fan communities. (BTW, we had a lot of fun reviewing all the photos we've been sent of fans flying the colors around the EARTH!)

"Still separating the wheat from the chaff..."

This is really all about you cowboys & cowgirls out there -- our loyal and faithful readers here on Thrasher's Wheat and the entire Neil Young fan community.  So glad that so many folks got in on all the fun and adventure of being a "rustie-grain"  (as Neil refers to us).

It's just a hippie dream, so let your freak flag fly & don't be denied! 

peace & love,

thrasher & thrashette

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Comment of the Moment: Mick Jagger on Politics in Music

Mick Jagger
 (Click photo to enlarge)
Something a little different here.

Our Comment of the Moment is from thread "Neil Young Patron ZOOM Call Update: Archives Volume 4 Release + More" by Knowledge Nomad:

There's a really good interview with Mick Jagger in the New York Times that was posted this week (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/magazine/mick-jagger-interview.html) Definitely worth a listen. But, for the purposes of Neil Young fans, there's a few times when he mentions that getting political in your songs is probably best dropping hints at and being tangential to your writing because the public doesn't want to hear it.

"Interviewer: I want to put the question in slightly different terms. There’s a movie performance of yours that I love, in “The Man From Elysian Fields.” You play a middle-aged man who runs an escort service. That performance has a lot of regret in it, and I assume that you wouldn’t have been able to give a performance like that earlier in your life. So, similarly, are there things that you can do in a song or did on the new album that make you think, Oh, I wasn’t capable of inhabiting that lyric earlier?

Mick: That’s a good question. It requires a lot of thought to give a good answer. I wouldn’t have written any of these songs when I was 30, honestly. And I’ve also gotten into this habit of doing songs that are about personal relationships and then I throw a verse about politics in there. That’s a trick that I’ve learned from other songwriters, because nobody wants to hear a whole song about politics or social comment. A blues song like “Rough and Twisted,” you talk about women and everything, but then you throw in stuff that’s obviously political: “The only club was called conspiracy.” “What they wanted was tyranny.” So you find yourself using these tricks."

And again:

"Interview: There are a handful of political lines sprinkled throughout the new record. You sing about scuttling billionaires “scrambling to their bolt-holes in the sky,” about dirty rat autocrats and rubber-stamping judges. I find it heartening to know that Mick Jagger sees the same problems as the rest of us. Can you tell me more about what you’re seeing when you look around the world?

Mick: It’s not the first time I’ve done songs with social comment. I like doing it, but in small doses. It’s pop music, you know. “Ringing Hollow” is completely social comment. But even then, I had two songs that were on the same subject, which is my love of America."

So, clearly Neil takes a different approach. As do many other great musicians both contemporary and historically. But, does Mick have a point? Certainly the formula that has worked for the Stones is to eschew much social commentary, and Mick, at least, is aware enough [how many rock stars have attended the London School of Economics and Political Science and read Kant?] that he most certainly could do more social commentary.

My own take is, which isn't particularly deep, there is indeed an audience for music with social commentary, but also that it's understandable that even those with a taste for social commentary in their music also like music that doesn't fit that description. I've got room in my collection for the Stones, Neil, Nina, Jesse Welles, Shinyribs, etc.

Thanks for the comment Knowledge Nomad. That's two CotM's in the past week, so congratulations. We very appreciate the thoughtful observations here on TW. Especially on one of our long running topics -- Politics in Music.

We watched the interview, as well and encourage others to as well.  Mick gets a bit into Bruce Springsteen and his audience.  Essentially, Mick says The Stones "don't lecture their audiences."

Mick Jagger Says It’s Not His Job to Lecture Rolling Stones’ Fans on Politics

NYT: “Bruce Springsteen clearly sees his job as engaging in a meaningful back and forth.”

MICK JAGGER: “My job in the live music world is for those people that come to have the best time … And you… pic.twitter.com/PmNaTgLjs7

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) July 11, 2026

Good advice Mick. While we here @ TW may have lectured our audiences on occasion in the past, we feel that temptation has been squashed more recently -- for better or worse -- depending on your perspective.  That is, if you're picking up on what we're putting down.

Also, see: 

• The Politics of Music or the Music of Politics?
• Why is our protest music stuck in the past?

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