Monsanto: “Many of us at Monsanto have been and are fans of Neil Young. Unfortunately, for some of us, his current album may fail to reflect our strong beliefs in what we do every day to help make agriculture more sustainable. We recognize there is a lot of misinformation about who we are and what we do – and unfortunately several of those myths seem to be captured in these lyrics.”
The agrochemical company Monsanto has fired back at Neil Young for his album ‘The Monsanto Years.’
“The farmer knows he’s got to grow what he can sell, Monsanto, Monsanto / So he signs a deal for GMOs that makes life hell with Monsanto, Monsanto,” Young sings on the title track. “Every year he buys the patented seeds / Poison-ready they’re what the corporation needs, Monsanto.”
An article in Rolling Stone states: The Monsanto Years (which comes out on June 29th) also takes on Starbucks for their use of GMOs. “Starbucks has not taken a position on the issue of GMO labeling,” the company said. “As a company with stores and a product presence in every state, we prefer a national solution.”
Chevron refused to comment on Young’s lyrics, though Walmart did bite. “As you might have seen recently, Walmart raised its lowest starting wage to $9 an hour,” they told Billboard. “We’re proud of the opportunity we provide people to build a career and have a chance at a better life.”
Neil Young and Promise of the Real kick off their North American summer tour July 5th at the Marcus Ampitheater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Rolling Stone’s Andy Greene posted a flashback to 1977 when Neil Young covered “Sweet Home Alabama,” just weeks after Lynard Skynard’s tragic plane crash.
Green wrote: (According to legend, Ronnie Van Zant was buried in a Tonights the Night T-shirt, though this remains a hotly disputed topic.) Just weeks after the accident, Young played a show in Miami to raise money for a children’s hospital. Near the end, he played a medley of “Alabama” and “Sweet Home Alabama” as a tribute to the band. There’s no video, but you can hear an audience tape right here.
Young has not played “Alabama” a single time since that night. “‘Alabama’ richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record,” Young wrote in his 2012 book, Waging Heavy Peace. “I don’t like my words when I listen to it today. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, too easy to misconstrue.”
Rolling Stone’s Andy Green wrote that Neil Young is planning a new album with Willie Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah Nelson.
He writes in Rolling Stone:
“Neil Young sat down with Rolling Stone Executive Editor Nathan Brackett at the International Consumer Electronics Show on Jan. 7 to discuss the long-awaited rollout of his Pono music player, but he also shared details of his next LP.
“I’m working on another album now that I’m going to do be doing with Willie Nelson’s sons,” he said, jokingly suggesting he would title it The Monsanto Years after the agriculture company he’s been railing against for years. “It’s an upbeat review of the situation.”
Young was less sure about his other future plans. “I don’t know much about the future,” he said. “I want to [focus on Pono] and I want to continue playing music. Those two things should keep me pretty busy. I have some film editing and things to do on the side. I’ll probably be writing some more books. I want to keep doing what I do. I’d like to continue doing it for a long time.”
Our Zuman and Rustie sister Sharry Wilson has been getting a lot of publicity as her new book “Young Neil, the Sugar Mountain Years,” makes the rounds.
In the latest interview by Winnipeg Free Press, book reviewer Cheryl Girard writes:
“In Young Neil, first-time author Sharry Wilson attempts to have us do just that, taking us back to Neil Young’s early years, his childhood in and around Toronto and his teen years in Winnipeg.
The subtitle The Sugar Mountain Years is taken from one of Young’s songs written, Wilson tells us, on his 19th birthday. He had left home and was looking nostalgically back at his childhood.
A lifelong fan and a professional proofreader, Wilson, who lives just north of Toronto, interviewed many of Young’s old school chums and fellow band members from Ontario and Winnipeg. She offers many previously unseen photos and includes material gathered from letters, documents, biographies and other memorabilia.”
Rolling Stone wrote: “A supremely compelling chronicle of Young’s first 20 years. Wilson, who painstakingly tracked down childhood friends and early band mates, recounts Young’s often difficult upbringing — from his parents’ divorce to the challenges he faced changing schools as he moved from town to town with his mother – as he relentlessly pursues his musical dreams and develops his songwriting voice.”
She was also interviewed by Thornhill Liberal reporter Simone Joseph a few weeks ago. Her article about “Young Neil: The Sugar Mountain Years” appeared in the New Year’s Day edition of the Thornhill Liberal.
It must be nice to be Associate Editor Andy Greene at Rolling Stone who gets to write about Neil Young a lot, seeing the legendary musician is so prolific on many fronts.
Since we feature so much of Greene’s writing, here he is.
Sometimes writing is a thankless job, so thanks Andy, for your good work bringing Zumans and Rusties so much Neil Young news. We like it.
Greene writes about “Live at the Cellar Door” without a gazillion adjectives.
“After 44 years in the vault, the recordings are finally coming out on December 10th on CD gram vinyl. The set mixes Buffalo Springfield classics like ‘Flying on the Ground Is Wrong’ and ‘I Am a Child’ with new songs like “After the Goldrush” and ‘Tell My Why.’ Young plays ‘Cinnamon Girl’ on piano for one of the very few times in his long career. The shows also featured the live debuts of ‘Old Man’ and ‘See the Sky About to Rain.
These performances by Neil are epic in their intimacy, his connection with the audience, and the quality of Young’s voice. It feels like the sky about to rain. Listen to “Flying on the Ground is Wrong” and it feels like you are in the room.
You can listen to the new release at the Rolling Stone link below:
““If you go for a walk in a junkyard, every car is talking to you,” he said. “There are voices. It’s like a cacophony of sound. Every car has got people in them. There are junkers, all piled up, but if you get close to them there’s history in every one of them: the families that grew up in those cars, the kids, the lovers. Everything that happened in those cars, it’s all right there. That’s why I love cars. They all have a soul and story to tell.”” by -- Neil Young, about cars
Neil Young on Tour
Sugar Mountain setlists
Tom Hambleton provides BNB with setlists, thankfully. His website is the most comprehensive searchable archives on the Internets about anything Neil Young related setlists. Goto Sugar Mountain.
memphish on 
Albert Stromann on 
liza on 
Baz on 
