The Squires or Neil Young & The Squires were a Canadian band formed in 1963 in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

. It was one of the first bands of singer-songwriter

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

Recordings

Young formed the Squires in 1963, and the group played at community clubs, high school dances and proms in Winnipeg with Young on electric guitar."Neil Young Searching For A Heart Of Gold"
''Exclaim!'', Jason Schneider, August 1, 2003 They played a lot of songs by

The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

, The Ventures, and

The Fireballs The Fireballs, sometimes billed as Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs, were an American rock and roll group, particularly popular at the end of the 1950s and in the early 1960s. The original line-up consisted of George Tomsco (lead guitar), Chuck ...

. Young began writing songs, which the band played regularly. On July 23, two of these were recorded by Harry Taylor of local radio station CKRC in a tiny two-track recording studio. The recordings, "Aurora" and "The Sultan", were released later that year as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

released by V Records. 300 records were pressed; only around 10 are known to still exist.Neil Young news,
trasherswheat.org
'.

Don and Dewey Don and Dewey were an American rock, blues and R&B duo, comprising Don "Sugarcane" Harris (Don Francis Bowman Harris; June 18, 1938 – December 1, 1999) and Dewey Terry (Dewey Steven Terry; July 17, 1937 – May 11, 2003). History Both Harris a ...

's song "

Farmer John Smithfield Foods, Inc., is an American pork producer and food-processing company based in Smithfield, Virginia, in the United States, and an independent subsidiary of WH Group. Founded in 1936 as the Smithfield Packing Company by Joseph W. Luter ...

" was a regular staple of their live set, and Young would eventually record it with

Crazy Horse Crazy Horse ( lkt, Tȟašúŋke Witkó, italic=no, , ; 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota war leader of the Oglala band in the 19th century. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by wh ...

on his 1990 album ''

Ragged Glory ''Ragged Glory'' is the 18th studio album by Canadian / American singer-songwriter Neil Young, and his sixth album with the band Crazy Horse. It was released by Reprise Records on September 9, 1990. Recording The ''Ragged Glory'' sessions took ...

''. The Squires recorded the song "I Wonder," three different times; it became the basis of Young's song "Don't Cry No Tears" on his 1975 album '' Zuma''. "Aint It the Truth" was performed by the Squires, and later recorded by Neil Young & The Bluenotes on his 1988 album ''

This Note's For You ''This Note's for You'' is the 16th studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released April 11, 1988 on Reprise. It was originally credited to "Young and the Bluenotes." Part of the album's concept centered on the commercialism of ...

''. The band played engagements out of town in nearby rural southern Manitoba towns such as Selkirk, Portage la Prairie, Neepawa,

Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name * Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

and Giroux (near Steinbach), and as far from Winnipeg as

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname ...

and

Fort William, Ontario Fort William was a city in Ontario, Canada, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Since th ...

, traveling in a 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse, dubbed Mortimer Hearseburg, or Mort. In April 1964, the group again entered CKRC studios to record with Harry Taylor, and, according to Young recorded "about twenty songs." According to drummer Ken Smyth, these were for a possible deal with London Records of Canada. Young's song " Sugar Mountain" was written while on tour in Fort William with The Squires. In November of that year the band was invited by Fort William CJLX radio DJ into the station studio, where two versions of "I'll Love You Forever" were recorded. By this time Young had dropped out of high school to concentrate on the band and his music. In 1965, with a new drummer, Bob Clark, the band moved to Fort William. It was here that Young met

Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...

. By early 1966 The Squires had disbanded, and Young had joined the Toronto band

the Mynah Birds The Mynah Birds was a Canadian R&B band formed in Toronto, Ontario, that was active from 1964 to 1967.Chong. 2005. Although the band never released an album, it is notable as featuring a number of musicians, such as Rick James and Neil Young, ...

. Soon thereafter Young moved to California and joined

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", relea ...

, where former Squires bassist

Ken Koblun Ken Koblun is a Canadian musician who played alongside Neil Young in The Jades, the Squires, the Stardusters, and briefly Buffalo Springfield. He replaced Comrie Smith in 3's a Crowd, playing with the band from 1966 to 1967. Early years Koblu ...

was also briefly a member of the band. Years after the group's disbandment, Young's 2009 collection ''

The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972 ''Neil Young Archives Vol. 1: 1963–1972'' is the first in a planned series of box sets of archival material by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. It was released on June 2, 2009, in three different formats - a set of 10 Blu-ray discs in ord ...

'' opened with six recordings by The Squires, including the V Records single, mastered from a vinyl copy."Neil Young, The Archives Vol. 1: 1963–1972"
''Pitchfork'', June 17, 2009. Stuart Berman. The Squires are mentioned in Randy Bachman's 1992 single "Prairie Town." The song also features Neil Young on guitar and backing vocals.

Discography

Singles

Compilations

References

;Citations

External links

*Neil Young news,
trasherswheat.org
''. *Neil Young Archives Interview,
Uncut interview with The Squires guitarist Allan Bates
''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Squires, The Musical groups established in 1963 Musical groups disestablished in 1965 Musical groups from Winnipeg Canadian rock music groups Neil Young 1963 establishments in Manitoba 1965 disestablishments in Canada