The Stray Gators was the name given by

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 ...

to his supporting musicians from 1971 to 1973 and who backed him on the albums ''

Harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...

'' (1972) and ''

Time Fades Away ''Time Fades Away'' is a 1973 live album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. Consisting of previously unreleased material, it was recorded with the Stray Gators on the support tour following 1972's highly successful album '' Harvest''. Due ...

'' (1973). It consisted of

Jack Nitzsche Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche ( '; April 22, 1937 – August 25, 2000) was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He first came to prominence in the early 1960s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spec ...

(piano),

Ben Keith Bennett Keith Schaeufele (March 6, 1937 – July 26, 2010), better known by his stage name Ben Keith, was an American musician and record producer. Known primarily for his work as a pedal steel guitarist with Neil Young, Keith was a fixture of ...

(steel guitar),

Tim Drummond Timothy Lee Drummond (20 April 1940 – 10 January 2015) was an American musician from Canton, Illinois. Drummond's primary instrument was bass guitar and he toured and recorded with many notable artists, including Conway Twitty, Bob Dylan, James ...

(bass) and

Kenny Buttrey Aaron Kenneth Buttrey (April 1, 1945 – September 12, 2004) was an American drummer and arranger. According to Country Music Television, CMT, he was "one of the most influential session musicians in Nashville history". Buttrey was born in Nashvi ...

(drums); the latter replaced during the ''Time Fades Away'' tour by

Johnny Barbata John Barbata (born April 1, 1945) is an American drummer who was active especially in pop and rock bands in the 1960s and 1970s, both as a band member and as a session drummer. Barbata has served as the drummer for The Turtles, Crosby, Stills ...

. Former

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 ...

rhythm guitarist

Danny Whitten Danny Ray Whitten (May 8, 1943 – November 18, 1972) was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse, and for the song "I Don't Want to Talk About It", a hit for Rod Stewart and Every ...

briefly joined the group in 1972 but was fired by Young due to his poor performance during tour rehearsals, precipitating his death from an accidental overdose immediately thereafter.

History

While in Nashville to tape an episode of ''

The Johnny Cash Show ''The Johnny Cash Show'' is an American television music variety show hosted by Johnny Cash. The Screen Gems 58-episode series ran from June 7, 1969, to March 31, 1971, on ABC; it was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The ...

'', Young was convinced to record some of his new tracks in

Elliot Mazer Elliot Mazer (September 5, 1941February 7, 2021) was an American audio engineer and record producer. He was best known for his work with Linda Ronstadt, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Band, and Janis Joplin. In addition, he worked on film and telev ...

Quadrafonic Sound Studios Quad Studios Nashville was a four-studio recording facility established as Quadrafonic Sound Studio in 1971 on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The studio was the location of numerous notable recording sessions, including Neil Young's ''Harvest'', ...

. Since it was a Saturday night, Mazer scrambled to find musicians who were not working that night and was able to bring in Drummond, Keith, and Buttrey. Over two nights they recorded four tracks that would end up on ''Harvest''. Young then used frequent collaborator Nitzsche to arrange and produce two tracks with an orchestra. He then brought the three Nashville musicians and Nitzsche to his ranch in California to record the three electric-guitar songs in his barn. At some point, he dubbed this new group The Stray Gators. After the release of ''Harvest'', they appeared on the "

War Song A war song is a musical composition that relates to war, or a society's attitudes towards war. They may be pro-war, anti-war, or simply a description of everyday life during war times. It is possible to classify these songs by historical confl ...

" single, credited to Young and

Graham Nash Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, photographer, and activist. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and the supergroups Crosby, Stills ...

. Outtakes from the ''Harvest'' sessions later appeared on the '' Journey Through the Past'' soundtrack and ''

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 ...

''. Additionally, the band appears on the '' Tonight's the Night'' song "Lookout Joe", which was recorded in late 1972. In 1973, they backed Young on his ''Time Fades Away'' tour, though Buttrey was replaced mid-tour and on the album ''

'' by

John Barbata John Barbata (born April 1, 1945) is an American drummer who was active especially in pop and rock bands in the 1960s and 1970s, both as a band member and as a session drummer. Barbata has served as the drummer for The Turtles, Crosby, Stills, ...

. They ceased to operate as a unit after that tour, although Drummond and Keith continued to work individually with Young on subsequent projects. Thereafter, Nitzsche eschewed live performance in favor of a career as a prolific record producer and film scorer, culminating in the 1983

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed th ...

for "

Up Where We Belong "Up Where We Belong" is a song written by Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Will Jennings that was recorded by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes for the 1982 film '' An Officer and a Gentleman''. Warnes was recommended to sing a song from the fi ...

". Although he was estranged from Young after castigating the singer-songwriter in a 1974 interview and commencing a relationship with his former partner, actress

Carrie Snodgress Caroline Louise Snodgress (October 27, 1945 – April 1, 2004) was an American actress. She is best remembered for her role in the film ''Diary of a Mad Housewife'' (1970), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award as w ...

, they reconciled by 1986. Young reconvened The Stray Gators for his 1992 ''

Harvest Moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic coordinate system, ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon opp ...

'' album, with

Spooner Oldham Dewey Lindon "Spooner" Oldham (born June 14, 1943) is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, at FAME Studios as part of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section on such hit R&B songs as Percy ...

replacing Nitzsche on keyboards. Nitzsche, however, did arrange the strings on "Such a Woman", as he had done on ''Harvest''.

Past members

;Former members *

–

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can p ...

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

, vocals *

– piano, vocals *

– bass *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Additional members *

– drums (1973; replacing Kenny Buttrey) *

– piano, vocals (1992) *

– rhythm guitar (1972; hired between ''Harvest'' and ''Time Fades Away'' tour; fired during rehearsals)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stray Gators Neil Young Musical backing groups