''Old Ways'' is the 14th studio album by Canadian / American musician and 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 Fu ...

, released on August 12, 1985 on

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

Background

Young has referred to this album in interviews as ''Old Ways II'', as he had originally planned to release a country album titled ''Old Ways'' in 1983. Young's record label, Geffen, objected to this, asking Young for a "rock 'n roll" album, which Young would give them in the form of 1983's ''

Everybody's Rockin' ''Everybody's Rockin'' is the 13th studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on August 1, 1983. The album was recorded with the Shocking Pinks (a band made up just for the occasion), and features a selection of rockabilly s ...

''. After a lawsuit with Geffen ended in a settlement in favor of Young, he proceeded to complete the unfinished ''Old Ways'' by writing a few additional songs to fill it out. ''Old Ways I'' would have contained many still-unreleased songs, one of which, "Depression Blues," would later appear on Young's Geffen-era compilation '' Lucky Thirteen''. The title track and "Get Back to the Country" were released as singles with accompanying music videos, but like with his previous videos, MTV largely ignored them. The album was a near-total commercial and critical failure, and remains one of Young's lowest-selling albums to date. Despite the poor reception, he nonetheless toured ''Old Ways'' and played material from it live along with some of his old concert staples. Young received far more attention during this time for his reunion with

David Crosby David Van Cortlandt Crosby (born August 14, 1941) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Crosby joined the Byrds in 1964. They got ...

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 co ...

, 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 ...

at ''

Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...

'' for the first performance of the quartet in a decade.

Track listing

Personnel

*Neil Young – guitar, banjo-guitar, harmonica, vocals *

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

– guitar, vocals *

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

– guitar, vocals * Rufus Thibodeaux – fiddle *

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 ...

– pedal steel guitar, dobro *

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, Jame ...

– bass *Karl Himmel – drums *Joe Allen – electric & upright bass *

Ralph Mooney Ralph Mooney (September 16, 1928 – March 20, 2011) was an American steel guitar player and was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1983. He was the original steel guitarist in Haggard's band, the Strangers. A native of Duncan, Okl ...

– pedal steel guitar *

Hargus "Pig" Robbins Hargus Melvin Robbins (January 18, 1938 – January 30, 2022), known by his nickname "Pig," was an American session keyboard player. Having played on records for many artists, including John Stewart, Dolly Parton, Connie Smith, Patti Page, Lor ...

– piano *

Gordon Terry Gordon Terry (October 7, 1931 – April 9, 2006) was an American bluegrass and country music fiddler and guitarist. He was a member of Merle Haggard's backing band The Strangers. He was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the ...

– fiddle *

Joe Osborn Joseph Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018Anthony Crawford Anthony Crawford may refer to: * Anthony Crawford (bass musician), American musician, producer and songwriter *Anthony Crawford (musician), American musician * Anthony Crawford (lynching victim), African American man who was killed by a lynch mob i ...

– mandolin, vocals *

Terry McMillan Terry McMillan (born October 18, 1951) is an American novelist. Her work centers around the experiences of Black women in the United States. Early life McMillan was born in Port Huron, Michigan. She received a B.A. in journalism in 1977 from ...

– harmonica, jew's harp *

Béla Fleck Béla Anton Leoš Fleck (born July 10, 1958) is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, bringing the instrument from its bluegrass roots to jazz, classi ...

– banjo * Bobby Thompson – banjo *David Kirby – guitar *Grant Boatwright – guitar *Johnny Christopher – guitar *Ray Edenton – guitar *

Gove Scrivenor Richard Gove Scrivenor (b. September 18, 1945 New Haven, Connecticut) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Scrivenor is an autoharp and guitar player, and includes the instrument in many of his songs. He plays predominantly country a ...

–

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of ...

*Farrell Morris – percussion *

Marty Stuart John Marty Stuart (born September 30, 1958) is an American country and bluegrass music singer, songwriter, and musician. Active since 1968, Stuart initially toured with Lester Flatt, and then in Johnny Cash's road band before beginning work as ...

– mandolin *Carl Gorodetzky – violin *

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 S ...

– piano *

Larry Byrom Steppenwolf was an American-Canadian rock band that was prominent from 1968 to 1972. The group was formed in late 1967 in Los Angeles by lead singer John Kay, keyboardist Goldy McJohn, and drummer Jerry Edmonton, all formerly of the Canadian ...

– vocals *Rick Palombi – vocals *Doana Cooper – vocals *Denise Draper – vocals *

Gail Davies Gail Davies (born Patricia Gail Dickerson; June 5, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and the first female record producer in country music. She is the daughter of country singer Tex Dickerson and the sister of songwriter Ron Davies. Gail' ...

– vocals *Betsy Hammer – vocals *Pam Rose – vocals * Janis Oliver-Gill – vocals *Mary Ann Kennedy – vocals * Kristine Oliver-Arnold – vocals *Leona Williams – vocals *Strings: **Carl Gorodetsky – leader **George Binkley **John Borg **Roy Christensen **Virginia Christensen **Charles Everett **Larry Harvin **Mark Hembree **Lee Larrison **Betty McDonald **Dennis Molchan **Pamela Sixfin **Mark Tanner **David Vanderkooi **Gary Vanosdale **Carol Walker **Stephanie Woolf *JT Cantwell – assistant engineer

Recording personnel

*Neil Young – producer *

– producer * David Briggs – producer *Gene Eichelberger – engineer *Keith Odle – second engineer *Clark Schleicher – recording assistant *J.T. Cantwell – recording assistant

Chart performance

References

Neil Young albums 1985 albums Albums produced by David Briggs (producer) Geffen Records albums Albums produced by Elliot Mazer Albums produced by Ben Keith Albums produced by Neil Young Country rock albums by Canadian artists {{1980s-country-album-stub