The artist Neil Young was “petrified” performing for
Neil Young is renowned for his fearlessness. His appearance and diverse discography attest to his ability to effortlessly switch genres, making him one of the boldest artists of his generation. He has never been swayed by the opinions of record executives, prioritising his artistic vision above all else. However, even Young admitted to feeling a moment of hesitation during one of his performances when faced with the presence of country legend Johnny Cash.
Throughout his glory years, there was always a piece of Young’s discography that leaned slightly towards folk-rock. Whether it was with Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, or his own solo career, there would always be that mandatory time when Young would break out the acoustic guitar to create songs that were either cutting commentaries on society or lonesome tearjerkers from the moment they started.
Although the age of the singer-songwriter came right as Young was starting, he wasn’t planning on spending the rest of his days trying to be a Canadian answer to James Taylor. Right when many thought they had him in a box, he would continually switch up his style, embracing the sounds of heavily distorted rock and making the most caustic records of his career on albums like Rust Never Sleeps.
Just like Young was going against the status quo in his time, so too was Cash trying to reinvent the modern look of what a country artist was supposed to be. As much as he may have been able to sing his trademark lonesome ballads, ‘The Man In Black’ was always looking to make something slightly afield of the mainstream, either singing about shooting a man just to watch him die or performing some of his most intimate shows in prisons across the world.
At the height of Young’s fame, he eventually got the opportunity to perform alongside Cash on his TV show, performing soon-to-be classics like ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’. While Young made sure to keep everything professional, he admitted that he spent more time concerned about what one of his heroes was thinking of him from the wings.
Talking about that performance, Young talked about being shaken knowing that Cash was listening to him play, telling Conan O’Brien, “I really like Johnny Cash. I hardly even got to speak to him, but that’s okay; he was busy. It was the Johnny Cash Show. You got to realise in my eyes, doing this – I’m what, 23 years old, and I’m going on a television show. I was petrified, so I was thinking about the song I was going to sing and whether I was going to screw it up or not”.
Young may have been hesitant to even look in the general direction of Cash, but the country legend was still an admirer of what he did. During his final recordings in the 2000s, Young’s music would find its way into Cash’s repertoire, delivering a more poignant version of Young’s first major single, ‘Heart of Gold’.
Even though Young has always been focused on writing just one more good song, he probably knew he was on the right track when he heard that Cash was a fan of his work. Any artist might have their doubts, but getting a seal of approval from Johnny Cash is the mainstream equivalent of your song being canonised.
