Neil Young: Our Complete 1991 “Guitar Player” Interview (HD Audio)

On Songwriting, Soloing, Guitars and Amps, the Downsides of Digital, and More

At the time of our revealing and wide-ranging interview, Neil Young had just completed a tour with Sonic Youth and was doing publicity for his Arc and Weld concert CDs. We met for lunch on November 11, 1991, at a restaurant near Neil’s ranch in California’s Santa Cruz mountains. Neil’s longtime manager Elliot Roberts and a publicist for Reprise Records sat at a nearby table and occasionally chimed in during conversation. Throughout our hour-long conversation, Neil was relaxed, thoughtful, funny, and forthcoming.

An edited transcription of this interview ran as Guitar Player magazine’s June 1992 cover story. A complete transcription appears in my 2017 book Talking Guitar: Conversations With Musicians Who Shaped Twentieth Century American Music. I hope you enjoy the interview!

Thanks to Nik Hunt, who engineers and produces the Talking Guitar podcasts; Steve Weiss, Shaw Lentz, and rest of the staff of UNC’s Southern Folklife Collection; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and especially my paid subscribers for making these podcasts possible.

ⓒ Jas Obrecht 2023. All rights reserved.