Jeff’s Playlist: American Stars ‘n Bars

Neil Young — American Stars ’n Bars

This album fea­tures Neil and his usu­al char­ac­ters record­ed from 1974 through 1977. All of these songs were new to me, and many of them I will nev­er for­get. Give it a lis­ten; I think you will like much of this album.

The music video is from YouTube; album infor­ma­tion is from Wikipedia.

Track list­ing

All songs writ­ten by Neil Young except as indicated.

Side one

Performed by Neil Young, Crazy Horse and the Bullets; record­ed in April 1977.

No.      Title    Writer(s)         Length
1.         “The Old Country Waltz”                2:58
2.         “Saddle Up the Palomino”  Neil Young, Tim Drummond, Bobby Charles 3:00
3.         “Hey Babe”                                      3:35
4.         “Hold Back the Tears”                    4:18
5.         “Bite the Bullet”                               3:30

Side two
No.      Title    Recording date         Length
1.         “Star of Bethlehem”             November 1974        2:42
2.         “Will to Love”                        May 1976                  7:11
3.         “Like a Hurricane”                November 1975        8:20
4.         “Homegrown”                       November 1975        2:20

Personnel

Neil Young – vocals, gui­tars; har­mon­i­ca on “Star of Bethlehem”; glock­en­spiel, key­board, piano, vibes, drums on “Will to Love“
Frank “Poncho” Sampedro – gui­tars all tracks except “Star of Bethlehem” and “Will to Love”; syn­the­siz­er on “Like a Hurricane”; back­ing vocals on “Like a Hurricane” and “Homegrown“
Ben Keith – ped­al steel gui­tar on “The Old Country Waltz”, “Saddle Up the Palomino”, “Hey Babe”, “Hold Back the Tears” and “Bite the Bullet”; Dobro, back­ing vocal on “Star of Bethlehem“
Carole Mayedo – vio­lin on “The Old Country Waltz”, “Saddle Up the Palomino”, “Hey Babe”, “Hold Back the Tears” and “Bite the Bullet“
Billy Talbot – bass all tracks except “Star of Bethlehem” and “Will to Love“
Tim Drummond – bass on “Star of Bethlehem“
Ralph Molina – drums all tracks except “Star of Bethlehem” and “Will to Love”; back­ing vocal on “Like a Hurricane” and “Homegrown“
Karl T. Himmel – drums on “Star of Bethlehem“
Linda Ronstadt, Nicolette Larson – back­ing vocals on “The Old Country Waltz”, “Saddle Up the Palomino”, “Hey Babe”, “Hold Back the Tears” and “Bite the Bullet“
Emmylou Harris – har­mo­ny vocal on “Star of Bethlehem”

Released       May 27, 1977
Recorded       December 13, 1974-April 4, 1977
Studio            Quadrafonic, Nashville; Broken Arrow Ranch, Redwood City, California; Indigo Recording Studio, Malibu
Length            37:54
Label              Reprise, Warner Bros.
Producer        Neil Young, David Briggs, Tim Mulligan Elliot Mazer “Star of Bethlehem”