Q&A with Nils Lofgren

One of the most recognizable parts of one of Neil Young’s most beloved songs is the piano in “After the Gold Rush.” Nils Lofgren was 18 – with no piano training -- when he recorded that part nearly 40 years ago -- back in 1970. For Lofgren, It was the beginning of a long and influential relationship with Young and his longtime producer David Briggs.

This summer, on his label Vision Acoustic, Lofgren released “The Loner: Nils Sings Neil” as a tribute to Briggs, who died in 1995, and to Young and his music. The CD is available through nilslofgren.com.

Lofgren spoke to The Star recently about the album, his tutelage under Briggs and Young and his current tour with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which comes to Sprint Center on Sunday.

Talk about how this Neil Young project evolved into a full-length CD.

My manager, Anson, suggested the idea based on my history with Neil Young. The two most popular items in the last 14 years on my Web site, which is what I do without a record company, are the “Acoustic Live” CD and “Live Acoustic” DVD. In acoustic format, he brought me this idea of doing this in the acoustic format, which I really wouldn’t have thought of myself, frankly.

I assembled 25 to 30 of my favorite Neil Young songs quickly off the top of my head and made tapes and started listening to tapes and started driving around town singing along. I get up very early and I’d also sing to the dogs and cats a few hours each morning. Without belaboring any song, some of the songs made the transition from decent karaoke to something I hoped was more special.

I wanted it to be a quick and emotional project, in the spirit of the “Tonight’s the Night” and “After the Gold Rush” records I made with David Briggs producing and Neil Young. As soon 10 or 12 songs had that made that transition, I went with those and ended up with 15 that worked.

I also realized that this had to be completed in my home studio with no overdubs. With that as the premise, I just turned on the tape recorders but for two weeks before that, I sang a lot more songs than these 15 to find out which would become special.

How long did recording take?

Recording took a week and a half, very part-time, very casual. I put the songs in a key where I could sing them live at 6 a.m. so I could sing day or night -- anytime I wanted to. That’s the advantage of having a home studio: When the mood hit I’d turn on my setup.

If I was excited about a song I’d record it three times, then walk away. The next day I’d come back and listen not as a singer but as a producer and I’d just listen.

I learned something from David Briggs at a very young age: If you’re doing something like this, listen to the vocal presentation. If the singer is in the moment with every syllable, that’s the take. It doesn’t matter if my picks banging the guitar or if I’m little out of tune or there’s another noise; it’s all about delivering the lyric in a stark, intimate format. That’s why I gave David production credit.

What do you remember most about that period when you started working with him and Neil Young?

It was a real wonderful, scary period. I left school and struck out of New York with my band, Grin. We were planning on going to L.A. I used to sneak backstage when I could and ask a lot of questions. I was a beginner as a professional musician. As much as I loved music, I realized that had nothing to do with the business I now was in.

I’d snuck backstage to see Neil Young and Crazy Horse. He was very kind to me. He had me sing a few songs for him. Next thing I knew I’d seen four shows in two days at the Cellar Door and spent some time hanging out with him. He called me from the road and reminded me to look him up when I got to L.A., which I did.

To make a long, long story short, after some ups and downs David Briggs quickly took me under his wing and moved me into his home. While we were finding our way as a band, a year later, when I was 18, Neil asked me to do “After the Gold Rush,” mostly as a pianist – and I didn’t play piano, which was also fascinating. I sang and played guitar, but David and Neil both felt that because of my 10 years studying classical accordion I could come up with some simple piano parts.

It was all a fascinating, overwhelming adventure. I’ve got to say, living with David for a year and seeing Neil regularly before that happened was huge. Even though I was intimated and overwhelmed at that point, they were good friends and big brothers to me.

You got a guitar out of the deal.

Yeah. I didn’t own an acoustic. So when I had to play acoustic guitar Neil lent me his old funky (Martin) D-18, which he later gave me as a gift. That was the obvious guitar for this project almost 40 years later. It’s my most treasured guitar. It stays locked up in a guitar closet. I use it a lot in recording but I never travel with it.

David Briggs told me Neil wrote (songs) on that guitar and to this day I still haven’t had a chance to grill Neil in more depth about the history of this guitar.

What do you remember about the “Tonight’s the Night” sessions?

That was kind of another beautiful adventure. It was like a wake for Danny Whitten and Bruce Barry. From my perspective it was a great excuse to hang out and commiserate with some friends who felt the loss as much as me and make some music and work through it.

It was a theme project. We recorded it live at the SIR rehearsals. David Briggs kind of ran the ship and the sessions. The theme was not only live in the studio, kind of an antithesis to production -- I think Neil even used the term “anti-production record.” With Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills and Nash, he’d done some beautiful production. He wanted people to hear not only a completely live and raw presentation but he wanted people to hear how it sounded when his band didn’t really know the songs that well.

Again it came back to that “Look, I’m going for live. I’m not gonna change a thing when I get the vocal I want, so whatever you played -- unless you’ve died and landed on your instrument -- that’s the take.” Ralphie (Molina) and I unsuccessfully lobbied regularly to redo our singing. There was nothing really wrong with it, but it was like “Hey I kind of forgot what I was doing” or “I really didn’t know the words” and he was “Yeah, but you were into it, and that’s the thing. Just stay in to it; trust your instincts. When I get a vocal take, we’re done.”

Listen it’s a great record -- rough and raw and not for everyone at all times. For me it was another great project with Neil Young, who is still as great a songwriter as we have.

You have a distinctive voice. Have you ever had any vocal training?

No. I just started singing as a teenager. In the early days of Grin I kept trying to scream like Paul Rogers or Rod Stewart or Muddy Waters or Howling Wolf. I eventually gave that up. I realized I had a gentler voice and I should learn to be comfortable with it and go with what I got.

Like on “Black Book.” I first heard that on “The Sopranos” and would never have guessed it was you. It must have been nice to get some exposure for a great song like that.

That was a song from “Damaged Goods,” a very obscure record of mine from the mid-1990s. It became a favorite in my live acoustic shows and is on my “Acoustic Live” CD. It’s one of my favorites, a haunting tale of a strange, tragic relationship.

How did David Chase find it?

After one of our Madison Square Garden shows with the E Street Band, back in I believe 2000, my wife, Amy, and I were backstage chatting with David Chase and some of the “Sopranos” – of course we were all very proud of the work of our guitarist and singer Stevie (Van Zandt) on that show – and Amy gave David Chase the “Acoustic Live” CD.

Soon after that we got a note from him and his wife thanking us and telling us how much he enjoyed it. The next thing we knew he wanted to use it in the second season. Where he used it – Carmela is seriously entertaining the idea she might have to leave Tony – it gave me chills. And I wrote the thing. I wasn’t used to hearing it in that light. It was very powerful.

I was aware of Grin, but not so aware of your solo career. Sorry.

Look, I’ve been off grid for 14 years, no record company. When I was on the grid, I had no big records. I chug along with a Web site. A lot of people don’t know I write or sing. They know I play guitar for Bruce or Neil and I was in a band with Ringo. I think some people come to my shows expecting to hear nothing but instrumentals. But usually after the show, someone is at the CD table, pleasantly surprised, buying a CD.

You are about to start the last leg of this tour with the E Street Band. How is this tour different from previous tours?

Having a new record is great. One of the great things about Bruce is not only do we arrange old songs, we’ve got new songs. This tour more than any highlights how great the band is. We went from the traditional five weeks of preparation down to three, which was personally a challenge for me. But it went great.

The band is doing some of the best shows we’ve ever done. We have the last two weeks coming up, and even though off-stage sometimes we look like a M*A*S*H unit – with ice packs and heating pads – we’re still doing some of the best shows ever. We’re all still growing and learning. … It was the last chance we all had to play with Danny (Federici). We miss him terribly. It hit us all hard. But it has been great having these live shows to help us navigate that.

Have you recorded any new songs?

When we were doing “Magic” -- there’s always some tracks left behind. Past that, out of respect to Bruce, they kind of prefer that any information about him comes from him, so I’m going to leave it at that.

You are a virtual guitar teacher on the side, right?

Yes. I’ve started this beginner’s guitar school. All these years people tell me they’d love to play guitar for fun but they have no talent or rhythm so they’re not a allowed to. I’m trying to dispel that myth. If you love music, you don’t need talent or rhythm. You need a good teacher and a little time.

Teachers tend to make it hard. Like, “Hey, this is going to be hard for nine months, then you’ll learn a song.” People live complicated lives. They have kids, parents, pets, crazy bosses. Time is at a premium.

The point of the beginner’s school is: Here’s the hard stuff. Don’t let it frustrate you too much, but it will be hard. It’s gymnastics for the hands. It’s going to take a while. It’s a lifelong process. I’m still learning. I still get cramps; I still get blisters. But here are some things you can do with only one finger today that sounds and feels like music. I encourage people to do that for the last five or 10 minutes before they walk away so they’ll be more excited about the harder stuff.

How many students do you have?

It’s very grassroots. I put up a lesson every three to four weeks. You can download them and own them for life. More than 100 people took the first lesson, more than 80 took the second lesson and 60 for the third. So there are people who didn’t give up after the first lesson, which is the point.

| Timothy Finn, The Star

Comments

[Scorp]

Excellent interview Tim.

[DLC]

Just got Lofgren's self titled solo album last week and was really glad to see this piece. Nice job!

[wadkc]

I had the pleasure of eating dinner with Nils when he toured with his brother about 5-6 years ago. They had a concert at the Beaumont Club that night that totally blew me away. He couldn't have been more interesting and gracious. We conversed about music but the conversation never once had "Bruce" in it. He's the real deal. We should have his voice in any discussion about top 10 singers.

[Tim Finn]

How the hell did I miss that show?