Who can be sure which is the hardest, to be the child of an iconic rock star trying to make a career in music, or the wife of an iconic rock star who has decided to record her own music and take it to the public?
Consider Julian Lennon and Jakob Dylan. Or Yoko Ono for that matter. They've all had to suffer the slings and arrows of nitpicking critics or armchair commentators with a disdain for coattail riding.
Now we have Pegi Young, wife of rock/folk legend Neil Young, to consider. Be gentle, she's way too nice a person to trash. Not that there's any reason to do so.
Pegi has had an interest in music and the itch to write songs since she was a young girl, yet until fairly recently, she didn't have the courage or time to realize her dreams.
With her children grown and the Bridge School she and Neil co-founded running well, she now has the space in her life to explore who she is as an individual and as an artist.
Her first album, "Pegi Young" (Warner Bros.), will be released to the public June 26. Her appearance Friday at the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur will mark her debut as a performing singer/songwriter in her own right.
She has three "local" gigs in all. Sunday evening she'll perform at The Attic in Santa Cruz and Tuesday she'll perform at the Little Fox Theatre in Redwood City.
"It hopefully will be cool and people will like it," she said from the ranch she and Neil share at the north end of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Pegi, married to Neil for almost 30 years, has performed on stage with him
over the years at the Bridge School Benefit Concert, an annual event held
at the Shoreline Amphitheater and as a backup singer in Neil's various
bands since about 2000.
When it came time for her to make this recording, she didn't want to
ask Neil to be on it, so she didn't.
He showed up to check out how things were going her first day in the
studio on the ranch.
The second day he was sitting in, offering his stinging guitar solos
and plaintive harmonica playing. When asked if he planned to appear with
his wife at these shows, she was coy.
"You know, that's a good question," she said, "of which
I have no answer. I'm not really going to ask and he's not going to
say."
So it's anyone's guess, but I wouldn't be too surprised if he showed.
On her 11-song record though, she managed to snag a few heavyweight
friends of Neil's to be involved.
Most of the music has a decidedly mellow tone to it, with shades of
country music and folk rock. Her voice is distinctively warm and
sweet-sounding.
"Having Ben play on it, the masterful Ben Keith, you can't get
away from the pedal steel and the dobro. So there's some country influence
that just comes in. I think it's more that I admire him as a musician and
I'm so honored to have him play on my record.
"Ben played on Patsy Cline's 'I Fall To Pieces.' I've known him
for many, many years. He's played in different configurations in Neil's
different bands. He has played as an augmented member of Crazy Horse. He
was on the Friends & Relatives Tour in 2000. He played on 'Harvest.'
He's been with Neil for 30-plus years. I know his touch and manner of
playing, and I hoped he would be willing to play on my record and he did,
along with Spooner Oldham, another one of these incredibly great
musicians. He played the quintessential part on Aretha's 'Respect,' and he
was part of the whole Muscle Shoals group. I've just got these magnificent
players on my record. I guess I don't really think of it as a country
record, although I did mix it all in Nashville. So certainly there is that
influence."
For her live band she has Keith, guitarist/vocalist Anthony Crawford,
and bassist Rick Rosas.
"He's just phenomenal, too. It's just a really great live
band," she said.
The San Mateo-born musician grew up in the Bay Area during the heyday
of the Haight Ashbury scene, enjoying the eclectic music choices at the
Fillmore, Avalon and Winterland during her high school years.
She hitchhiked cross-country to visit her brother in Vermont, and when
she returned, she bought a friend's teepee and camped out on the land. She
met Neil at the bar where she worked serving drinks.
"Well, the night I met him I wasn't actually working," she
said. "I had stopped in and I was with people I knew. I think I was
out shooting pool, whiling away my youth. Wasting my youth or something.
That's where we met, around a pool table. He owned this property where we
live at that point. He had purchased it a few years before. I had always
wanted to live out in these hills, and I'd been tromping around here since
I was a kid. It was kind of a natural thing. It's all good."
In that spirit, give Pegi Young a try. I think you'll be glad you did.
