Steve Young
b. 12 July 1942, Noonan, Georgia, USA. Young has claimed to be the reincarnation of a cavalry officer in the American Civil War and one of his songs about reincarnation is In The Ways Of The Indian. He was raised in Alabama and his superb Montgomery In The Rain is about congregating around Hank Williams’ grave. Young played folk music in New York and various southern towns before moving to Los Angeles. In 1968 he recorded as part of the group Stone Country for RCA. Then in 1969, he made his first album, ROCK, SALT AND NAILS, for A&M Records with sessionmen including James Burton, Gene Clark and Gram Parsons. It included a song written while he was homesick, the pastoral and mystical Seven Bridges Road, which has been recorded by Rita Coolidge and Joan Baez and, with commercial success, by the Eagles. Young's albums often repeat songs but sometimes for good reason: ‘I originally did Lonesome, On'ry And Mean as a bluesy bluegrass song in 3/4, but Waylon Jennings turned it into a rocker in 4/4. I got intrigued by that and so I did it that way too.’ He dedicated the autobiographical Renegade Picker to Jerry Lee Lewis because ‘he refuses to play it safe’. NO PLACE TO FALL, was delayed because RCA were too busy pressing Elvis Presley albums following his death and Young's career lost momentum. He also had to combat drug and alcohol addiction. ‘Every waking moment I was drinking and I just didn't care. I don't do drink or drugs anymore, but I am into Zen meditation, which certainly helps my creativity.’ Although Young is better known as a songwriter, his only US country success is with Willie Nelson's It's Not Supposed To Be That Way. He has made several engaging UK appearances, often in country clubs and with a sense of humour which belies his grim material. ‘I don't think of myself as a country singer or a folk singer. What I do comes from Southern roots, American roots, and I just let it go where it goes.’