Barn (2021)

Not to be confused with the barn at Broken Arrow ranch that resulted in the infamous “more barn!” quote, Barn is named after a rebuilt stagecoach stop in Colorado. Coming out of quarantine with the new Crazy Horse (Nils instead of Poncho), Neil sounds like he’s having a lot of fun on this album. The documentary I discuss below confirms that, but you can hear it in the way the band coalesces around these quite good songs. You never know what you’ll get from this group of age 70+ musicians, but Barn proves the Horse can still generate fire. And Neil’s writing, though still more blunt than his early years, feels insightful as ever. While the theme of climate pervades his topics, there is also a lot of social commentary about the state of the country and the weariness at what he sees.

Even though the band is older, I have to say this album is a good demonstration of just why I did not really like any of the Promise of the Real albums. Neil could play these songs with that band, but they would not have as much heat. I could easily see “Human Race” on The Monsanto Years or The Visitor, but there’s no way Neil would play it with such abandon. There’s just something about his relationship with Billy and Ralph in particular that takes him somewhere completely unique. And that’s the something that I like about Neil, I guess. Just to continue with “Human Race,” a song that is not really remarkable or fresh in terms of content, but listen to that guitar! I’ve never heard him play like that with POTR. Old Black sounds completely different when surrounded by the Horse. Neil has often said that the Horse allows him to play in a certain zone and takes him to specific places. Even at this elder age and with a line-up tweak, that unique recipe (“the spook” as Briggs would say) is still present.

I quite like “Song of the Seasons,” the first song and the first single from the album. The mix of Nils’ accordion and Neil’s harmonica is captivating (Nils might be the single most influential component of this album). It reminds me of some of the music I would hear on Type Records, that mix of eerie and pretty they did so well. The lyrics are as evocative as anything in the 70s. All in all, a great start to an overall very good album (I prefer this one to Colorado, for reference). “Heading West” is Neil in reflective mode, tying a bunch of small vignettes to a raucous guitar workout. A massive riff anchors this rocker as Neil talks about being a small boy and seeing his parents separate. That was the start of him in heading west, before eventually driving to California to start a band. The climate focused “Change Ain’t Never Gonna” is the most nakedly political on Barn, with lyrics that foretell January 6th, but as an uprising against green efforts:

Change ain’t never gonna come

They sang that together and they rose as one

To take on the great conspiracy against ‘em

Tryin’ to stop them from livin’

As they’d always be livin’

While this jangly honky tonk song is messy and a bit half-baked, the following “Canerican” has a great riff and chorus, despite the lyrics being slightly trite (as well as that pun. Ouch). But Old Black is ferocious on this song and that’s one of the things I’m here for with Neil. My only complaint is it feels cut short…and that the next song is unfortunately my least favorite on the album. “Shape of You” has perhaps the worst singing of Neil’s career, and the lyrics are as lame as could be. An easy cut song. What a shame that this milquetoast song is sandwiched between two stellar Horse songs with “They Might Be Lost” being one of Neil’s most expressive songs in years. It feels a bit related to “Song of the Seasons” but it’s just a song about waiting on a truck and having a smoke. Again, Nils contributes a lot to this song with his piano, allowing Neil to pour out his mood on harmonica and guitar. There’s something about this song that reminds me a lot of Dan Romer’s fantastic soundtrack for the stellar Station Eleven TV series.

Not a big fan of “Human Race” but stand by my earlier assessment of it showing an energy level Neil only gets with Crazy Horse. He’s working on a similar theme to songs like “Children of Destiny” and “Who’s Gonna Stand Up?,” but with more success, I feel. That guitar squelch in the last solo that leads into some classic Arc/Weld feedback is great. “Tumblin’ Through The Years” is sweet, has a lovely piano (this time it’s Neil on piano), but it feels like a retread of Storytone. I do like the chorus change, though.

Much was made of “Welcome Back” when Barn was released, mostly because of its length usually denoting lots of emotive guitar solos. It certainly has that in spades, featuring some delicate and expressive guitar. The knock is that Neil’s lyrics sound completely stream of conscious and don’t contribute to the overall strength of the song. Then you come back to that guitar… the solo in the middle of the song has some amazing feedback manipulation. No one plays like Neil and he never stops proving it. The song I find myself remembering the most on Barn, though, is “Don’t Forget Love,” a very simple song with a simple message of empathy. It doesn’t appear among my favorite songs, but its so memorable I can’t help but love it. It caps off Barn in a lovely way and makes me feel like this was a journey well worth taking.

Top 3:

1. They Might Be Lost
2. Welcome Back
3. Song of the Seasons

Cut Song: Shape of You

Daryl Hannah’s Grammy-nominated Barn documentary was one of the first things that got me started on this entire career retrospective. I came across it on YouTube and, having lost track of Neil over the couple years prior, decided to check it out. To my surprise, it was captivating, tender, and funny, all qualities I associate with listening to Neil. The subtitle A Band. A Brotherhood. A Barn. gives a hint at the main theme of the documentary. Despite this only being Nils second outing as an official Crazy Horse member, the association between band members and brothers is strong. It’s slightly dismissive of Frank “Poncho” Sampedro as the longest serving rhythm guitarist in Crazy Horse, but after all, Nils goes back to After the Gold Rush, and has played with Neil off and on over the years. So the message is that Crazy Horse is a brotherhood, no matter who’s currently a member.

Neil and his crew rebuilt an old stagecoach barn in Colorado, built a small stage inside and parked a mobile recording truck outside. The band piled in and just played the songs for a few days while Daryl filmed the good and the bad (like Billy immediately, like usual, fucking up a change on “Heading West”). In terms of recording, the log cabin construction of this barn is barely above recording outdoors, but the album sounds incredible, one of the rare Niko Bolas-produced records that doesn’t sound slightly synthetic. The landscape shots that surround the band footage are beautiful, but the intimate scenes of the bands talking and working through songs are equally gorgeous. Something you really get in the film is just how in-progress some of these songs were, with Nils being a big collaborator in finishing some songs (he’s the one you’ll find just noodling away when no one is looking). There are also many shots of dogs snoozing through the recording, proving that dogs can sleep in any environment.

As is common with Neil recording sessions, they built in time to practice the songs before the full moon cycle so they could lay down the masters at the full moon. It gives the proceedings a purposeful pace, letting the band coalesce around the songs with the right vibe. Everyone is treated like a person and not just a player. That’s really what the documentary gets across: this is a family (complete with birthday parties and Neil taking a leak in the middle of the field), not just a job. One of the best bits is towards the end when the the band finishes playing “Welcome Back” and Ralph is just loving it: “Neil was playing some heavy shit right there.” He just loves playing for Neil, especially when Neil goes off on a journey. That’s the brotherhood part for sure.

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