Old Ways (1985)

Okay. 1985. The middle of Reagan’s reign and Neil has seemingly become a supporter. Based on everything else known about Neil to this point, that makes almost no sense. To be brutally honest, I think there are two explanations. Either he was playing another character (like Hawks & Doves) or he was duped by the GOP into believing the talking points about Republicans being for farmers and the working class. He makes numerous plays for “family values” on Old Ways, but also in the press. Including the 1985 Melody Maker interview where he uses a horrendously offensive slur and makes destructive statements about gays. Thirty years later he says “gay is good” and celebrates gay marriage in 2015. Thankfully he also backtracks on the Reagan stuff. On the other hand, he also said typically myopic statements about welfare at the same time he promoted Farm Aid. There are a lot of contradictory and low moments in Neil’s public persona. It’s difficult to wrestle with as a fan. The closest analogy I can come up with is family. It’s difficult to love family members with terrible views but you hold them to account when you can and love what you can. More than any artist, I can’t separate my life from Neil’s music, so I need to come to terms with the bad as well as the good.

Old Ways seems like two things to me: a parody of country and a disingenuous demonstration of “good old boy” conservatism that just sounds bad. He has an army of Nashville people on it to lend it credibility, but it’s overly schmaltzy. Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, etc. Bela Fleck shows up to play banjo! I’ll be honest, I do not like this kind of country at all. I think Neil has done good country-adjacent music before, on Harvest and Comes a Time for example, but this is taking the most commercial and sappy version of the genre and playing it insincerely. I’d personally rate this below the last two albums, which is likely an unpopular opinion given the reputation those two have.

Among the aggravating things on this album, the biggest for me is the way he seemingly casts criticism on his past career. After the standard “The Wayward Wind” and its overblown production and sentimentality, “Get Back to the Country” has Neil saying he always knew he could get back “to where it all began.” It sounds a bit desperate to me. Then we get the Willie Nelson duet “Are There Are Any More Real Cowboys?” and it’s enough to make me roll my eyes. The rose tinted glasses for America’s bygone ruggedness and realness is a sentiment that we saw turned on its head in recent years, being used by the worse people for their own gain. It’s difficult to malign the sappy “Once an Angel,” especially since Pegi Young died of cancer a few years ago. I’m sure he meant this song when he wrote it, but it’s a bit trite (most love songs are, of course). I’d love to hear “Misfits” in a different arrangement as the lyrics are prime Neil weirdness, but this arrangement is overwrought and stilted.

Neil’s ode to his adopted state, “California Sunset,” is curious on a country album with so many conservative leanings until you remember the Reagan connection. It’s pretty by-the-numbers. “Old Ways” is an irony-laced song about saying you’ll change your ways for the better, but you never end up doing that. He makes it a self-deprecating source of pride. Which I’m sure played well to the crowds he was targeting.

Like “Once an Angel,” it’s hard to criticize “My Boy” and its very lovely lament for watching his first son Zeke grow up. It’s the prettiest and best song on Old Ways, and it’s another one I’d like to hear in a more stripped down arrangement. Waylon Jennings joins Neil on “Bound for Glory” and honestly I would have been into an album that hewed closer to the feel of this one. Neil sounds more natural and it has great piano lines. The tale of a trucker and a hitchhiker both down on their luck and finding some solace with each other is a bit suspect and shot through with America nostalgia, but it’s well put together and poignant. “Where is the Highway Tonight?” ends the song in a very similar vein, a forlorn and wistful love story that kind of meanders in and out of focus.

So yeah, for me this is Neil’s lowest point, both professionally and personally. After a few years of experimenting in different genres, he goes head first into one and it seems to bring out the worst in his worldview for awhile.

A Treasure documents the 1984-1985 International Harvesters tour with the band he put together for Old Ways. In a lot of ways, it’s a much better dive into commercial country than the album it supports. It feels more sincere, more lively, and what you expect from Neil moving into country rock. I can’t say it’s something I’d go back to any more than Old Ways (there’s a truly atrocious song called “Nothing is Perfect” that makes me think this is a put-on even more), but the closing number “Grey Riders” is astounding. It sounds of a kind with the rest of the country songs but then dives head long into classic Old Black feedback at regular intervals, giving it a more rock-forward and experimental bent. I think this live album gives more context and life to Neil’s jump to country. Which makes sense since Neil is always best when he’s closer to live takes. Excessive overdubbing and production feels at odds with him at the best of times.