Creating The Album “Colorado” Was Therapeutic For Neil Young

The making of the new album Colorado was therapeutic for Neil Young, Crazy Horse guitarist Nils Lofgren said. The catalog was recorded after Young lost his home to a forest fire, ex-wife Pegi’s death, while he was battling health issues.

Lofgren told Uncut in an interview, “I love Pegi, I love Neil, I have such a long history with them. Just such a heartbreaking thing. And all the stuff he’s gone through with his own health, that I just felt that he wanted to play it all – he kept going out and singing and letting the music, which I believe is the planet’s sacred weapon, work through him and help him and his family.”

The recording sessions weren’t just therapeutic for Young, but for the other members as well. Lofgren said, “We get older, we all got stuff going on. It was very therapeutic and healing – the ragged inspiration of it, playing with old friends and creating something new. It won’t bring anyone back, but it reminds you their spirits are with you and they want you to carry on.”

Colorado was supposed to be Young’s solo venture, where Lofgren recalls playing some of the songs on their tour last year, saying, “I remember how ‘Green Is Blue’ deeply affected me,” he recalled. “I didn’t realize I’d be recording it with Crazy Horse months later!”

Lofgren also details that there were plans to continue recording after the album sessions, but said that “when we left, we all felt really good about it. Neil was off to Europe to play festival shows with Promise of the Real. He thought maybe we’d get back together in August and do some more recording. Then, as the weeks went by, he did some serious listening and figured he had a record he felt great about already. We didn’t need to keep going at it.”