Acclaimed rock musician Neil Young today turns 73-years-old. Today is likely bittersweet for the twice-inducted member of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame who revealed his home was destroyed in the wildfires currently raging across California.
“Firefighters have never seen anything like this in their lives. I have heard that said countless times in the past two days,” Young wrote on his website, “And I have lost my home before to a California fire, now another.”
Young moved from Toronto, Canada to California in the mid-1960s and he’s had a residence in the Golden State ever since. His songs such as “Out On The Weekend,” “Heart Of Gold,” “L.A.,” “Revolution Blues” and “Hitchhiker” lyrically reference locations in California such as Laurel Canyon, the redwood forests and Los Angeles. Among Young’s most affectionate odes to California was included on his 1985 album Old Ways. The country-tinged record featured “California Sunset,” which Young performed live regularly between 1983 and 1985.
The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) shared information for those wishing to support the California wildfire relief efforts. Watch Neil Young & The International Harvesters performing “California Sunset” on Austin City Limits in 1984 below:
