Old Ways

Old Ways
Studio album by Neil Young
Released	August 12, 1985
Recorded	January 1983 - April 1985 at House Of David, Nashville; The Castle, Franklin TN; Pedernales Recording Studio, Spicewood, TX and live at The Opry, Austin TX
Genre	Country
Length	36:43
Label	Geffen
Producer	Neil Young, David Briggs, Ben Keith and Elliot Mazer
Neil Young chronology
Everybody's Rockin' (1983) Old Ways (1985) Landing on Water (1986)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	(B)[2]
Rolling Stone	(favorable)[3]
Kerrang!	[4]

Old Ways is the fourteenth studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released in 1985. Young refers to this album in interviews as Old Ways II, as he had originally planned to release a country album titled Old Ways in 1983. Geffen objected to this, asking Young for a "rock 'n roll" album, which Young would give them in the form of Everybody's Rockin'. Old Ways I would have contained many still-unreleased songs, one of which was "Depression Blues", which appeared on Young's Geffen-era compilation Lucky Thirteen.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Neil Young; except where indicated

Side one

1. "The Wayward Wind" – (Herb Newman, Stanley Lebowsky) 3:12
2. "Get Back to the Country" – 2:50
3. "Are There Any More Real Cowboys?" – 3:03
4. "Once an Angel" – 3:55
5. "Misfits" – 5:07

Side two

1. "California Sunset" – 2:56
2. "Old Ways" – 3:08
3. "My Boy" – 3:37
4. "Bound for Glory" – 5:48
5. "Where Is the Highway Tonight?" – 3:02

Personnel

• Neil Young: guitar, banjo-guitar, harmonica, vocal
• Waylon Jennings: guitar, vocal
• Willie Nelson: guitar, vocal
• Rufus Thibodeaux: fiddle
• Ben Keith: pedal steel guitar, dobro
• Tim Drummond: bass
• Karl Himmel: drums
• Joe Allen: bass (electric & upright)
• Ralph Mooney: pedal steel guitar
• Hargus "Pig" Robbins: piano
• Gordon Terry: fiddle
• Joe Osborn: bass
• Anthony Crawford: mandolin, vocal
• Terry McMillan: harmonica, jew's harp
• Béla Fleck: banjo
• Bobby Thompson: banjo
• David Kirby: guitar
• Grant Boatwright: guitar
• Johnny Christopher: guitar
• Ray Edenton: guitar
• Gove Scrivenor: autoharp
• Farrell Morris: percussion
• Marty Stuart: mandolin
• Carl Gorodetzky: violin
• Spooner Oldham: piano
• Larry Byrom: vocal
• Rick Palombi: vocal
• Doana Cooper: vocal
• Denise Draper: vocal
• Gail Davies: vocal
• Betsy Hammer: vocal
• Pam Rose: vocal
• Janis Oliver-Gill: vocal
• Mary Ann Kennedy: vocal
• Kristine Oliver-Arnold: vocal
• Leona Williams: vocal
• Strings:
  • Carl Gorodetsky, leader
  • George Binkley
  • John Borg
  • Roy Christensen
  • Virginia Christensen
  • Charles Everett
  • Larry Harvin
  • Mark Hembree
  • Lee Larrison
  • Betty McDonald
  • Dennis Molchan
  • Pamela Sixfin
  • Mark Tanner
  • David Vanderkooi
  • Gary Vanosdale
  • Carol Walker
  • Stephanie Woolf
• JT Cantwell: Assistant Engineer

Chart performance

References