NEIL YOUNG contains multitudes. In a career spanning six decades, many different Neils have emerged – Neil the loner, Neil the activist, Neil the superstar, Neil the country singer, Neil the bandleader and Neil the rebel among them. Ahead of Young’s 80th birthday this month, STEPHEN STILLS , GRAHAM NASH , EMMYLOU HARRIS , NILS LOFGREN , PATTERSON HOOD , THURSTON MOORE , MICAH NELSON , RANDY BACHMAN and MARGO PRICE offer their highlights of a fearless, single-minded artist, one driven to spontaneous creation and rapid emotional responses. “He radically changes his mind and his direction, to the shock of everyone,” says one of his oldest compadres. “But then, he’s done this all his life.”

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After two decades tilling the soil of Louisville’s fertile underground scene, Ryan Davis is finally coming up roses. His two albums with The Roadhouse Band have placed him at the vanguard of a new wave of wry, literate bandleaders putting a fresh spin on fuzzy country-rock. “We’ve only ever followed our own North Star,” Davis tells Sam Richards, of his band’s long road to renown. “Now, for whatever reason, we’ve somehow circumnavigated the whole shitshow!”

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