- Steve
Young
- ....Renegade
Picker
to the final services for my brother, Roy Dea. I feel it was a sincere
message from one who knew him and it put into words deep felt feelings
of all members of my family. It is a message carved in stone...literally.
Roy's wife Delores chose to have it carved on my brother's headstone
when he was buried in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1997 forever reminding
us of his lifetime's work and love of...music.
Steve Young has been quoted as saying, "I want to keep moving toward
the truth. Toward more humane and spiritual things. To me, music is more
than just a product - it is a reflection on humanity."
I feel Steve Young is
a reflection of all that is true and compassionate
in humanity. Waylon
Jennings has been quoted as saying,
"Steve Young could be the
Bob Dylan of country music. He's not
country, not pop, not folk.
He has no earthly idea of how great he is.
I believe in the dude. If
he gets any better, I'll kill him." He was later
quoted as saying: "He's the
only one on the scene who has the
possibility of being universal."
in his opinion of Steve Young. Not only is he universal, as Waylon so
appropriately opined, "..... the music does live on."
- -Donnis Dea Coleman
Steve
Young has been described in many ways.. Singer, Songwriter,
Guitar Man Troubadour, Southern Man, Mystic....country/folk/rock/blues
musician, dynamic guitar player, chilling singer and exceptional songwriter.
While the following doesn't begin to encompass the many years, miles, and
musical accomplishments of Steve Young, it touches a few highlights leading
up to when the paths of Steve and Roy Dea would come to cross. The whole
Steve Young story is very aptly presented at "STEVE YOUNG ONLINE."
"...excerpts from Steve Young Online.."
Steve Young was born in Georgia and grew up in
Alabama, Georgia, and
Texas in a family which moved frequently in search
of work. By the time
he had completed high school in Beaumont, Texas,
he was playing guitar
and writing songs which incorporated influences
of musicians like Elvis
Presley, Carl Perkins, and of course, Hank Williams.
He immersed himself briefly in the Greenwich
Village folk scene, at a time
when Bob Dylan and others were just being noticed.
Searching for more receptive audiences, he made
short forays to California
and other locations before moving to the West
Coast in 1964. In California,
he worked with musicians like Van Dyke Parks
and Stephen Stills, at one
point holding a day job as a mailman.
In 1968 he recorded with a group called the Stone
Country Band for RCA.
A year later A&M Records signed him as a
solo artist, and released
"Rock Salt and Nails," featuring his friends
Gram Parsons, Gene Clark and
Chris Hillman. Admirer Andy Wickham signed Steve
to Reprise in 1971.
Some tracks were recorded in L.A. with Ry Cooder
and others, but they were shelved in favor of a Nashville production.
"There was a lot of friction
between the Nashville players and me, because
of the way they were used to
doing things, but it came out quite well", Steve
relates. The title cut has since
been covered by Tracy Nelson, Ian Mathews, Rita
Coolidge, Joan Baez, and,
most recently and most successfully, the Eagles.
A small label called Mountain Railroad,
run by Steve Powers entered the
picture. Some live recordings of Steve captured
for the first time his dazzling picking (Rambling Man), while the other
songs from that album in this set are Johnny Horton's Honky Tonk Man and
Steve's own "Alabama Highway".
In notes penned for the album's reissue on Rounder
in 1984, John Lomax III
wrote: "If stardom was awarded on the basis of
talent alone, Steve Young
would be right up there with Willie and Hank,
Jr. If you take the time to listen intently to these intense yet quiet
slices of emotion you will understand why
Steve Young is revered by all the better known
and richer musicians in the
field of music creation."
- Meanwhile, in Nashville Jennings had recorded
Steve's "Lonesome, On'ry
And Mean" as the title track of his new album-things were heating up in the
outlaw country stakes and the search was on for new talent. "I was told that a producer named Roy Dea would be ideal for me", Steve relates. "I was very skeptical." "I didn't believe it...the album turned out really well."
Roy Dea had worked at Mercury/Smash with Tom T. Hall and Johnny
Rodriguez before joining RCA to produce some of the best hard core honky
tonk ever on Gary Stewart's early material.
Although a Nashville establishment man Roy was receptive to the new
freedom of the 'outlaw movement' and on Renegade Picker captured Steve
in a roaring no-holds-barred mood. From the torn jeans and rebel attitude of
the cover right through the music of the album, no one had taken the revved up
rock influence quite so far, at this time. The title track steamed along and even
the reflective material (Old Memories, All Her Lovers) seemed to have an
edge which was missing in the works of others. As was becoming his habit
( this time a commercial necessity) Steve re-recorded a song from an earlier
album-this time, naturally Lonesome On'ry And Mean.
Renegade Picker was an outstanding progressive
country album-it had none
of the sloppy swagger that brought 'outlaw
country' into disrepute. Nashville's finest once again rose to the occasion
with Mac Gayden's slide work of
particular note. RCA backed up belief in
Steve with road work, a put together
band and bus. The record started
to get play on progressive rock FM stations.
But RCA didn't care...;What do we get from
that? they asked. They wanted
country hits. Clued-in rock people had
always been far more cognizant
of Young's talent and importance than the
country music community. Rolling Stones's Nick Tosches had once written:
"Of all the aspiring singers who walk the
streets of Nashville...there are only a few I would even pay to hear and
Steve Young is one of those. Steve Young makes
great music."
The follow up album, "No Place to Fall"
was patchy but not without a
few fine originals (Always Loving You and
Dreamer) while some fine writers contributed (the title track is by Townes
Van Zandt) . The album received little promotion, it was really RCA (and
Steve) going through the motions.
Renegade Picker/ No Place To Fall
Steve Young
In 1976, with the help of RCA Producer, Roy Dea, Waylon Jennings,
and a crack band of of session musicians, Steve Young released
"Renegade Picker" on RCA. "Renegade Picker", and the nearly flawless
follow-up, "No Place To Fall", in 1978 also produced by Roy Dea, stand
today as two of the best country-rock albums ever to be recorded.
--Australian writer Keith Glass
