Pegi Young Talks Her New Album, Neil Young and Jimmy Fallon

Pegi Young recently released her second album, Foul Deeds, to follow up on her 2007 self-titled debut. Known to many as the wife of legendary rocker Neil Young, she has not shied away from making a name for herself. She spoke to TheCelebrityCafe's Matt Thompson about Foul Deeds, Neil Young, the death of Ben Keith and Jimmy Fallon's impersonation of Neil, amongst other things.

TheCelebrityCafe: Let’s get right into it. Foul Deeds. Not to judge a book by its cover, but it kind of sounds like a dark album. Tell me about it.

Pegi: It’s got its share of dark themes, I guess you could say. It’s got its divorce, a little debauchery, a little drunkenness.

TCC: What type of messages are you trying to send out through your songs?

Pegi: Oh, I’m just an observer. I just observe around me. I’ve lived for some time and so -- I’m not really sending a message. I’m just sending a message of music that means something to me, that I hope other people can find someplace to put it in their life.

TCC: What was the thinking process behind the songs you wrote personally such as “Broken Vows” and “Foul Deeds”?

Pegi: Well they came from two really different places. I wrote “Broken Vows,” I wrote the music first on the piano. You know we were touring a lot with my husband, there was always a piano in the room. So, I just started playing on it. It took several cities to get the words to come through on that one. Again, it’s just about watching my parents or my other friends, or people that split up. I was pretty much influenced by that. And then “Broken Vows”, I woke up from a deep sleep. I was having a dream about this really cool place we played up in New York. The united palace. This whole presence, the history of this place was so awesome. It had such a big impression on me. I woke up and I was first thinking about that. And then all of a sudden, this other song came in like practically all at once, intact. Everything, the melody, the lyrics. It’s a simple little song. But I can’t explain that one, it just sort of popped in. I guess just thinking about going to Church and thinking about being in Church and what do you think about in Church. You think about your foul deeds and like “oh what have a I done?” You know I was raised Catholic, that might not be every church person’s experience. (laughs)

TCC: Do you think that every artist gets their music from personal life experiences?

Pegi: Not necessarily. You know, I think you can be an observer of life too. Just see something that triggers off a thought. There are so many songs; there are just countless ones. It’s imagery. It’s not literal.

TCC: The cover tracks you did on the album, why did you choose these particular songs?

Pegi: “Blue Sunday” I first heard on the JJ Cale rewind record. It’s a compilation of things he’s done over the years with his producers that had passed away somewhat recently. My engineer had worked with JJ Cale a lot when he was younger. So he turned me on to this record. And I loved it for a few reasons. I loved it because it was a good honky tonk bar song and that’s what we were going to play. And I loved that it had the beautiful steel part in it, because it obviously suited our band real well. Because we have the best steel player in the world in our band. The Lucinda Williams tune, I sang that one for my first record. Again, it’s just kind of that lonely thing. I just admire her writing. She’s just so wonderful in getting to the heart of the human condition so well. I put my own little thing on it. I know my arrangement is a little different from hers. What was the other one I did?

TCC: Pleasing To Me?

Pegi: Oh yeah, Will Jennings. I really dig his writing. I think he’s a really good writer. I put three of his songs on my first record. We recorded that one previously and then we just thought we’d give it another shot. We thought it turned out good, we’re happy with it. We’ve been doing that one live too.

TCC: How to do you feel about this album to your self-titled debut that you were just talking about?

Pegi: They’re both my children. I don’t have a favorite or anything. I think we did some different stuff on this record. We stretched out musically. The guys especially, because we’ve been playing so much on the road with my husband. Anthony played more lead guitar, we had a different drummer who was not with us on the road. But we played some live shows with him. It’s just kind of a little shift. I think my songs are more current. They’re not harkening back to another time and place and remembering what that felt like. I’m having experiences living more now. I’m a grown woman now. I wrote the other songs when I was a mere child.

TCC: Why did you choose to release your debut album later in life than when you were younger?

Pegi: Well there just wasn’t room for it. First of all, I was just shy. I was not at all confident. I didn’t even know any of the world-class musicians that ended up playing on my stuff. It was years before knowing them. I just used to play around with my friends. You know, it was just weird like in people’s living rooms and stuff. I didn’t have confidence, I didn’t have access. I didn’t even know where I would even go. How do you reach for a record? It really didn’t even cross my mind to be honest. And then ultimately, I started thinking about it. Once I started playing more with Neil and playing with some of other guys. And I got my singing group going. And then one of my friends asked me to sing on her record and that was real exciting. And I had been in the studio with Neil. And I was like, “this could be cool.” My kids had gotten to a certain stage in their lives where I could be focused on my music and not trying to balance all that. It’s a lot to balance. A lot of women do it really well; I just didn’t know how I could do it really well.

TCC: After singing back up to Neil for awhile, was it hard trying to find your own voice in music?

Pegi: Well, it was never hard trying to find my own voice, because it was kinda there. It is what it is. But to be more center stage and revealing myself in ways that you do when you sing your own music. That was definitely a leap. The guys were great and made me feel very secure. But it was terrifying, just about every night it turns out I have very bad stage freight. Once you get going everything’s fine, the anticipation was killing me.

TCC: How does it feel once you get up on stage and the adrenaline is running and you’re finally playing?

Pegi: It’s great. It’s so much fun. My band really has a lot of fun together. There’s just a lot of support that goes on between us. The main thing is to have fun and get the people going and hopefully get them moving. And receiving it, doing good.

TCC: Obviously it seems like you would love to sell a lot of albums, but it doesn’t seem that the money side of music interests you as much as the creative side. Is that true?

Pegi: Well, I think maybe what you read, I said somewhere, “Look, I’m 57 years old, I don’t really expect to be the next big thing.” I’m realistic about that. So I don’t have to be as focused on the commerce side of it. And I don’t have to be as focused on trying to make a living as a working artist. I have the luxury of being able to just create, be focused on my art and if people want to buy my record, I’m very happy about that too. I don’t have any illusions of everything all in one basket. That puts people in a different headspace. I’m very grateful that I don’t have to be in that headspace, but I also think that’s why I didn’t do it when I was younger. I didn’t have what that took to really be that focused and that singular minded in order to try to make it and making it is very illusive now that the music business is a business. When I was younger, I think people were only just starting to figure out, there’s a lot of money to be in this. The business side of it. And I think everybody just starts out making it for the love of music and then people that are in the business side of things start to figure out how to make the commerce side of it work too. Sometimes it doesn’t always go well hand in hand.

TCC: Do you feel any pressure as a musician in being the wife of Neil Young?

Pegi: Yeah I sure do, only in that people are always going to say whatever they’re going to say. I knew that going in. I could either just stifle myself or I could take a chance and people will receive it how they’re going to receive it. And it is something that’s been a love of mine for many, many years. I had the opportunity, I had the fantastic musicians, I had the songs, I had the place. I had the opportunity. And then I had more opportunities. I’ve had opportunities to open for him with the four of us. Lots and lots of opportunities. But I know that I’m very blessed and very lucky and very grateful to have all these opportunities. To have Vapor Records behind me, to have Warner Bros helping me out. Those things are very special and not something that happens to every woman at my age that decides she wants to make a record, obviously. Getting to talk to you and other people, I recognize this. It’s not a pressure that would stop me. I don’t really know what would stop me from doing it. Now that it’s started, it’s so much fun. People are going to say what they’re going to say. Some people will like me, some people will really not like me. Some people will say whatever they’re going to say. I can’t control that. That’s not me. I just have to try to make the move that’s true to me and stay true to myself and that’s all I can do.

TCC: How is touring to promote your own album differ from touring with your husband?

Pegi: Well, let’s see. Our last tour that we did just in June, we had eight of us all on one bus. And we had our gear underneath. It was actually really fun. We had the band and the crew and the driver and me and we just went up and down the west coast. So that’s a little different experience from when my husband travels. Although I will say on his last tour here, his last two that he’s been doing. He’s been doing really similar things. He doesn’t have the band on the bus, but he’s been doing a lot of driving. He’s got our son on the bus or occasionally a couple visitors. We have a customized bus that’s not able to accommodate bunks and multiple people. It’s got room for our family basically.

TCC: Can you talk about Ben Keith a little bit? He was with Neil for a really long time. It’s an unfortunate situation.

Pegi: It’s not a lot to say. He played with me and my band. He’s like a brother to me. I very much miss him. It’s very new and very raw. I don’t even know how we’re going to play going forward without him. But we’re thinking about it. And I’m not talking about Neil right now, I’m talking about my band. Neil has to make his decisions about that himself of course, but my band we’ve been talking a little bit, trying to figure out what we do. Because Ben wouldn’t want us to stop.

TCC: I was reading up and I saw that you’ve been working with the Bridge School for more than two decades. I saw some clips on YouTube and it triggered in my mind, I wanted to know how the awareness and struggle against cerebral palsy has changed over the past two decades.

Pegi: Well the technology has changed. Probably not as quickly as we would like it to change. But it has moved along. That’s a big emphasis of our program is enabling the kids to participate in their lives through the use of technology and other skills that we teach them there. Our son’s almost 32 and I think that’s a generation that’s kind of moving forward in mainstream society for the first time in mass. There’s obviously been other exceptional people with significant disabilities who have been in mainstream society quite successfully and are much older. I’m just thinking about this group that previously have more than likely been put in some sort of institutional setting when they were young and they grew up in that setting and that’s the extent of their life. There’s getting to be less and less of that, which I think is a real positive. There’s much more kids growing up at home and being integrated into their families and their communities and their neighborhoods. All of that I think is very positive too. Part of what we do at Bridge School is we reach out internationally. So we’ve had five feature residents international. So when they return, they begin to impact what’s going on in their countries. They’re moving from one model to another model. A model of much more inclusion. So those are just a couple of things that come to mind. There’s so much more research that’s being done. Effective practices, strategies, teachings, methodologies and all of that. Kids hanging out with other kids.

TCC: Do you get a lot of enjoyment working with kids that have disabilities?

Pegi: Yes, I do. I get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Talk about people that are inspirational. They are some inspirational folks for you. There are seemingly pure of spirit. There’s not a lot of game playing, there’s not a lot of time for trips. It’s pretty much straight on communication. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all do that? They are tremendously hard working, because they just have so much to deal with. Their bodies just work for them to hit a switch, to eat, to breathe. Some of these kids are pretty significantly disabled. I’m very inspired by them and it’s a great joy to spend time with them.

TCC: I wanted to ask you something on an unrelated note, did you have a chance to see Late Night with Jimmy Fallon recently where he did an impersonation of Neil.

Pegi: Well I’ve seen the “Pants on the Ground” one. I’ve seen one other one. But there’s one lately, I think it’s “Double Rainbow” or something like that, I don’t even know exactly what that is. But to be honest they’re just too broken to go into. Jimmy does a great impression; let’s just say that. He’s fantastic. He’s pretty spot on. Between all the other stuff we’ve been doing, I just haven’t had a real chance to check that out.