Grunge godfather Neil Young is often thought of as a guitar hero. Now, he’s teaming with another six-string legend, Scottish folk musician Bert Jansch, for a tour of the United States. Full dates will be revealed soon, but a handful have surfaced. Jansch and Young, who will be performing solo acoustic, will tour theaters in May — ticket prices start at $85 and go to $245.
“Bert Jansch is on the same level as Jimi Hendrix,” opined Young in 1992. “That first record of his is epic. It came from England, and I was especially taken by ‘The Needle of Death,’ such a beautiful and angry song. That guy was so good… And years later, on On the Beach, I wrote the melody of ‘Ambulance Blues’ by styling the guitar part completely on ‘Needle of Death.’ I wasn’t even aware of it, and someone else drew my attention to it.”
Jansch and Young performed “Ambulance Blues” together in 2006 at that year’s Bridge School benefit.
“Without Bert Jansch, rock music as it developed in the ‘60s and ‘70s would have been very different,” says Johnny Marr, guitarist for the Smiths and Modest Mouse. “You hear him in Nick Drake, Pete Townshend, Donovan, The Beatles, Jimmy Page and Neil Young. There are people playing guitar who don’t even realise they’ve been influenced by him”
Here are the announced dates:
May 26 – Louisville, KY @ The Louisville Palace Theatre
May 29 – Atlanta, GA @ Fox Theatre
May 30 – Spartanburg, SC @ Spartanburg Mem Auditorium
June 1 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
June 2 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium