Neil Young: His country roots emerge By Russell Smith Staff Writer of The News Imagine: Neil Young duets with Barbara Man-" drell. Neil Young yucks it up with Minnie Pear] at the Grand Ole Opry. Neil Young goes to No. 1 with his own version of I Was (Really) Country When- POP MUSIC REVIEW Country Wasn’t Cool. Nah. As it turns out, Neil Young’s new ~ wave isn't all that new after all. His recent C&W conversion basically entails a little added emphasis on the banjo, fiddle and steel guitar. The music, much of the time, consists of variations on Love Is a Rose and Comes a Time. What he’s done is simply point out that his music has always had country roots. His “Country ’84” revue, at the Loews Anatole’s Mistral club Sunday night, mixed profes- sional polish with a sense of fun; Young and his International Harvesters band really . did seem to be enjoying themselves. Dressed for the part in faded jeans, a fringed vest and black hat, Young set the tone right‘off with the musical question: “Are you ready for the country?” No one seemed to object, and the band continued on as the Canadian-born singer launched into the patriotic U.S.A.. The audience was loudly appreciative: - when Young dredged up an old one, Comes a Time, and then he sang about being “bound for glory,” sounding more like he was bound for Luckenbach, Texas, with Waylon and Willie and the boys. Sure, it was country, real country — but it was no great shock. With his nasal twang in a voice that sounds like a wobbly wagon wheel, Young is a natural for that sort of thing. And when he did some of his older material — Heart of Gold, Old Man, The Nee- dle and the Damage Done — the lines really seemed blurred. These songs that grew up in a rock context, were they really country all along? Or is Neil just trying to pass them off as the real thing? Well, compare Heart of Gold to just about anything by Ronnie Milsap or Lee Greenwood and see who Please see NEIL on Page 4E.Neil Young’s concert shows his country roots Continued from Page 1E. comes out sounding more country. (Hint: It sure ain’t Ronnie Milsap.) Through songs such as Amber Jean, Love Is a Rose and It Might Have Been, Young sounded like an authentic spiritual son of Hank Wil- liams. Never mind that a few people in the crowd were bobbing around like they were at a Go-Go's concert. " Young also threw in an old Buffalo Springfield song and Helpless, and his encore was a long, electric, rock- i ny ing rendition of Down By the River. Neil Young may indeed be ready to take his place as an outlaw along- side Hank Jr., Waylon, Willie and Merle, but that’s no reason for his rock fans to mourn. Just remember his excursion with the Shocking Pinks last year into rockabilly and Bill Haley-style rock ’n’ roil, Remem- ber and rejoice that he moved on from an unnatural regression to a natural progression. And, then, sing along with the bouncing ball: Hey, hey, my,my....