Neil Young: Heart Of Gold (Drum Cover)

A couple videos ago I got a comment asking if I would do a cover of Neil Young’s 10 minute epic Cowgirl In The Sand at some point. While I love the song, and Neil Young in general, it’ll take a little bit to actually sit down and learn the song, even requesting that I cover the bass part as well. So I’ll have to sit down and transcribe that as best I could and then record. Could be challenging, but I’m always up for a challenge. A cover of that song will be in the works, but it will take some time. In the meantime, I was thinking what other songs of Neil’s could be great to cover? He’s written so many great ones that any song would be a great pick. So then I thought, what about Heart Of Gold? It’s one of his best known songs, it’s off one of his best known albums Harvest, and it’s not that hard of a song to figure out either. It’s also my all time favorite Neil Young song, so there’s that too. Heart Of Gold is an acoustic based folk song that was written after Young had suffered a back injury leaving him unable to play his electric guitar for long periods of time while standing. The song was recorded in Nashville at Quadrophonic Sound Studios in February of 1972. The musicians on this song are Young on acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals, Teddy Irwin on guitar, Ben Keith on pedal steel, Tim Drummond on bass, and Kenny Buttrey on drums. Backing vocals were provided by James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt who were both in Nashville at the time for an appearance on The Johnny Cash Show. This lineup of musicians, minus Irwin, Taylor and Ronstadt were dubbed by Neil as The Stray Gators. Kenny’s Drums There’s not much to discuss regarding Buttrey’s drum part. Mostly kick and snare and then he adds in the hi hat during the verses, playing this rather off-beat type of groove. It kind of sounds like a Band groove to me, very Levon-esque. There aren’t any fills in the song except for a few drags here and there, mainly played when Kenny goes off the hi hat. At 1:26, Kenny adds an additional 16th note on the bass drum, the only time this is played in the song. The song ends with a cymbal hit at 2:58. If you aren’t too familiar with Buttrey, I recommend checking him out. Well known session drummer who’s played with Elvis, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Buffet, Joan Baez, Bob Seger, and many more. If you don’t know him by his name, you’ve definitely heard him play. Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoy!