Weekly Neil: Harvest Moon, With Wild Pink's John Ross
A chat about pedal steel, Dracula, and Wild Pink's great new album 'Dulling The Horns'
This is Weekly Neil, a newsletter about Neil Young. This week, I’m honored to publish a conversation with John Ross, the creative force at the center of Wild Pink. It’s been exciting to hear Wild Pink’s evolution since 2017, introducing dreamy elements and a heartland influence into their music. But the narrative around their new album Dulling The Horns goes like this: John wanted a sound closer to Wild Pink’s live show, so they chose rawer takes. None of this would matter if John’s songwriting was bunk. But he’s one of a kind, preternaturally gifted at communicating odd, occasionally sad feelings punctuated by references to the 1995 crime film Heat, the War on Terror, and Catholicism. He is, of course, a fan of Neil, and he specifically singled out Ben Keith’s pedal steel work on Harvest Moon: “I feel like that sounds like what a lot of bands are after.”
A highly unusual Wild Pink song is “Abducted At The Grief Retreat,” which, in addition to boasting an incredible title, also flaunts a hard groove that belongs on a dance record. It was previously unexplored terrain for a band often likened to The War On Drugs and Tom Petty — but then again, John Ross’ creative expanse knows few boundaries. Wild Pink’s 2022 album ILYSM is a trip, and when it arrives at “Grief Retreat,” the story shifts to an eerie but transcendent experience. “You are 10 feet tall hovering above my car,” he sings to a mysterious shape. “You are Jesus and Dracula. You are around my neck like a scapular.”
Catholic signifiers immediately make my antennae perk up, which is why I loved “Grief Retreat” as more than just a musical outlier. John, who was also raised in that religious tradition, is particularly interested in how the historical Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, shared the same upbringing. “I’ve been pretty fixated on Dracula my entire life,” he said. “It’s pretty fascinating that he’s both a fictional and non-fictional character, and that he was an actual Catholic Crusader in the 15th century, and that he was a ghoul.”
It’s not surprising to learn that he returns on Wild Pink’s great new album Dulling The Horns (out Friday), on a song appropriately called “Catholic Dracula.” (It also fits that Wild Pink are set to tour in early 2025 with MJ Lenderman, whose work is likewise littered with residual Catholicism.) Now, to my knowledge, Neil has never delved far into the lore of Dracula, though he evokes bloodsuckers to bemoan the oil industry’s death-grip on our planet on “Vampire Blues.” And John is the kind of music maker whose catalog feels at least partially indebted to Neil, sonically speaking. (Hear: “See You Better Now,” which prominently features Neil disciple J. Mascis on lead guitar.)
But a certain Dulling The Horns lyric struck me as channeling that mid-’70s, downtrodden, here-we-go-again grinning fatalism that props up my favorite Neil records. “Don’t know how many switches I’ve flipped. Flipped a switch and then the thing just don’t exist,” he sings on “Eating The Egg Whole.” “But my stupid ass is always searching. Hoping for a pearl when I open up my fist.” Pair that with some wild guitar and it you’ve got a Crazy Horse prototype. Yet John was eager to talk about his love for a much quieter, well-traveled Neil album.
Weekly Neil: A big difference with Dulling The Horns versus the last couple albums was this idea of you trying to capture more of a live Wild Pink sound and experience, right?
John: Definitely. The last two records, there's been a disconnect between the studio album and the live experience. I pretty much just wanted to make a record that sounded like the band live. Because of where I'm at now and where we're at as a band, it’s just a heavier sound, and I think that's where the the Crazy Horse comparison came from.
WN: You released the Strawberry Eraser EP ahead of this album, and “Q. Degraw” ahead of ILYSM. With that approach, are you thinking, “This is a representation of what I'm working on now, so let’s put it out, even if it’s not a full album”?
John: I think they're little release valves. They're very easy. It's so easy to just put out one or two songs at a time, and it can be really cathartic to try out some some production ideas that I'm fooling around with at home not have wait two years to invest in a whole record. I love doing these little one-offs.
WN: Some musicians have told me that they love Neil Young's approach to releasing music. He's an artist who thinks, “Well, I'm doing this now, and and the shorter the runway between doing it and being able to share it with somebody, the better.”
John: Yeah, totally. I wish that the time it took to release a record was shorter. I don't see it getting any shorter. But I mean, Neil can do what he wants.
WN: I feel like people initially gravitate to Neil Young because he obviously has a really innate ear for songwriting, but also just it's fun to make a lot of noise on the guitar. Has that been influential for you?
John: Probably more so recently. I just saw him live at Forest Hills, and he was awesome. I loved how kind of sloppy it was. Like, he was tuning without a tuner, just very off the cuff. It was very, very cool. Very fun. He’s definitely been a more recent influence. Springsteen, Tom Petty and then Jackson Brown are more evergreen ones, and more early on for me. But I love Harvest Moon. That’s my favorite record of his. I'm looking at his discography now. [takes a moment to browse] Man, Harvest Moon has so many hits on it. It's insane. “Unknown Legend!” I think that's probably my favorite song on that.
WN: That's obviously a more subdued, mellower, folky record. Is that what appeals to you over the noisier stuff at the moment?
John: I think so, yeah. I love the pedal steel on that record.
WN: It’s a beautiful-sounding album, but as always with Neil, there’s this idea of not getting too bogged down in trying to make something perfect. Is that something that appeals to you too?
John: Totally. Not being too precious about stuff. That's a pretty good philosophy, especially if you're going to put out a lot of records — just not wringing your hands. A Billion Little Lights kind of went down some rabbit holes. This, the most recent record, was very much in in that vein of, just capture a good take. [pauses again] Ragged Glory was another favorite. “Fuckin’ Up.”
WN: I first heard that song because Pearl Jam covered it.
John: Yeah, same!
WN: “Unknown Legend” really is a beautiful song. It’s a love song, and a lot gets revealed in it. For you, what is it about that song? The sound or the vibe, or kind of the whole package?
John: I guess the whole package. I really do love the production on that record, and really the pedal steel. I feel like that sound sounds like what a lot of bands are after. I certainly am inspired by that, or The War On Drugs, or I feel like many bands sound like they have been inspired by that record.
WN: And what about “Harvest Moon?” I mean, “Harvest Moon,” the song, is interesting because it's one of his best-known ones, and so everyone has their own relationship with it.
John: I remember the music video growing up. It has kind of a cool music video, people dancing in a roadhouse. Everyone’s dancing. Neil’s dancing. [Editor’s note: Dale Crover from Melvins is also in the video, portraying a young version of Neil. He recently spoke to Stereogum about it.]
Did Daniel Lanois produce this record? No, he didn’t produce this one. [Editor’s note: Lanois produced 2010’s Le Noise.] I've been rewatching old Daniel Lanois videos. He's so awesome. Another Canadian.
WN: I love Lanois’ album with “Still Water” and “The Maker” on it.
John: Acadie? Yeah, man. That one’s got the hits. “Sonho Dourado.” “Jolie [Louise].” Yeah, there’s some good stuff in there.
WN: I can just see how that goes with a lot of what Wild Pink has done.
John: Totally. “Sonho Dourado,” before the pandemic, we used to actually cover that song.
WN: Around the time of A Billion Little Lights, you put out a playlist of some songs that had inspired the record, or maybe just were in your orbit around the time. I believe Neil’s “Long May You Run” was on that.
John: Oh, that’s very possible.
WN: You just posted one for Strawberry Eraser not long ago. I didn't see any Neil on there, though.
John: Yeah, we had some Sundays, some Crocodiles, The 6ths, The Pains [Of Being Pure At Heart], John Cale, Silver Jews, Martin Rev, Joe Strummer, Talk Talk… dude, have you heard this Fust record?
WN: Yes! I actually think it was [our mutual friend] Tom who told me about it.
John: Oh my god. It's so good.
WN: I've been listening to Wild Pink for about six or seven years now, and I’ve started to clock lyrical recurrences. You’ve got “Catholic Dracula” on the new album, and “Abducted At The Grief Retreat,” talking about Jesus and Dracula. I also love “The Seance On St. Augustine St.” in 2018, and now “St. Catherine St.” I'm always wondering how intentional stuff like that is, or if it just happens by virtue of you being the guy writing it, and this is just how your brain works.
John: I think it's the latter. I'm a pretty obsessive person, and I've been pretty fixated on Dracula my entire life. It’s pretty fascinating, that he's both a fictional and non-fictional character, and that he was an actual Catholic Crusader in the 15th century, and that he was a ghoul. I don't know of any other characters — Frankenstein's not also a real person. The “St. [blank] Street” is, I think that just looks really cool. I was born and raised Catholic. Catholicism is a theme, and I’m not a Catholic now or anything, but it's just stuck with me. I think that if you grow up in the church, I don't think you ever really get away from it. You are indoctrinated into it. It's hardcore.
WN: I grew up Catholic. I made many sacraments. I was an altar server.
John: Yeah? They get their hooks in! They do. It stuck with me. Not maintaining being religious, but just the imagery. It just has stuck around in some way or another.
[We talk a bit about Catholic schools here and wind our way back to the new record.]
WN: Well, I'm looking forward to kind of sharing in the moment with folks when it comes out.
John: Dude, I have not been as excited for one of these records to come out since, like, Yolk In The Fur, probably. It feels very much like where I am right now. It's not where I had hoped I would be, or where I want to be, if that makes any sense. It’s not aspirational. I just wrote songs about where I'm at, and it feels very authentic to me, so I'm excited for people to hear it.
Wild Pink’s new album, Dulling The Horns, is out Friday, October 4. It’s $11 on Bandcamp.
“Harvest Moon,” written by Neil Young, from Harvest Moon (1992)
Neil Young: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Tim Drummond: bass, broom
Ben Keith: pedal steel guitar
Spooner Oldham: Hammond organ
Linda Ronstadt: vocals
James Taylor: vocals