The Lumineers cover the Neil Young song “Sugar Mountain” for a new tribute album. It’s a full-circle moment for frontman Wesley Schultz, who as a teenager saw the “Heart of Gold” legend in concert.
“[It] really shook me, it really blew me away,” Schultz tells ABC Audio of his experience at the show. “He was so open and kind.”
“For a guy who had this reputation as sort of a fierce, I don’t wanna say grumpy, but … easily annoyed, he was so kind to this audience that I was in,” Schultz continues. “I was just … under a trance.”
Schultz would then go on to cover Young songs like “The Needle and the Damage Done” and “Rockin’ in the Free World” while performing in bars before The Lumineers hit it big. When his son was born, Schultz would play him “After the Gold Rush” on the piano.
“It reminds me a little bit of how Kurt Cobain wrote lyrics where you don’t really understand why you understand it, it just kinda makes sense,” Schultz says of Young’s music. “It’s mystical what he’s doing. He’s setting out a feeling that we’re tapping into and understanding.”
He adds, “[Young’s] able to cast a spell over a listener in a way that almost no one can.”
The tribute album, Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young, also features covers by Eddie Vedder, Mumford & Sons and Fiona Apple, among others.
The Lumineers released their latest album, Automatic, in February.
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