The Stray Gators was the name given by

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

to his supporting musicians from 1971 to 1973 and who backed him on the albums ''

Harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

'' (1972) and ''

Time Fades Away ''Time Fades Away'' is a 1973 live album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. Consisting of previously unreleased material, it was recorded with the Stray Gators on the support tour following 1972's highly successful album ''Harvest''. Due to ...

'' (1973). It consisted of

Jack Nitzsche Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche ( '; April 22, 1937 – August 25, 2000) was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He came to prominence in the early 1960s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spector, a ...

(piano),

Ben Keith Bennett Keith Schaeufele (March 6, 1937 – July 26, 2010), better known by his stage name Ben Keith, was an American musician and record producer. Known primarily for his work as a pedal steel guitarist with Neil Young, Keith was a fixture of ...

(steel guitar),

Tim Drummond Timothy Lee Drummond (20 April 1940 – 10 January 2015) was an American musician from Canton, Illinois. Drummond's primary instrument was bass guitar and he toured and recorded with many notable artists, including Conway Twitty, Bob Dylan, James ...

(bass) and

Kenny Buttrey Aaron Kenneth Buttrey (April 1, 1945 – September 12, 2004) was an American drummer and arranger. According to CMT, he was "one of the most influential session musicians in Nashville history." Buttrey was born in Nashville, Tennessee, became a ...

(drums); the latter replaced during the ''Time Fades Away'' tour by

Johnny Barbata John Barbata (April 1, 1945 – May 8, 2024) was an American drummer who was active especially in pop and rock bands in the 1960s and 1970s, both as a band member and as a session musician, session drummer. Barbata served as the drummer for The ...

. Former

Crazy Horse Crazy Horse ( , ; – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota people, Lakota war leader of the Oglala band. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by White Americans, White American settlers on Nativ ...

rhythm guitarist

Danny Whitten Danny Ray Whitten (May 8, 1943 – November 18, 1972) was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse (band), Crazy Horse, and for the song "I Don't Want to Talk About It", a hit for Ro ...

briefly joined the group in 1972 but was fired by Young due to his poor performance during tour rehearsals, precipitating his death from an accidental overdose immediately thereafter.

History

While in Nashville to tape an episode of ''

The Johnny Cash Show ''The Johnny Cash Show'' is an American television music variety show that was hosted by Johnny Cash. The Screen Gems 58-episode series ran from June 7, 1969, to March 31, 1971, on American Broadcasting Company, ABC; it was taped at the Ryman A ...

'', Young was convinced to record some of his new tracks in

Elliot Mazer Elliot Mazer (September 5, 1941February 7, 2021) was an American audio engineer and record producer. He was best known for his work with Linda Ronstadt, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Band, and Janis Joplin. In addition, he worked on film and televi ...

's Quadrafonic Sound Studios. Since it was a Saturday night, Mazer scrambled to find musicians who were not working that night and was able to bring in Drummond, Keith, and Buttrey. Over two nights they recorded four tracks that would end up on ''Harvest''. Young then used frequent collaborator Nitzsche to arrange and produce two tracks with an orchestra. He then brought the three Nashville musicians and Nitzsche to his ranch in California to record the three electric-guitar songs in his barn. At some point, he dubbed this new group The Stray Gators. After the release of ''Harvest'', they appeared on the "

War Song A war song is a musical composition that relates to war, or a society's attitudes towards war. They may be pro-war, anti-war, or simply a description of everyday life during war times. It is possible to classify these songs by historical conflic ...

" single, credited to Young and

Graham Nash Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is a British and American musician, singer and songwriter. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills ...

. Outtakes from the ''Harvest'' sessions later appeared on the ''

Journey Through the Past ''Journey Through the Past'' is a double LP soundtrack album from the film of the same name by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released in November 1972 on Reprise Records, catalogue number 2XS 6480.''Journey Through the Past'' double L ...

'' soundtrack and '' The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972''. The band appears on the '' Tonight's the Night'' song "Lookout Joe", which was recorded in late 1972, and with Neil Young on an early session recording of

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

's "

You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio" is a 1972 song written and originally recorded by Canadian singer songwriter Joni Mitchell. It was released on her fifth studio album, '' For the Roses'', and was issued as a single as well. Background Joni Mitch ...

" that was eventually released on '' Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972–1975)''. In 1973, they backed Young on his ''Time Fades Away'' tour, though Buttrey was replaced mid-tour and on the album ''

'' by

John Barbata John Barbata (April 1, 1945 – May 8, 2024) was an American drummer who was active especially in pop and rock bands in the 1960s and 1970s, both as a band member and as a session drummer. Barbata served as the drummer for The Turtles, Crosby, ...

. They ceased to operate as a unit after that tour, although Drummond and Keith continued to work individually with Young on subsequent projects. Thereafter, Nitzsche eschewed live performance in favor of a career as a prolific record producer and film scorer, culminating in the 1983

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the Film industry, motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who h ...

for "

Up Where We Belong "Up Where We Belong" is a song written by Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Will Jennings that was recorded by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes for the 1982 film ''An Officer and a Gentleman''. Warnes was recommended to sing a song from the fil ...

". Although he was estranged from Young after castigating the singer-songwriter in a 1974 interview and commencing a relationship with his former partner, actress

Carrie Snodgress Caroline Louise Snodgress (October 27, 1945 – April 1, 2004) was an American actress. She is best remembered for her role in the film ''Diary of a Mad Housewife'' (1970), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, Acad ...

, they reconciled by 1986. Young reconvened The Stray Gators for his 1992 '' Harvest Moon'' album, with

Spooner Oldham Dewey "Spooner" Lindon Oldham Jr. (born June 14, 1943) is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, at FAME Studios as part of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section on such hit R&B songs as Percy ...

replacing Nitzsche on keyboards. Nitzsche, however, did arrange the strings on "Such a Woman", as he had done on ''Harvest''.

Past members

;Former members *

–

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

, vocals *

– piano, vocals *

– bass *

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

;Additional members *

– drums (1973; replacing Kenny Buttrey) *

– piano, vocals (1992) *

– rhythm guitar (1972; hired between ''Harvest'' and ''Time Fades Away'' tour; fired during rehearsals)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stray Gators Neil Young Musical backing groups