Pegi Young

After spending a number of years on the road as a backup singer for her then-husband Neil Young, Pegi Young began recording her own material in the early 2000s. She began writing songs in high school, but found little time to pursue a solo career in the wake of caring for her son, Ben (who was born with cerebral palsy), touring with her husband, and co-founding the Bridge School. She recorded her meditative, Americana-tinged self-titled debut in 2006; it featured numerous cameos, including appearances by the Jordanaires, former members of Crazy Horse, and her husband. The album was released on Warner Bros. the following year. Her follow-up album, Foul Deeds, was released on Vapor Records in 2010. Young wrote or co-wrote three of the album's nine songs; the rest are covers by likely and unlikely sources including Lucinda Williams ("Side of the Road") and Devendra Banhart ("Body Breaks"). In 2014, Young and her band -- now called the Survivors and featuring bandleader Spooner Oldham -- issued their third offering, Lonely in a Crowded Room, produced by Niko Bolas and released by New West. That same year, she and longtime husband Neil Young divorced, a subject she confronted very directly three years later on her cathartic 2017 LP, Raw. Pegi Young died on January 1, 2019 after a bout with cancer.
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