Jesse Colin Young: Still a Youngblood
With his latest album, Highway Troubadour, Jesse Colin Young travels from past to present and back again.
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Feb 25, 2021
Jesse Colin Young performs during the Music & Revolution: Greenwich Village in the 1960’s Concert at SummerStage, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park on August 12, 2018, in New York City. Photo by Debra L Rothenberg/Getty Images.
Above left, Young s latest album Highway Troubadour.
By Lee Zimmerman
By any definition,
Jesse Colin Young is an iconic individual. One of the founders of the early essential Americana band
The Youngbloods who has also enjoyed a successful solo career, the songs he’s been responsible for over the course of the past 50 years “Darkness, Darkness,” “Sugar Babe,” “Quicksand,” and in particular, “Get Together” (a song he didn’t write) have become an indelible part of the lexicon of popular music.
Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner performing together.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images I Will Always Love You, later popularized by Whitney Houston, is an iconic song in music history.
But contrary to popular belief, the lyrics center on the end of a professional relationship, rather than a romantic one.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Parton appeared with her mentor Porter Wagoner on his eponymous TV show. But when it came time for Parton to spearhead her own career, Wagoner was not happy, and a rift started forming. There was a lot of grief and heartache there, and he just wasn t listening to my reasoning for my going, Parton told CMT in 2011. I thought, Well, why don t you do what you do best? Why don t you just write this song?