Barn and Borscht
Illustration by Steve Moen
And Our High School Rock Star
An afternoon of Barn and Borscht began with a question. What to do with half a cabbage, some carrots, a baked potato, sour cream, and some home made chicken broth from a free range chicken. And, almost forgot, three beets?
A google search led me to Borscht Recipes and on the table in front of me was Neil Young’s new Barn CD unopened. Yeah I still buy CDs. So, Barn and Borscht it was, easy decision.
Neil Young’s Barn sessions at his folksy studio in Telluride Colorado have been a nice distraction through covid this past year. I could even imagine the chicken I used for the broth running around a barn like his. Also couldn’t wait to hear the lead guitarist on that album, Nils Lofgren. Its been five decades since Nils played with Crazy Horse on the Harvest album. Most fans know him for his work with Bruce Springsteen. Nils happens to be a local hero. He attended Walter Johnson High School just a mile or so from where I live and is the school’s most famous drop out. I’ve heard a few good stories about him from guys a little older than me who went to school with him. For example, Nils was soccer player with long hair and a big heart. While on the team he was benched for the long hair and he stayed on the bench because he wouldn’t cut it. But then in 1972, 21 years old, with a successful band called Grin, he generously proposed a benefit concert at the high school auditorium to help fund a trip to Europe for the soccer team.
So, with Neil Young’s soft, sweet voice and Nils’s skillful guitar work busting loosed with all kinds of sounds I went to work chopping vegetables and frying a little more chicken, handiwork moving to the rhythm and raw emotion of the music. Things came together real well in no time. The sound of a harmonica resonated as I added some apple cider vinegar and a squeeze of lemon and that seemed just right.
Sampled it one more time when another harmonica solo kicked in. Not quite, needed another squeeze of lemon…