Illustrated history looks at Neil Young's long run

ST. LOUIS — Writer Daniel Durchholz met Neil Young once, briefly, years ago, and has never pulled off an interview with the elusive rocker.

But when it came to writing the expansive new book "Neil Young: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History," (MBI, $30) Durchholz was the go-to man.

Throughout his career as a rock journalist, including editing the defunct Request and Replay magazines and writing freelance for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Durchholz has written about and reviewed Young countless times.

He considers himself a true fan, albeit an objective one who is able to recognize the musician for his greatness as well as his failures.

"The things that endear him to me frustrate other fans," Durchholz says of Young. "He's stubborn, and he does what he wants to do and doesn't explain himself. Either you get him or you don't."

Durchholz, who wrote the book with Detroit music writer Gary Graff, appreciates Young's varied work.

"(He is) an artist who looks at life and music as a journey," Durchholz says. "He wants to go to new places all the time and wants to take his audience to that place. And he has had a tremendous amount of success but has not rested on his laurels."

"Neil Young" captures all this, but it isn't your normal coffee-table book.

"It's not what you would expect," Durchholz says. "Usually, they're a nicely done remembrance of the artist for the fans. We wanted to go deeper than that."

Durchholz, who has written for Rolling Stone, previously worked with Graff on "MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide."

We talked with Durchholz more about the project.

Q: How did your involvement with the book come about?

A: Gary got approached. Voyageur Press has done several rock books similar to the Neil Young book, on Queen, Led Zeppelin, Velvet Underground and a couple of others. The idea behind those books was a coffee-table book with lots of photographs, with a writer hired to write essays around the photos, or a bunch of different writers who'd written about various aspects of the band's career.

Gary said he'd love to do it but didn't know if he'd have the time to do it all by himself and wondered if he could bring in his friend. He and I worked on the "MusicHound" book, and we're always looking for stuff to do together.

Q: What was the most challenging part of the book?