Jesse Colin Young

Jesse Colin Young first rose to prominence as a key architect of the Youngbloods, the folk-rock ensemble that emerged in the 1960s, and he has continued to build a body of work as a thoughtful singer and songwriter whose tenor carries a distinctive warmth. After settling in California at the close of that decade, he carved out a path marked by wide-ranging stylistic touches drawn from jazz, blues, and country, frequently weaving in messages that address environmental stewardship and opposition to war. The Youngbloods’ 1967 recording of the peace anthem “Get Together” brought him early attention, after which he launched a sustained solo trajectory that included the 1973 release Song for Juli and the 1975 album Songbird. Even after a 1995 wildfire consumed his California residence and came close to engulfing the adjoining studio, he sustained his momentum through continued touring and fresh recordings such as 2003’s Walk the Talk and 2019’s Dreamers.

Perry Miller entered the world in 1941 and spent his childhood on Long Island, New York, where his mother performed on violin and his father practiced accounting. Both parents nurtured a shared enthusiasm for classical repertoire and arranged piano instruction for their son during his earliest years. Once the family relocated to Pennsylvania, the fifteen-year-old enrolled at Phillips Academy Andover in Massachusetts and chose classical guitar as an elective course. Guitar practice and impromptu performances of Everly Brothers material with his roommate soon eclipsed academic priorities, resulting in his expulsion; he completed high school and then matriculated at Ohio State University. Living behind a record shop there, he immersed himself more deeply in folk, blues, and jazz recordings. After one semester he withdrew, spent several months traversing the country, and eventually returned to his parents’ Bucks County, Pennsylvania home, where he devoted a summer to intensive study of albums by Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Joan Baez, and additional artists.

By 1961 he had moved to NYU, juggling coursework with performances at Greenwich Village coffeehouses. Leaving school, he accepted daytime employment at the Rockefeller Foundation while maintaining a schedule of solo folk appearances. Producer Bobby Scott was introduced to him during this period and attended a show at Folk City in Greenwich Village, which led to a session at A&R Studio and the 1964 Capitol release The Soul of a City Boy. Before the album appeared he had begun using the name Jesse Colin Young—an amalgam honoring Jesse James, Cole Younger, and Colin Chapman—to sidestep associations with Perry Como. The spare, solo-folk collection contained a rendition of George Remaily’s “Four in the Morning” that received airplay and advanced his visibility. A follow-up, Young Blood, arrived the next year on Mercury, then under Quincy Jones’s direction; it presented a richer production featuring bassist George Duvivier, drummer Grady Tate, and harmonica contributions from John Sebastian of the Lovin’ Spoonful.

Around the same time he encountered guitarist Jerry Corbitt at a Cambridge, Massachusetts engagement. Their subsequent collaboration, spurred by the Beatles’ example and a desire for an electrified approach, expanded to include keyboardist and guitarist Lowell “Banana” Levinger and drummer Joe Bauer, with Young shifting to bass. Adopting the Youngbloods moniker from his second album, the quartet cultivated a loose, harmony-rich style that blended blues, country, and folk-rock elements. Regular appearances at New York’s Night Owl club provided experience supporting visiting acts. Signed to RCA, they issued the single “Grizzly Bear,” Corbitt’s ragtime-tinged composition, which reached the Top 60 in November 1966. Their self-titled debut album followed in 1967 and spotlighted a cover of Dino Valenti’s “Get Together,” which charted at number 62 on the Hot 100. Earth Music appeared as their second full-length shortly afterward.

By the 1969 release of Elephant Mountain, produced by Charlie Daniels, the group had settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. Corbitt’s departure during the recording left Young and Levinger as the principal songwriters. The resulting work reflected Young’s interest in jazz and Americana textures, while several of his compositions, including “Darkness, Darkness” and “Quicksand,” adopted a reflective stance touching on mortality, melancholy, and the Vietnam conflict. In the same year RCA reissued “Get Together” after its placement in a National Council of Christians and Jews public-service announcement; the single climbed to number five on the Hot 100. Additional chart entries came via Young’s “Sunlight” and “Darkness, Darkness.”

In 1970 Young constructed a home and studio on a ridge in Inverness, California, where he recorded the 1972 solo album Together. Issued on the Youngbloods’ own Raccoon imprint through Warner Bros., it mixed covers of material by Chuck Berry, Mississippi John Hurt, and Dave Dudley with originals such as the anti-war “Peace Song.” The project signaled the close of the Youngbloods’ run; they completed Good and Dusty in 1971 and High on a Ridge in 1972 before disbanding.

Now signed directly to Warner Bros., Young continued as a solo artist with the jazz-tinged Song for Juli in 1973. The sessions involved his wife, singer and songwriter Suzi Young, who co-wrote the title track concerning their daughter, along with bassist David Hayes, saxophonist Jim Rothermel, both associated with Van Morrison, and trumpeter Tom Harrell. The album reached number 51 on the Billboard Top 200 and confirmed his viability as an independent performer. Light Shine followed in 1974 and Songbird in 1975, peaking at numbers 37 and 26, respectively; On the Road (1976) and Love on the Wing (1977) also entered the Top 100. Across these releases Young sustained his engagement with jazz, country, and soft-rock forms while addressing environmental, social, and domestic themes.

Transitioning to Elektra, he delivered American Dreams in 1978, which contained a six-part suite and excursions into disco. The next year he joined Crosby, Stills & Nash, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, and others at Madison Square Garden for the No Nukes benefit. He resumed studio work with 1982’s The Perfect Stranger, an adult-contemporary and rock-oriented set hampered by limited label support. During this span he and Suzi Young divorced. Although he maintained an acoustic touring schedule, the next album, The Highway Is for Heroes, did not appear until 1987 on Cypress Records. Mid-1980s reunions with Corbitt and Levinger also occurred.

In the 1990s Young remarried; the couple established Ridgetop Music and released Makin’ It Real in 1993 and Swept Away in 1994 while reissuing earlier solo titles. Their efforts were interrupted in 1995 when the Mount Vision wildfire destroyed their home in Point Reyes and Inverness Park; the studio survived, allowing recovery of the masters. Afterward they moved to Hawaii and operated a Kona coffee farm. Further recordings included the 1996 live album Sweetwater, an acoustic survey of favored material.

Young remained productive into the new century, issuing the relaxed Walk the Talk in 2003, Living in Paradise in 2004, and the seasonal Songs for Christmas. A Lyme disease diagnosis in the mid-2000s prompted antibiotic treatment and cessation of alcohol consumption, both of which aided his recuperation. Dreamers appeared in 2019, recorded with producer Colin Linden and bassist Tristan Young, his son.