When John
Einarson was growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, he lived
only a couple of blocks away from Neil Young’s house.
However, it took one of Neil’s family members to get the
author into the music that is the subject of his newest book.“Neil was a little older than me, so I didn’t really hang around him when I was growing up, but I was aware of him and what he was doing,” said Einarson. “Actually, his mother brought a copy of his group’s first single to the local deejay, and that’s when I first heard the sound.”
“The sound” was the Buffalo Springfield, the seminal mid-Sixties band that was actually two parts American and three parts Canadian and is the subject of Einarson’s newest book, “For What It’s Worth: The Story of The Buffalo Springfield,” published earlier this year by Quarry Music Books.
While researching and writing any book is difficult, Einarson, a 44 year old teacher and writer, had extra impetus to make this book work because of his own personal interest in the group.
“I have always enjoyed their music,” he said, ”I liked their sound right away, because I was into folk-rock but I found their style unique from the Byrds and other folk-based groups at the time. And, I was fascinated with their story, a guy from my neighborhood (Young) takes off in a old hearse, ends up in an LA traffic jam where he meets the other musicians (Stills and Furay) and they form a group right then and there. Great story!”
What results from the book is a fan’s dream, an in-depth, incredibly detailed account of the Springfield years, from that initial chance encounter to what Einarson terms the “roller coaster ride” with members dropping out and coming back, and the legacy of who and what came out that group. Most significantly, Einarson manages to give a complete, detailed account of the group’s formation, career and demise, without resorting to airing its members’ “dirty laundry” in public.
“I do talk about their drug problems, the effects that had on the group, as well as the rivalry between Stephen (Stills) and Neil,” he said, “but all that other stuff doesn’t add anything to the story. And, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t make sense to put it in there.”
“There are plenty of ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’ books on the market, so if that tickles your fancy, pick one up. I’m a prodigious reader of biographies, and I’ve read enough about groupies to last a lifetime. Sure, the Springfield members were no angels, and I do address that in the book. I don’t duck it, it was a major factor in their many missteps over their brief period and there’s plenty of controversy (in the book).”
Unfortunately, the Springfield was not terribly long lasting group, although, ironically, their legacy may be timeless. In actuality, they only made three albums, all of which have been, or well soon be, re-released in the new HDCD digital format. In addition, there are rumors that Neil Young has a large cache of unreleased Springfield material in his private collection, perhaps awaiting his long-delayed career retrospective.
The three albums the group released include “Buffalo Springfield,” which came out in 1966; “Buffalo Springfield Again,” which debuted the following year; and “Last Time Around,” which closed the band’s recording career in 1968. Arguably, the band had only one Top 40 hit, the anthemic “For What It’s Worth,” but the merger of folk, rock and a bit of country in songs like “Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing,” “ Bluebird,” “A Child’s Claim to Fame,” “Kind Woman,” and “Expecting to Fly,” just to name a few, belie a recording history that lasted only three albums and three years.
To say that the Buffalo Springfield made an impact on popular music would be one of the major understatements of rock and roll history. In addition to Stills and Young, the Springfield also included Richie Furay, who later formed Poco, the Souther, Hillman, Furay Band and went on to a solo career; as well as Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin. Later, Jim Messina, who was also in Poco and teamed with Kenny Loggins in the mid-70s, was also in the group. The original five members, Furay, Stills, Young, Palmer and Martin, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in May of this year.
Strangely enough, with all that history and legacy, no one had attempted a book on the Springfield before Einarson took on the task. “It was my idea,” he said,” although I was surprised that no one had attempted it before. When I consider a subject I like to look for the story. I don’t like books that merely list gig (show) dates, recording sessions or significant events. I like to read a good story with character development and interaction and the Springfield story certainly offered that.”
After about two years of research, Einarson reached back for help from someone he had met a few years earlier: original Springfield band member Furay.
“Richie and I first hooked up back in ’92 (when Einarson was working on a book about Neil Young),” he recalled. “When I decided to pursue a Springfield book, I contacted him first because I viewed his participation as pivotal to the book’s development. We renewed our friendship and took it from there.”
Furay, currently a pastor in Boulder, Colorado, concurs with Einarson’s recollections.
“I realty wasn’t sure what to expect when I first met with him,” he said in a recent interview. “But, after meeting him it was great. He did such a fine job researching the history of the Springfield that it brought back some incredible memories.”
Einarson recalled that it was his legwork that impressed Furay, saying “it took about two years to complete the book, from preliminary research to printed copy. I did a lot of early research before beginning the interviews. I like to be well-prepared when I conduct an interview, a fact that overwhelmed Richie. He was absolutely amazed at the body of information I had, and the in-depth nature of my questions for him. He still talks about that!”
The partnership worked so well that an agreement was reached giving Furay co-authorship of the book, an arrangement that Einarson says was very natural.
“This group holds a very special place in Richie’s heart,” Einarson said, “and he didn’t want a toss-off book. He was involved with every step in the process. I found him extremely open, receptive and eager to document the story accurately and completely. The decision to give him co-authorship was mine from the outset. I figured that his input was so valuable to the integrity and authenticity of the book, and that’s worth crediting. And, you won’t find a nicer guy in the world than Richie Furay.”
And what about Stills and Young? Einarson pulls no punches, just like in his book, in making his assessment of them.
“Stephen and Neil share much in common,” he observed. “Both are driven, determined, self-guided, stubborn individuals who tolerate little in the way of distractions in pursuit of their goals.”
“For Stephen, his goal was the accoutrements of success: money, fame, adulation, recognition of peers and public. For Neil, artistic integrity and an unfettered creative process were his goals,” he continues.” “That achievement for Neil has brought him immense personal satisfaction, stability and a sustained career based on an integrity that does not court public favor. For Stephen, he discovered that fulfilling his dreams has only left him wanting and, as a result, he has failed to emulate the career success and achieve the peace of mind his former bandmate and rival has enjoyed.”
Even writing the book gave longtime fan Einarson (who still claims that “Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing” remains his alltime favorite song) a clearer perspective on their music from his research and interviews.
“I have a deeper respect for their music, knowing now what they went through,” he said. ”They still managed to create such timeless art. I think I have a greater insight into the personalities of the members, especially Neil and Stephen, who have always been fairly guarded about their Springfield years.”
“They stand right near the top in rock history, in my mind,” Einarson said. ”Their influence shaped the sound and style of so many artists that followed them The Springfield’s folk rock was quite different from the Byrds or anybody else at that time, drawing instead on an earlier folk tradition that incorporated acoustic and electric guitars together laying down intricate lines woven around each other.”
“As well,” he continued, ”their emphasis on developing individual singer/songwriting styles within one group, as evidenced by their ‘Again’ album, which is quite diverse, helped set that whole singer/songwriter trend of the early Seventies and the whole California country rock/soft rock genre. Almost all of their recorded work was never fully appreciated, because it was ahead of its time.”
And, Einarson notes that there are so bumps in the road that my shock some of the group and individual members’ fans.
“I think Neil Young fans will be in for quite a surprise when they read that their hero was extremely self-absorbed, and torpedoed the group’s momentum several times to follow his own personally-motivated agenda.” He added.” He’s not a team player and that hasn’t changed, witness his boycott of the Springfield induction into the Hall of Fame recently (author’s note: before which Young complained about the ticket prices for seats for family members of inductees and the fact that VH-1 was recording portions of the show for viewing on its channel). And, I feel that I have a good friend in Richie Furay.”
Furay looks back on the Springfield years fondly, noting “when the Springfield broke up, there were some hard feelings, but I believe that we parted as friends. I think that’s how we all wanted it. Hopefully, we can all respect each other and move on in our lives and still call each other friends.”
“We were five individuals who happened to sit down for a while and make some music that touched a lot of people’s hearts,” Furay said. “It was a great experience that very few will ever come close to, and I think this book does a good job in getting to all that.”