About 1972, in his apartment on Osos Street, my friend Joe Loomis played this for me. I was gobsmacked. Seven years later, my friend Greg Wilson took me to a midnight showing of the concert film Live Rust. Double gobsmacked. When Greg invited me and Elizabeth to see Coastal at the Fremont last week—Daryl Hannah’s documentary of her husband Neil’s tour—I was, well, you know.

The documentary’s music, most of it unfamiliar to me, means I have to go back and restock my Neil Young shelf. What I found out, too, is, as severe as he always looks, and always has, Neil Young is very funny, with a droll, dry sense of humor. He pokes fun at himself, which is a virtue. I found out, as well, how much he loves his family and how passionate he is about preserving the natural world.

He is an incredible man, and we even got to hear him speak, on the Fremont stage (the theater opened in 1942 with an appearance by Laurel and Hardy), and seeing him in person only affirmed the impact he’d had on me that day in Joe’s apartment.

That said, and meaning no disrespect, these are a few of my favorite Neil Young covers. I’m not the only one who’s been gobsmacked.

1. Cowboy Junkies, , “Powderfinger.” Their cover of Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane” is epic, but here, the Junkies takes this song’s marvelous fuzzy electric guitar work, from Live Rust, back to its bluegrass roots. Since I think Young’s song references the Civil War, that makes this version—that violin!—wholly appropriate.

2. Molly Tuttle, “Helpless.” Another performer who links rock and bluegrasss, introduced to me by my friend Michael Shannon. She strikes me as immensely courageous—she also covers the Rolling Stones’ psychedelic “She’s A Rainbow,” which takes balls as big as church bells. The reference to Ontario resonates with me too, because that’s where my Irish Famine ancestors settled in the late 1840s.

3. Bryan Ferry, “Like A Hurricane.” Ferry will never sing a Mozart opera, but the beautiful young woman at the keyboard and later the sax floors me. So does the young guitarist in the yellow shirt. A little Europop vibe in this interpretations, and I dig it.

4. The Dave Matthews Band, “Cortez the Killer.” Despite its kinda sorta historical glossing-overs (the Mexica, or Aztec, ate their enemies after mock combat called “Flower Wars.” With chiles.), I do love this song, because they do get the Cortez part right. Another stellar guitar solo.

5. Bryan Machaca, “Bluebird.” In the film Coastal, this was the one throwback song that Young performed. It’s Steven Stills’s song, and Young played it on a guitar that Stills had given him. This young man gets it, and he’s a gifted guitarist.