Podcast: Interview with Scott Young (1984)

From 1981 to 1989, I was assistant producer and co-host of the radio show On the Arts, at CJRT-FM (today Jazz 91.1) in Toronto. With the late Tom Fulton, who was the show's prime host and producer, we did a half-hour interview program where we talked to artists from all fields. 

One of those interviews was with Canadian journalist, sportswriter, and novelist Scott Young (1918-2005). Along with publishing over 45 books in his lifetime, he was also the father of musician Neil Young. In 1984, McClelland and Stewart published his memoir, Neil And Me. I sat down with Scott Young to talk about the book, his life, and his famous son around the time of the book's publication. Often, as readers, we're used to devouring memoirs by the sons and daughters of famous people where they assess the legacy that parents leave their children. With Neil And Me, the reverse takes place, as a father takes stock of the famous son he helped raise with the added bonus of trying to glean from his songs when and where he might be a character within them.

– Kevin Courrier.

Here is the full interview with Scott Young as it aired on CJRT in 1984.

Tom Fulton was the host and producer of On the Arts for CJRT-FM in Toronto for 23 years, beginning in 1975.
 

Kevin Courrier is a freelance writer/broadcaster, film critic and author (Dangerous Kitchen: The Subversive World of Zappa, Randy Newman's American Dreams, 33 1/3 Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, Artificial Paradise: The Dark Side of The Beatles Utopian Dream). Courrier teaches part-time film courses to seniors through the LIFE Institute at Ryerson University in Toronto and other venues. His forthcoming book is Reflections in the Hall of Mirrors: American Movies and the Politics of Idealism.