Crazy Horse’s Frank ‘Poncho’ Sampedro Opens Up In Rolling Stone Interview

With their new record 'Americana' earning the band praise and their first tour in eight years set to kick off in August, Neil Young and Crazy Horse are back in the saddle. And though it is typically Young that speaks to the media, Rolling Stone has posted a Q&A session with Crazy Horse guitarist Frank "Poncho" Sampedro, who has played with Young for 37 years.

In the interview, Sampedro shares that he worked as an assistant to the former Tonight Show bandleader Kevin Eubanks for 18 years, essentially taking care of anything that Eubanks needed for the show.

Sampedro, who now lives in Hawaii, also shares that at the conclusion of Neil Young & Crazy Horse's 'Greendale' Tour of 2004, there was no definite sense of what the band's future with Young would hold.

"Yeah, it's like, 'Bye, guys. See you,'" he said. "During that time, I was living in L.A., Ralph lived in Central California and Billy lived in San Francisco. But a couple of times a month, Billy would drive me to Ralph's place and we'd play. And Neil came and played with us a few times. But we just keep waiting."

Asked if he was concerned that 'Greendale' would signal the end of Young's work with Crazy Horse, Sampedro says he was never concerned that Young would not return to work with the band.

"I always thought we'd play again. I think Neil was just really saving it... One of my pet peeves with Crazy Horse is that Billy and Ralph always wanna make a record and get another guy and do this and that. And I just think that diminishes what we have with Neil. We have a special thing going. And I think it's historical now."