Thanks to Donald Trump’s ongoing threats toward Canada, from tariff hikes to hints about making the country the “51st State,” it’s no surprise that Canadians are sticking together more than ever. That trend apparently also now applies to music. Bachman-Turner Overdrive, the recently constituted version of one of the country’s classic-rock institutions, today releases a new single, “60 Years Ago,” featuring an appearance by fellow Canadian Neil Young.
Picking up where classic BTO left off nearly 50 years ago in terms of sonic crunch, “60 Years Ago” is what co-founder Randy Bachman calls, in a statement, “our tribute to Winnipeg, the place where we grew up as teenagers in the Sixties, a time when the city’s music scene was exploding. It was the Liverpool of North America, a melting pot of incredible talents.” As he sings, referring to his biggest pre-BTO band, “The Guess Who, Overdrive and Buffalo Springfield/In our teenage dreams of rock & roll/We never thought we’d get this old.” Young contributes a guitar solo, and former BTO member Fred Turner, who isn’t in the band’s current lineup, adds his characteristic throaty harmony.
The song isn’t the first time by far that Young and Bachman have hooked up musically. As teenagers, they knew each other as young fledgling Winnipeg rockers in the early Sixties. Bachman has said that Young was supportive of him after Bachman left the Guess Who in 1970 and wasn’t sure what to do next. According to Bachman, Young helped Bachman’s first post-Guess Who band, Brave Belt, land a deal with Warner Brothers, Young’s home.
BTO had its rock radio moment in the mid Seventies, thanks to pounders like “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet,” “Takin’ Care of Business” and “Let Ride.” The affection between Bachman and Young has continued over the decades: Young joined Bachman for two versions, acoustic and electric, of a Bachman Nineties story-song, “Prairie Town,” and Young participated in a 2019 doc on Bachman.
Two years ago, Bachman powered up BTO again, with a current lineup that includes his son Tal on guitar and his daughter-n-law, KoKo Bachman, on drums. (Randy Bachman himself is the sole original member of the Seventies lineup.) Starting next month, the band will launch a tour in Victoria, British Columbia, and play U.S. dates for most of July and August. The latest incarnation of Jefferson Starship and Southern rock stalwarts the Marshall Tucker Band and the Outlaws are on some of those dates as well.
