“I looked out into the audience and saw Neil Young sitting in the middle – I froze”: How Mike Campbell sideman Jason Sinay ended up playing with his hero after spotting him in the crowd

Jason Sinay has had his fair share of encounters with music legends. The LA-based guitarist has wielded his guitar side by side with Bob Weir, Lucinda Williams, and Joe Bonamassa, to name a select few – and even had a two-decade tenure in Mike Campbell's Dirty Knobs – before deciding to go solo.

However, in true Hollywood fashion, Sinay recounts how he managed to rub shoulders and even jam with the Godfather of Grunge, whose repertoire he grew up on...

The guitarist had landed a highly-coveted gig in the house band of a Monday night jam run by noted session guitarist Waddy Wachtel – attended by a who's who of the industry. As Sinay puts it in an upcoming Guitar World interview, “You never knew who was going to come through.”

As for how he ended up playing with the Heart of Gold singer-songwriter, he recounts, “He wasn’t planning on playing that night. I was doing a show in LA, and we were rocking. We had a good crowd, and I looked out into the audience and saw Neil Young sitting in the middle – I froze. It’s all on video. It’s really funny. You can see where I play the wrong note, and sort of freeze.

“So, on break, I went backstage, and Waddy was like, ‘Neil Young’s here…’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on…’ Next thing I know, Neil comes backstage, he’s talking to me, and I’m just standing there like an idiot, totally starstruck.”

But Sinay soon had to shake the feeling, as Young invited him to play Down by the River from his 1969 album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.

Neil Young with Waddy Wachtel Band - "Down By The River" (30-minute)/EKTIN (2005) - YouTube

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“It’s one of my favorite songs, and I was like, ‘I’d love to play Down by the River,’ and he was like, ‘Well, let’s do it, then.’ He went onstage and just schooled us. Part of it was just the way he set up the groove.

As to what made this jam memorable (aside from the obvious), Sinay is quick to point out, “He didn’t start singing until we were really in the pocket. Everyone was so excited to play with him that we were rushing, and he just held it down. We ended up playing a good hour-and-a-half set with him.”

And among the many stars who frequented the jam session, the guitarist also recalls how a Rolling Stone turned up unannounced, ready to perform a few Stones classics.

Guitar World's full interview with Jason Sinay will be published in the coming weeks.