Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story (45 page)

Top to bottom:

Atz Lee,

Shane,

Dad,

and me.

Shane, Dad, Atz Lee, and me. Yule is standing in the doorway, playing a homestead flute, which he made from various materials.

Shane, me, and Atz Lee.

One of my early performances in my Swiss yodeling outfit with Dad.

Rehearsing, with Dad at my right, at a friend’s house in Anchorage.

At about age twelve I loved to escape by myself and ride in solitude, here with my aunt Mossy’s horse named Enchantress and her foal, Souldance.
(© Mairiis Kilcher)

With Dad, playing the cafeteria at University of Anchorage when he was a student there.

Even after I got my driver’s license, my horse Clearwater was my trusty form of transportation.
(© Mairiis Kilcher)

Performing at the Inner Change in 1993, where I was discovered and, more important, where I found the love and support of fans who are with me to this day.

Steve Poltz and I were inadvertently part of a drug bust in Mexico, in 1993. We’d made the trip to do some songwriting, crashed in an abandoned house overnight, and tagged along with some federales to go whale watching on their skiff. We found drug smugglers instead—after a high-speed chase on the Bahia de Gonzaga, they led us to their enormous stash of marijuana, which we hauled back to the camp and loaded in a government vehicle, pictured behind us.

Performing at the Inner Change after I was signed, July 1994.

Making my first album at Neil Young’s ranch in Northern California.

In Neil’s studio with bass player Tim Drummond.