Back in 2025, a bunch of famous and less famous artists got together to record a tribute album for Neil Young for his late ex-wife Pegi’s Bridge School. The school’s mission is to “ensure that individuals with extensive speech and physical disabilities achieve full participation in their communities.” (Their son Ben has cerebral palsy.) Up through 2016, the school was supported in part by the annual Bridge School Benefit Concert. However, the concerts have ended so these tribute albums are a result. We reviewed volume one when it was released.
Now Volumes Two and Three are scheduled for release in November and the tracks are beginning to trickle out. The first track from Volume 2 is “After the Gold Rush” performed by Draco Rosa, most famous for his tenure in Menudo, when he was known as Robby Rosa. (He is the lead singer on “Hold Me.”) Since leaving Menudo, Rosa has sung in funk rock band Maggie’s Dream and had a successful solo career, achieving one Top 10 and two more Top 20s on the Latin Pop chart.
Rosa might seem an odd choice for someone to cover Neil Young. But he has chosen a song that he says deeply resonates with his own personal journey. And, like most of the artists on Volume 1, he has chosen to adhere fairly faithfully to the original. This is not a Latin pop version of “After the Gold Rush.”
Diagnosed with cancer in 2011, Rosa’s voice has changed drastically as a result. Though he is currently cancer-free, his voice is now raspy and sounds like that of someone significantly older than their mid ’50s.
Rosa and his band take “After the Gold Rush” slightly slower than the original, and he sort of speak-sings the lyrics until the final verse. Someone provides a slightly more melodic backing vocal. (It’s not clear if Rosa is able to sing that part at this stage of his life.) His raspy delivery provides the song with the kind of gravitas that Johnny Cash’s aging voice provided so many songs during his American recordings at the end of his life. Again, Rosa is currently cancer-free, but his voice possesses the quality of someone who has lived through a lot, someone who has survived but had to struggle to do so.
It’s a really affecting performance of one of Young’s greatest songs. Have a listen:
