The Stray Gators were the musicians Jack Nitzsche

Jack Nitzsche

Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche was an arranger, producer, songwriter, and film score composer. He first came to prominence in the late 1950s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spector, and went on to work with the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and others...

 (piano), Ben Keith

Ben Keith

Bennett Keith Schaeufele , better known by his stage name Ben Keith, was an American musician and record producer...

 (steel guitar), Tim Drummond

Tim Drummond

Tim Drummond is an American bass guitarist who has toured and recorded with many notable artists including Conway Twitty, Bob Dylan, James Brown, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Ry Cooder, J. J. Cale, Lonnie Mack, Miles Davis, B.B...

 (bass) and Kenny Buttrey

Kenny Buttrey

Aaron Kenneth Buttrey was an American drummer and arranger. According to CMT, he was "one of the most influential session musicians in Nashville history"....

 (drums)
that supported Neil Young

Neil Young

Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

 in 1972 on his hit album Harvest, for which Nitzsche also produced two songs ("A Man Needs a Maid" and "There's a World"). After the release of Harvest they appeared on the "War Song

War Song

"War Song" is a 1972 single credited to Neil Young & Graham Nash, backed by The Stray Gators. It was released in support of George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign, who was running against incumbent President Richard Nixon...

" single, credited to Young and Graham Nash

Graham Nash

Graham William Nash, OBE is an English singer-songwriter known for his light tenor vocals and for his songwriting contributions with the British pop group The Hollies, and with the folk-rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Nash is a photography collector and a published photographer...

, as well as outtakes from the Harvest sessions on the Journey Through the Past

Journey Through the Past

Journey Through the Past is a soundtrack album from the film of the same name by Neil Young, released in November of 1972 on Reprise Records, catalogue 6480. It peaked at #45 on the Billboard 200, and since its initial release on vinyl, cassette tape and 8-track tape cartridge it has remained out...

soundtrack. In 1973 they backed Young again on his Time Fades Away

Time Fades Away

Time Fades Away is a 1973 live album by Neil Young, consisting of previously unreleased material. It was recorded with The Stray Gators on the tour following 1972's highly successful Harvest and has not been reissued on CD due to Young's dissatisfaction with that particular series of concerts...

tour, though Buttrey had been replaced by drummer Johnny Barbata. They disbanded midway through the tour when Young abruptly put an end to the concerts, but as individuals they continued to work with Young and others. They would have a reunion of sorts in 1992 on Young's Harvest Moon

Harvest Moon (album)

Harvest Moon is the twenty-first studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released in 1992. Many of the musicians appearing on it also appeared on his 1972 album Harvest, and this album is considered by many to be a pseudo-sequel to Harvest....

album, with Spooner Oldham

Spooner Oldham

Dewey Lindon "Spooner" Oldham is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and at FAME Studios on such hit R&B songs as "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge, "Mustang Sally" by Wilson Pickett and "I Never Loved a Man" by Aretha...

 replacing Jack Nitzsche, though Nitzsche would arrange the track "Such a Woman". Later they would play on Jewel

Jewel (singer)

Jewel Kilcher , professionally known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress and poet...

's debut album Pieces of You

Pieces of You

Pieces of You is the debut album by singer/songwriter Jewel, released in 1995 for Atlantic Recordings. Though it made little impact initially, "Who Will Save Your Soul" eventually received airplay and the album peaked at #4 on Billboard 200 almost exactly 2 years after its release...

, which was recorded in Young's studio.