Kevin Chong was ready to be let down easy.

It was March 2004, and the Vancouver writer had a new book idea. After publishing his first novel, Baroque-a-Nova, in 2001 and feeling frustrated with less-than-stellar feedback for his sophomore fiction manuscript, Chong needed a break. He turned to a personal icon and conjured up a fresh project – a distraction of sorts.

“I decided I would e-mail Scott McIntyre and tell him I wanted to write a book about Neil Young, and he would take me out to a nice place for lunch and tell me very nicely why he didn’t want to publish it,” says Chong, sipping coffee refills in a Vancouver diner. But the president of Douglas & McIntyre countered with a request for a formal pitch. “I painted myself into a corner,” says Chong. “In order not to look like a total chucklehead, I had to write a book proposal.”

That proposal became Neil Young Nation, Chong’s first non-fiction title, which D&M sister imprint Greystone Books will publish in November. A blend of biography, personal narrative, and road trip-
fuelled fan letter, the book offers a glimpse into the world of Canadian-born musician Neil Young and the people who love him. Over 14,000 km in 22 days, Chong and three pot-smoking buddies take the same journey that ultimately led Young to fame. They travel an exhaustive route across five provinces and 14 states, with major stops in Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and Los Angeles, ending with Young’s performance at the Farm Aid 2004 benefit concert in Auburn, Washington.

Chong has been a Neil Young fan since he was a teenager. His first published article was a song-by-song review of 20 Neil Young tunes in a fanzine, so “writing this book was sort of like full circle for me.” He owns many of the rocker’s 31 official albums and has happily devoured several biographies, but he had one condition for his own book project: he didn’t want to actually meet or interview Young. “That’s one of the things that terrified me. I felt like it would be such a fruitless task and it wouldn’t be very insightful even if I were to talk to him.”

McIntyre – who never did come through on lunch, jokes Chong – passed the proposal on to Greystone publisher Rob Sanders. “I sat back and looked at it and chuckled at the possibilities,” says Sanders. “I was intrigued right from day one.” The combination of a strong narrative voice and a new twist on a fascinating subject was immediately appealing. “Most importantly, you could just sense Kevin’s passion in the proposal.”

The deal was in place by May 2004. For the next several months, Chong immersed himself in all things Neil, from music to biography. He also spent hours online visiting fan clubs and forging connections with Young devotees, also known as “Rusties” (after the classic Young album Rust Never Sleeps). Chong met several of these Rusties during the trip, and clearly enjoyed swapping favourite albums and sharing Young-inspired philosophies. One hardcore Young buff even fact-checked the final manuscript, while others sent bootleg recordings, videos, and radio interviews.

Despite all the research, Chong admits he’s hesitant to assume the title of rock writer: “I’m not sure I think of the book as rock and roll writing.” While it has an element of pop culture, he says, it’s also an archetypal road story and a chronicle of personal fandom. Chong points to rock histories by John Einarson and Nicholas Jennings, both of whom are interviewed in the book, as more classic rock and roll writing. “I guess there are far fewer books in Canada that deal with being a rock nerd – someone whose ability to bore you to death with rock minutiae seems as far from rock and roll as possible – and the contradictions of remaining a fan in your respectable, corduroy-wearing thirties.”

Meditations on aging infuse much of Neil Young Nation. In 2005, Chong turned 30, while his mutton-chopped hero will blow out 60 candles in November. “I told a lot of people that I was turning 30 and they said, ‘I thought you were way older than that,’” says Chong. Their confusion may be understandable: in person, Chong’s age is difficult to pinpoint, and he’s quick to mention his weekly Legion nights and shuffleboard games.

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Chong still defines himself as a novelist (and continues to work on that second fiction manuscript), but he says the transition into non-fiction was a smooth one. For starters, he’s no stranger to sharing his thoughts in a public forum. Chong currently writes a weekly Vancouver Sun column called “Blog Report,” and will launch a dating advice column in Vancouver magazine this fall. He also writes sporadic freelance pieces for other newspapers and magazines.

Journalism is one thing. But how did Chong feel about writing such a personal narrative – a story where he becomes the protagonist, exposing his fears and neuroses through more than 250 pages? He quotes a passage from a 1984 book by Young’s late father, Scott Young, called Neil and Me. In the book, Neil says he learned from his father’s writing “that the most vivid way to get an idea across was to lay oneself bare in the knowledge that others would identify with the bareness, the sometimes painful truth.”

That passage guided Chong throughout the book and encouraged him to tell the truth, no matter how seemingly mundane or unflattering. “The toughest part was to turn my friends into characters – to talk about them in a way that I hope was honest and literary without stepping on their toes.” To date, only one of Chong’s travel companions has read the finished book. Regardless, they all knew what they were in for, he says with a smile. Chong explained to his friends that they would become full-fledged story participants. “They were okay with it.”

The road trip also provided a welcome sense of structure. With a novel, everything’s possible, but the physical journey offered a natural way to integrate research, interviews, and first-person narrative. “There was a bit of freedom in those restrictions that you don’t have with fiction.”

He worked quickly, too. Chong hit the road in late August, returned in late September, and turned in a first draft by the end of the year. “I kept crazy hours for two or three months until it was done,” he says, eyes widening. “Writing is this kind of mania that I have to get out of me.”

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Chong’s vacation from fiction must have been satisfying, because he’s currently developing another non-fiction book proposal – this one about contrarianism – and is also working to spin a potential Yukon road trip (with the same three friends) into a new project. Although Penguin Canada published Baroque-a-Nova, Chong says he had always imagined D&M as the ideal place for Neil Young Nation, and it seems his instincts were right. “They took on the book at a very embryonic stage, so at a certain point it really became our book.”

Promotional plans have been equally collaborative, says Liza Algar, marketing director for D&M. Chong has offered ideas about how to reach Neil Young fans and suggested writers and musicians to provide cover blurbs. (Greystone launched its campaign by handing out promo guitar picks at BookExpos America and Canada.) Once the book is released, Chong will tour five Canadian cities and read at the Vancouver International Writers Festival. A promotion on Amazon.com in the U.S. will link the book to Young’s new album (and concert film), Prairie Wind. D&M is also working to arrange an event at the Canadian Consulate in New York City on November 12 (Young’s birthday), and Chong has developed a Young-themed CBC radio documentary that’s scheduled to air during Thanksgiving weekend.

Given Young’s faithful online following, Chong has also been promoting the book through a variety of blogs, websites, and fanzines. This is a critical marketing venue for Neil Young Nation, says Algar: “we want to get the book into the hands of people who can really relate to this trek in search of Neil Young’s roots.” Many of those readers will be in San Francisco for the International Rust Fest – a campsite gathering of Young fans from around the world. Chong will be there too, meeting the Rusties he encountered online and spreading the word about his book.

Speaking of spreading the word, does he know if Young himself has heard about it? Chong glances out the window and shifts in his seat. “I don’t know. It’s possible.” Imagining Young reading his road trip tale makes Chong inherently uncomfortable. It seems like a teenage crush or getting caught writing love letters. Chong’s not an obsessive fan, but Young retains a pedestal position for him. “I still admire him so much, but I guess I admire his missteps more now,” he says. “I admire the fact that he was not always leading with his strengths and he was willing to fail. That’s a source of inspiration to me as a writer.”

One might also imagine that after months of talking, listening, and writing about everything Neil, Chong would break out in hives upon hearing the first few bars of “Heart of Gold.” I ask when he last listened to a Neil Young song.

“Yesterday,” he says with a laugh.