A genre-hopping young star and a rock icon compare notes on songwriting, Fleetwood Mac, relationships and much, much more

I DIDN’T BRING my stilts,” dad-jokes Lindsey Buckingham as he eyes Omar Apollo, all six feet five of him. Apollo lets out a chuckle as he leans against the recording console, where Buckingham’s band, Fleetwood Mac, happened to have made Tusk 45 years ago.

Buckingham, a 74-year-old guitar hero, might seem an odd pairing for a 26-year-old Mexican American star who makes tear-jerking alt-R&B. But as Apollo, who asked Buckingham to join him for Musicians on Musicians, puts it: “I got layers, you know?” (That’s evident as the singer jumps between playing the Cocteau Twins and norteño legend Ramón Ayala during the duo’s photo shoot.)

Once the men sit down for their chat at the Village, the legendary L.A. studio, they realize their connection is more than just musical. Perhaps, fateful. Buckingham made Tusk here. Apollo dropped his breakthrough album, Ivory, last year. “That’s crazy,” Apollo says. “We both have the elephant thing.”

Apollo’s conversation with Buckingham arrives at a pivotal moment in his career: He earned a Best New Artist Grammy nomination earlier this year, his song “Evergreen” just went platinum, and his excellent new EP, Live for Me, came out Oct. 6 — the success is coming swiftly, and he’s at a clear turning point. Buckingham knows that feeling all too well: It happened after Fleetwood Mac dropped their blockbuster album Rumours. He has some advice to impart about fame, songwriting, and going your own way as an artist.

Omar, you wanted to talk to Lindsey. I would love to hear why.

Apollo: Well, there’s a song that you made that has so many memories attached to it, that I’m obsessed with, that literally changed how I wanted to look at music and make music.

Buckingham: And what song was that?

Apollo: It was “Never Going Back Again.” Continue reading Lindsey Buckingham Wrote a Song That Changed Omar Apollo’s Life | Rolling Stone →