Neil Young To Release New Album, Retirement Not Even In The Picture
Neil Young doesn’t appear to be planning to retire any time soon. The 70-year-old music legend has announced the release of his 38th studio album, titled Peace Trail. Young’s mostly acoustic new album will be released by Reprise Records on Dec. 2, according to Rolling Stone.
Neil recorded Peace Trail at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-la Studios with drummer Jim Keltner and bassist Paul Bushnell. And while the album contains all new music, diehard Neil Young fans have heard previews of several of the songs already. Last month, Neil released a music video for the song “Indian Givers” to support protesters against the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. In addition, Young played five of his Peace Trail songs during the classic rock Desert Trip festival in California earlier this month.
In a statement about the project, Reprise announced that Neil Young’s album is “primarily acoustic” and “each song is rich with Young’s typically inviting lyrical expression of his inimitable impassioned and heartfelt life-long humanitarian concerns which remain as topical and timely as ever.”
In addition to the title track and “Indian Givers,” songs on Neil’s upcoming album include “Can’t Stop Workin,'” “Texas Rangers” and “John Oaks.”
Neil Young has been a pioneer in the industry since he first burst onto the music scene in the 1960s. He worked with Rick James and was part of Buffalo Springfield before embarking on a solo career that netted a long list of rock classics, including “Old Man” and “Heart of Gold.” Neil’s collaborations with David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash produced the CSNY protest song “Ohio,” and the group made history at the Woodstock festival in 1969.
While he is a music legend, Neil Young has always been known as one of the hardest working musicians in the business. Last year, Neil released Earth, a 98-minute compilation that was accompanied by real sounds from nature in the background. And speaking of sounds, Neil Young launched Pono, his own music service and player which offers the highest quality resolution of digital music. Young has also long spoken out against corporate giants like Monsanto. But in an interview in with Flood Magazine, Neil conceded that some of his messages would fall on deaf ears if the songs were released today.
“The corporations have power, and they control the government,” Young said. “That’s the way our system works, and it’s hard to beat.”
“The media is corporate and the politics are corporate, so we never hear about anything else. If I wrote ‘Ohio’ today and put it on the radio, no one would hear it. America is not what it used to be.”
Neil Young and his amps pic.twitter.com/7AZnXLJhMY
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During a recent appearance on Dan Rather’s The Big Interview, Young reiterated that he’ll continue to make music, but that there is pretty much no chance of CSNY ever getting back together. Young famously had a falling out with former music collaborator David Crosby after Crosby called him out for leaving his wife of 36 years, Pegi Young, for actress Darryl Hannah. At the time, David told the Idaho Statesman that Neil was hanging out with “a purely poisonous predator.” Pegi Young was the inspiration for several of her ex-husband’s earlier songs, including “Such a Woman” and “Once an Angel.”
As for his new music, the digital version of Peace Trail can be pre-ordered on Neil Young’s website, ad orders come with a bonus instant download of the title track. The release will also be available on CD and cassette, and a vinyl edition of Young’s album will be issued in January.
Take a look at the Neil Young video for “Peace Trail” below.
[Featured by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
