Fans of legendary rock icon, Neil Young, recently received a rare chance opportunity to listen to him perform the title track from his famed previously unreleased 1975 album Homegrown, which will see the light of day with a slated June 19 release, via Reprise. As previously reported on NME, “Performed during the fifth episode of his ‘Fireside Sessions’ series, which was directed by his wife, actress Daryl Hannah, Young also shared a handful of other rarities.”
In an intimate live performance, Young is depicted in a comfortable farmland setting with wife Hannah directing. In the video, Young picking up a ukulele starts his “Barnyard Edition” set with a track “Tumbleweed” off his 2014 34th studio album, Storytone. According to the aforementioned NME article, Young continues, “Singing to an audience that included a handful of chickens and a mallard, the latest installment of the 74-year-old’s live-streamed series…” this includes “Homegrown” which Hannah catches Young touching his face after vibrantly performing with fervor at the helm of his acoustic guitar. The remainder of his live stream set included fan favorites “Harvest”, “Old Man” and “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”. The live stream set concluded with a performance of “War of Man” from Young’s nineteenth studio album, 1992’s Harvest Moon.
The aforementioned NME article concludes with Young speaking on the recording process of his forthcoming musical offering Homegrown recorded during a very personal place and tumultuous time for Young, saying:
“I apologise. This album ‘Homegrown’ should have been there for you a couple of years after ‘Harvest’. It’s the sad side of a love affair. The damage done. The heartache. I just couldn’t listen to it. I wanted to move on. So I kept it to myself, hidden away in the vault, on the shelf, in the back of my mind….but I should have shared it. It’s actually beautiful. That’s why I made it in the first place. Sometimes life hurts. You know what I mean. This is the one that got away. Recorded in analog in 1974 and early 1975 from the original master tapes and restored with love and care by John Hanlon. Levon Helm is drumming on some tracks, Karl T Himmel on others, Emmylou Harris singing on one, ‘Homegrown’ contains a narration, several acoustic solo songs never even published or heard until this release and some great songs played with a great band of my friends, including Ben Keith – steel and slide – Tim Drummond – bass and Stan Szelest – piano. Anyway, it’s coming your way in 2020, the first release from our archive in the new decade. Come with us into 2020 as we bring the past.”
Canadian-born Young, who has been residing in California since the 1960’s, received US citizenship at the top of this year. Previously reported here at mxdwn, Young’s dual citizenship was held up according to Young himself initially declaring “being denied U.S. Citizenship due to his use of Marijuana.” Young’s struggle proved successful, as previously reported in Rolling Stone, back in January “Young and his wife, actress Daryl Hannah, obtained his naturalization documents at the Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles. He celebrated in a video on his Instagram, singing ‘I’m proud to be a Canarican’ in the tune of ‘God Bless the U.S.A.’ while waving around miniature American and Canadian flags.”
To watch the fifth episode of “Fireside Session” stream now, by visiting Neil Young’s official website.
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