Neil Young has announced Second Song, his second album with his latest backing band, The Chrome Hearts. Spanning seven tracks, the collection arrives September 18th via Reprise Records. Pre-orders and pre-saves are ongoing.
Earlier this year, the folk icon teased the new cycle, saying living through the “worst president in the history of our country” had left him “hurt.” While he finds politics “sad and depressing,” however, he chose to reconnect with “the feelings of life and love.” The result is a largely acoustic collection of songs that meditate on the state of things now in the context of how things once were and could be in the future.
Hence the reflective, nearly 12-minute long lead single and title track. “Second Song” is an unhurried thought process, as if Young and the Chrome Hearts (drummer Anthony LoGerfo, bassist Corey McCormick, guitarist, Micah Nelson, and legendary keyboardist Spooner Oldham) were lost in a fire-side jam session. Young sings of the life he’s experienced and the glow of the future, with lines such as, “I dream a way of living/ A way of sharing what we find/ A way of walking slowly through the smokey leaves of time.”
Watch the “Second Song” lyric video below, followed by the album’s tracklist and artwork. Second Song was recored at ShangriLa Studios with producer Lou Adler, as well as Young and Niko Bolas under their The Volume Dealers moniker.
The album follows 2025’s Talkin to the Trees and the as time explodes live album from earlier this year. Young also released the Trump protest song “Big Crime” late last year, yanked his music from Amazon, called for a boycott of all Trump-supporting companies, and gifted the country of Greenland access to his full catalog.
Second Song Artwork:
Second Song Tracklist:
01. The Foggy Edge of Time
02. Day After Day
03. Earth Girl
04. Second Song
05. Casting Me Away From You
06. Soon I Might Be Going
07. I’ll Love You Forever
