Neil Young and his band the Chrome Hearts have announced a new album, Second Song, due out digitally on September 18 and on physical formats October 30 through Reprise Records. Pitchfork and NME reported the announcement on August 7, and Young shared the title track alongside it.
Second Song is the follow-up to 2025's Talkin to the Trees, the Chrome Hearts' debut album with Young, and it was recorded this spring at Rick Rubin's Shangri-La Studios in Malibu with the same production team: Young and longtime collaborator Niko Bolas working as "the Volume Dealers" alongside producer Lou Adler, SPIN reported. The band reunites Young with drummer Anthony LoGerfo, bassist Corey McCormick, guitarist Micah Nelson and keyboardist Spooner Oldham.
The seven-song album mixes new material with older songs Young wrote decades ago; Pitchfork counted five new songs and two unreleased older ones, while SPIN described three previously unheard songs dating back to 1963 alongside the newer writing. Young called the songs "straight from the heart" and described the finished album as "a special gift" that he "really feels," per SPIN.
Young has framed the record as a return to analog fidelity, writing on the Neil Young Archives that the band captured both analog and high-resolution digital masters so listeners could compare them directly. "Analog was the beginning, and it never sounded better," he wrote, calling hi-res digital "a clear second best" next to what he described as tape's "museum quality sound."
Young has said he has been channeling anger at the Trump administration into recent work, telling fans earlier this year that "we have the worst president in the history of our country," NME reported, though he said the studio time with the Chrome Hearts has brought him more joy. He recently canceled his entire UK and European tour, saying only that he "needed a break"; weeks later he and Willie Nelson announced a pair of co-headlining shows leading into Farm Aid 2026, just days before Second Song arrives. The album joins the rest of the week's new rock releases tracked on the release calendar.
The facts
- The album Second Song is out digitally September 18, physical October 30
- It follows Talkin to the Trees
- Recorded this spring at Rick Rubin's Shangri-La Studios
- Produced by Young, Niko Bolas and Lou Adler
- Seven songs mixing new and older unreleased material
- Young recently canceled his UK and European tour
- Young and Willie Nelson play co-headlining shows before Farm Aid
How this checks out
Confirmed
Reported by 3 independent outlets
Independent outlets reported it separately, enough to treat it as confirmed.
Cited sources 3
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