Neil Young Announces Debut Album with Chrome Hearts ‘Talkin to the Trees,’ Shares Second Single “Let’s Roll Again”

Photo Credit: Bill Kelly

Neil Young has announced that Talkin to the Trees, his highly anticipated first album with the Chrome Hearts, will arrive on June 12 via Other Shoe/Reprise. After releasing their debut single “Big Change” back in January, Young and his new backing quartet amplified expectations for a looming full-length last week when they staged the new American-made commentary anthem “Let’s Roll Again” at the Light Up the Blues benefit concert in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 26. Today, they’ve shared the studio treatment for that new cut, alongside a music video and the album’s full tracklist.

“Let’s Roll Again” is an interpolation of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” to fit a very different, but fittingly direct social message. Over a gravelly, churning smokebelch of an arrangement, Young calls out big names in the American auto industry with sing-songy verses that demand they “Build somethin’ useful people need/ Build us a safe way for us to be/ Build us somethin’ won’t kill our kids/ Runs real clean, yeah runs real clean.” Thundering guitars also lead Young into a jab at Elon Musk, when he rallies, “If you’re a fascist, then get a Tesla/If it’s electric/It doesn’t matter/If you’re a Democrat, then taste your freedom/Get whatever you want, and taste your freedom.” An admittedly confusing but certainly barbed and forceful statement.

Young and the Chrome Hearts–featuring guitarist Micah Nelson (a.k.a. Particle Kid), bassist Corey McCormick, drummer Anthony Logerfo and organist Spooner Oldham–cut Talkin to the Trees at Malibu, Calif.’s Shangri La Studios with co-production from the bandleader and Lou Adler. On June 18, the ensemble will hit the road for a 23-stop summer tour across the US, UK, Europe and Canada. Young confirmed his Love Earth Tour in February after forecasting that the content of the performances “will reflect the feelings of the times.”

Pre-order Talkin to the Trees here, and read on for the full tracklist and Love Earth Tour itinerary.

Talkin to the Trees – Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts:
01 Family Life
02 Dark Mirage
03 Fire Fire of Winter
04 Silver Eagle
05 Lets Roll Again
06 Big Change
07 Talkin to the Trees
08 Movin Ahead
09 Bottle of Love
10 Thankful