Neil Young at Farm Aid 2015 in Chicago. Photo by Laurie Fanelli
Neil Young has just revealed plans for a new digital archive that will represent the Canadian singer-songwriter’s entire music catalog, from his first recording dating back over 50 years to his most current release. The new Neil Young Archive content will also include previously unreleased material as well as works currently in production.
Young details the new digital archive in a note posted to the NYA website. “You can browse through the music I made between today’s date and 1963, when I made my first recording in Canada and it was released as a 45 RPM single,” says the Godfather of Grunge. “View all albums currently released and see albums still unreleased and in production just by using the controls to zoom through the years. Unreleased album art is simply penciled in so you can see where unreleased albums will appear on the timeline, once they are completed.”
“The NYA Filing Cabinet,” as Young refers to it, will contain all of his work, presented chronologically and stored on “Info Cards” with associated credits, memorabilia, videos, photos and more. The musical information is described as a “living document” that will forever grow and evolve as new information and content is uncovered and incorporated. “We have attempted to highlight the creative process and the creators,” Young explains in the note, calling attention to the list of people and efforts involved in the making of the music.
Young’s forthcoming album Hitchhiker is likely to appear on the digital archive. Per Rolling Stone, the LP is comprised of 10 acoustic tracks recorded at Indigo Studios in Malibu back in 1976. While many of the songs (see the complete tracklisting below) have appeared on previous Young albums, the tracks presented on Hitchhiker will vary in form.
Young previously detailed plans for his Xstream Music service back in April. His new digital archive will presumably tie into the service (not yet available), which offers listeners an adaptive auditory experience, delivering high resolution streaming (determined by your specific bandwidth availability) directly from uncompressed master recordings.
Young — joined by John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews and more — is slated to perform at this year’s Farm Aid on September 16.
Hitchhiker Track List:
1. Pocahontas
2. Powderfinger
3. Captain Kennedy
4. Hawaii
5. Give Me Strength
6. Ride My Llama
7. Hitchhiker
8. Campaigner
9. Human Highway
10. The Old Country Waltz