In a recent episode of the Broken Record Podcast, Neil Young joined Rick Rubin and Jack White to talk about how his treks in the woods while whistling were the inspiration for the upcoming Crazy Horse album.
The album “Barn,” which Neil Young and Crazy Horse recorded in June 2021, was released in December. Following that, Young and Crazy Horse worked with Rick Rubin to create a completely unique follow-up record that fans had never heard from the group before. There is currently no set date for the band’s unnamed album, which was completed this past summer.
The rock icon had previously revealed that since they were waiting for the vinyl to be produced, the record release would take place close to the end of the year. Young shared the process of how the melodies were created in order to offer fans a preview of what they can anticipate from the next album as they wait for the album’s official release date.
Neil Young recently said that he spent the winter in Colorado and enjoyed going for walks in the woods. He began recording the whistles he made on his flip phone since he did it every time he walked. Every day, Young would go on walks and compose melodies using just his whistling and the sounds of the trees. By the end, he had composed 10 distinct songs.
He made the decision to arrange the tunes from the days he had recorded them using his computer after transferring the recordings there. After the songs were arranged, Young gave them a listen and noticed they had songs that may be used for the following project, which eventually became the second Crazy Horse album.
According to Neil Young, the new album was influenced by his nature hikes:
“I was taking a walk in the woods up in Colorado, you know, in the wintertime. I was walking along whistling and heard this. I said, ‘That’s the same song I was whistling yesterday. I don’t know what it is.’ So I got off my flip phone and recorded it.
Once I’d done that, the next day I walked out whistling a whole new song. I did it every day until I had ten different melodies with no instruments. [It’s] so cool going through the trees and singing into this old, you know, whatever it was, a black thing, and then I put it on my computer.
I listened to them all and said, well, that’s that melody, this is that melody, this is that day and everything because I didn’t organize it, so I got them in there, and then I put them all, and I listened to him I said ‘Shit you know there might be something here.’ They’re all here; they came all these melodies.”
Listen to the song below: