When Neil Young drops an eleven-minute acoustic track as a single, the music world sits up and pays attention.

The legendary singer-songwriter is back, announcing his brand-new studio album, Second Song, alongside its sprawling, cinematic title track. Backed by his powerhouse crew The Chrome Hearts—featuring Micah Nelson, Corey McCormick, Anthony LoGerfo, and keyboard legend Spooner Oldham—the track leans hard into a patient, rustic, porch-jam vibe.

Diving Into “Second Song”

Clocking in at over eleven minutes, “Second Song” completely ignores the modern streaming playbook. Instead of chasing a tight, three-minute radio edit, Young gives the song room to breathe.

It’s built around gentle acoustic guitar, low-key harmonica, hushed percussion, and warm keys from Oldham. The pacing is unhurried and hypnotic. Lyrically, Young is in vintage reflective mode, pondering the passage of time, smoke-filled air, and the simple desire to connect:

“I dream a way of living / A way of sharing what we find / A way of walking slowly through the smokey leaves of time.”

Rather than feeling repetitive, the length works because it feels completely live and unforced. It’s got that raw, lived-in warmth of Comes a Time crossed with the spontaneous energy of a band just locked in a room together.

What to Expect from the Album

Set to drop on September 18 via Reprise Records, Second Song follows up Young and The Chrome Hearts’ 2025 project, Talkin’ To The Trees.

Young started writing the tracks around the turn of the year in Colorado before heading out to Malibu to cut the core material during a quick two-day session at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios.

The tracklist is a cool mix of fresh writing and deep-vault history, including a couple of tracks originally recorded way back in the mid-60s with his early group, The Squires:

1. The Foggy Edge Of Time

2. Day After Day

3. Earth Girl

4. Second Song

5. Casting Me Away From You (Originally recorded in 1964 with The Squires)

6. Soon I Might Be Going

7. I’ll Love You Forever (Originally recorded in 1965 with The Squires)

True to form, Young is also championing high-fidelity audio with this release, cutting digital high-res masters right alongside analog vinyl masters so fans can choose their preferred format.

Why It Works

In a music landscape full of hyper-compressed loops designed purely for quick algorithmic bites, Neil Young is doing the exact opposite. He’s inviting everyone to slow down, put the phone down, and just listen.

Whether you’ve followed his career for decades or are just discovering his acoustic catalog, “Second Song” is a reminder that Young isn’t slowing down—he’s just finding new ways to tell his stories.