Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts Announce New Album Second Song

Neil Young has returned with the Chrome Hearts for his 44th overall release, titled Second Song. The new record follows 2025’s Talkin to the Trees, which marked Young’s first outing with this specific backing band. Spanning seven tracks, the album shifts away from the pointed political commentary of its predecessor (which targeted figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk) and instead centers on personal reflection and the passage of time.

Inside ‘Second Song’

Recorded at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California, the album was produced by Lou Adler alongside The Volume Dealers—a production moniker for Neil Young and Niko Bolas. The release follows the Chrome Hearts’ 2025 debut studio album, Talkin’ to the Trees, and their April 2026 live album, As Time Explodes.

Second Song features seven tracks written entirely by Young. The tracklist includes five previously unreleased songs alongside two alternate versions of existing cuts: “Casting Me Away From You” and “I’ll Love You Forever.”

The Chrome Hearts—featuring drummer Anthony LeGerfo, bassist Corey McCormick, guitarist Micah Nelson, and keyboardist Spooner Oldham—accompany Young through a familiar sonic landscape over the album’s duration. The band navigates various musical shifts across the tracks, moving from distanced introspection on “The Foggy Edge of Time” to hushed deliberation on the 11-and-a-half-minute title track. Other cuts lean into a Harvest-style country rock approach, such as “Casting Me Away From You,” a song originally tried out in 1965.

While the album’s primary focus is looking inward, Young still includes a few sharp commentary moments. In the trudging, nine-plus-minute track “Soon I Might Be Going,” he sings, “The president was on TV and says everything is golden / But he’s tearing down the old White House.” Environmental themes also pop up as a supporting element across a handful of songs.

Track Listing

The Foggy Edge Of Time
Day After Day
Earth Girl
Second Song
Casting Me Away From You
Soon I Might Be Going
I’ll Love You Forever

Personal Reflections and Archival Revivals

Much of Second Song finds the 80-year-old singer-songwriter taking stock of his life, including lines like, “I thought about the early days, when I was young.” The record also functions as an unabashed valentine to his wife, actress Daryl Hannah. In “Earth Girl,” Young sings, “You are the light of my life / Like a river that flows right through my heart.”

That romantic sentiment reappears on the album closer, “I’ll Love You Forever.” The track was first recorded with the Squires in 1964 and previously surfaced on 2009’s The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972, but has been recast here as a four-minute tribute to Hannah. The album also features a pair of songs written in the ’60s alongside these fresh recordings, blending Young’s deep past with his present.