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Neil Young Finds Inspiration in the Garage for "Fork in the Road"

Auto-themed album written while on tour.

Posted Mar 20, 2009 12:00 PM

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Neil Young

Fork in the Road 4/7

Neil Young's latest set, Fork in the Road, took inspiration from his LincVolt project, a 1959 Lincoln retrofitted with an experimental electric engine. "My life's at a point where I'd rather get rid of my material things and turn them into money to do the LincVolt," he told Rolling Stone last October.

The disc, due April 7, has a casual vibe and was written and recorded quickly as Young toured last winter with his band — Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar, keyboards), Chad Cromwell (drums), Rick Rosas (bass), Pegi Young (vocals) and Anthony Crawford (vocals, guitar). Almost every song is car-themed — from the hard-edged boogie "Fuel Line" to the bluesy "Get Behind the Wheel." On the garage rocker "Johnny Magic" — an ode to his LincVolt partner, the "motorhead messiah" Jonathan Goodwin" — he sings, "She was born to run on the proud highway/Now she goes long-range on domestic green fuel/100 miles a gallon." (For his part, Goodwin told Rolling Stone last year, "For the first month I thought he was Neil Diamond. I guess he is another singer. My wife told me 'That's Neil Young. He sings the older songs.' To this day I've never listened to any of his music.")

Young has been playing the new material live since late last year, but has also drawn on new technology to introduce fans to "Fork in the Road." He turned to YouTube to premiere the video for the album's title track, and handed us the premiere of "Light a Candle."

Young and company will continue to do it the old fashioned way, too — they're are scheduled to tour Canada and Europe into the summer.