Neil Young Confirms New, Electric Car-Inspired LP "Fork in the Road" Due April 7th

When Neil Young began playing nine new songs a night towards the end of his 2008 tour it became apparent a new album was in the works. Today it was confirmed that Fork in the Road, a theme record about Young's Linc Volt electric car project, will come out April 7th. The title track was turned into a hilarious YouTube video earlier this year. The only previously unheard song is "Johnny Magic," a loving tribute to Jonathan Goodwin, who is Young's partner in the Linc Volt project. Young has spent significant amounts of time working with Goodwin at his Wichita Kansas garage over the past year. Goodwin, known as the "motorhead messiah," is one of the worlds preeminent electric car experts, and has little interest in his partner's other career. "For the first month I thought he was Neil Diamond," Goodwin told Rolling Stone last year. "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."

The album was recorded with Young's touring band, which includes Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar, keyboards), Chad Cromwell (drums), Rick Rosas (bass), Pegi Young (vocals) and Anthony Crawford (vocals, guitar). They just wrapped up an Australian tour and are headed to Canada and Europe later in the year.

Here's the track listing:

"When Worlds Collide"
"Fuel Line"
"Just Singing A Song"
"Johnny Magic"
"Cough Up The Bucks"
"Get Behind The Wheel"
"Off The Road"
"Hit The Road"
"Light A Candle"
"Fork In The Road"

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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