Neil Young Readies New Album, Tour With Willie Nelson’s Sons
UPDATE 2: Neil Young will open each show on his Rebel Content summer tour with a solo acoustic set before sharing the stage with Promise of the Real.
UPDATE: Neil Young has announced that his new album The Monsanto Years will be released on CD, iTunes and PonoMusic on June 29th, with the vinyl version out in August.
Neil Young and Promise of the Real, a band featuring Willie Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah, will hit the road this summer in support of their upcoming album together, The Monsanto Years. Young’s new LP will reportedly arrive on June 16th according to a press release sent to promoters, while the Rebel Content Tour itself will kick off July 5th at Milwaukee’s Summerfest.
For years, Young has railed against Monsanto, the chemical company specializing in genetically modified seeds. In January, Young revealed that he was working on an album called The Monsanto Years, but the rocker appeared to be joking about the title at the time. “I’m working on another album now that I’m going to be doing with Willie Nelson’s sons,” Young said. “It’s an upbeat review of the situation.”
At a surprise concert April 16th at San Luis Obispo, California’s SLO Brewing Co., Young and Promise of the Real debuted 11 new tracks that might appear on their joint LP. Those songs boasted protest-minded titles like “Monsanto Years,” “Rock Starbucks,” “Seeds” and “Too Big to Fail,” fan site Sugar Mountain reports. Young had previously teamed with the Nelson brothers at Farm Aid and the Bridge School Benefit.
According to the Burlington Free Press, Young’s Rebel Content tour will feature the rocker’s first ever concert in Vermont. The newspaper speculates that Young is rewarding the Green Mountain State for their stance on genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Vermont passed a law requiring companies to list whether their food contained GMOs, and in a note to fans, Young called for a boycott of Starbucks for their part in the effort “to sue Vermont, and stop accurate food labeling.” The coffee giant later clarified that they were not involved in the lawsuit against Vermont.
Neil Young Tour Dates
July 5 – Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
July 8 & 9 – Denver, CO @ Red Rocks
July 11 – Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena
July 13 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
July 14 – Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
July 16 – Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Bank Center
July 17 – Bethel, NY @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
July 19 – Essex Junction, VT @ Champlain Valley Expo
July 21 – Wantagh, NY @ Jones Beach
July 22 – Great Woods, MA @ Xfinity Center
July 24 – Oro-Medonte, ONT @ Wayhome Festival