It took four Fireside Sessions, but Neil Young has apparently grown tired of every fire pit and fireplace in his Colorado home. For the latest entry in his quarantine performance series, Old Shakey took the show down the road — or at least, to the other side of the estate — for a special Barnyard Edition.
Once again directed by his wife, actress Daryl Hannah, the performance is largely delivered to a bunch of chickens and — if you keep an eye out — at least one mallard. The set opens with Young playing “Tumbleweed” from 2014’s Storytone on ukulele while a lama named Lazlo and a horse mosey around their pen. He then moves over to the coop to strum out “Homegrown”, the title track from his long-unreleased 1975 album Homegrown, finally due for release on June 19th.
Intercut with some improvised clucking tunes to appease his feathered audience, Young also plays the title track to 1972’s classic Harvest, that album’s “Old Man”, and the title track to his 1969 sophomore LP, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. The whole set ends with a rendition of the Harvest Moon cut “War of Man” performed in silhouette in the barn door.
Watch Young’s fifth Fireside Session now over at the Neil Young Archives.
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45 years after it was recorded, Homegrown is set to arrive next month. Young recently previewed the effort with the lead single “Try”.
