New Neil Young album: “Talking to The Trees” criticizes Trump’s America

Even the harmonica at the beginning of the song is reminiscent of "This Land Is Your Land," Woody Guthrie's positive protest song about an America that should belong to everyone, in which everyone can have a share, regardless of their origins. "This land," sang Woody Guthrie, "is made for you and me..." Neil Young's song, however, is called "Silver Eagle," and its melody is only slightly different from Guthrie's. It's not directly about a bird, as the singer and silver eagle "roll through time."

What's in question is Young's gorgeous, shiny chrome tour bus, a vehicle "full of stories—yours and mine." Its model name, however, comes from the famous one-dollar coin made of fine silver—with the eagle on one side and freedom striding along on the other.

The song can be read as both a personal and a political statement on "Talking To The Trees," the 48th album by Neil Young (79) and the first with his new band Chrome Hearts. It's a love song to two companions – to the luxurious helper for the weeks and months of freedom "on the road," and to freedom itself, which is struggling in the USA these days. It's increasingly being shackled.

The Godfather of Grunge, whose star rose in 1966 with the country/folk/rock band Buffalo Springfield and who joined the folk-rock trio Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1969, doesn't unleash a guitar storm on this album, which was recorded in the fall of 2024 at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California, as his Chrome Hearts' first live performances might suggest. The only noises are when he and his band take on the Trump administration.

“Big Change,” a blaring rocker released as a single in January for Trump’s inauguration ceremony, tells of promised “coming big changes” in the country over distorted chords.

The song appears to be a look at the Republican US election campaign: In "Big Change," ordinary Americans are unsure about political promises. Young sees the world from their indecisive perspective: "Could be bad, could be great."

What's being said "looks like a collision," Young sings. With "You gotta do what you gotta do," he leaves each individual the freedom to decide: "Go up to the mountains or go down to the city." But when he talks about the "big drums" of "big change," he says they're "heading in the wrong direction."

Young, a Canadian who has also been a US citizen since 2020, has recently clashed with Trump. When the US president viciously insulted singer and songwriter Bruce Springsteen after his first speech against the Trump administration at the E Street Band concert in Manchester, and even threatened him that we'd see what happened when he returned home, Young stood by his colleague from New Jersey. "Bruce and thousands of musicians think you're ruining America. And you'd rather take care of this than the dying children in Gaza," Young wrote on his website in a direct response to Trump.

And added (among other things): "I'm not afraid of you. And neither are the rest of us." The post, signed "Neil Young and many others," ended: "Wake up, Republicans! This guy is out of control. We need a real president."

In another post on his website, Young then addressed Trump critic Springsteen directly: "As a dual Canadian-American citizen, I join with the vast majority in thanking you for speaking so eloquently and truthfully on behalf of the American people," Young said. "We are with you, my old friend. Your great songs of America sound authentic when you sing them to Europe and the world!"

In April, Young expressed concerns about his own European tour, which begins next Wednesday (June 18) in Rättvik, Sweden: "If I talk about Donald J. Trump, I might be one of those people who return to America and get banned from the country or put in jail, sleeping on a cement floor under an aluminum blanket."

While the lyrics of "Big Change" are still characterized by a certain empathy for those who followed the Make America Great Again rhetoric in 2024, Young becomes angrier and more lyrically direct (at the same time far less artful) in "Let's Roll Again." The car enthusiast specifically demands that traditional US car brands like General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler should regain their strength against China.

His economic patriotism, however, doesn't apply to everyone. He fires a broadside against Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and electric car manufacturer who is currently once again approaching Donald Trump: "If you're a fascist / then get a Tesla. / Even if it's an electric car, / it doesn't matter."

And once again, he chooses the melody of "This Land Is Your Land" – the bridge-building song by Woody Guthrie, whose guitar in the early 1940s bore the inscription "This machine kills fascists." This latest borrowing also proves to be a statement against the government. Admittedly, the song's title also recalls one of Young's darkest hours – the belligerent revenge song "Let's Roll," which he released in 2002 after the 9/11 attacks.

This time, the man with the lurching, tearful timbre is all about unfamiliar melodies. The album opener, "Family Life," recalls Gordon Lightfoot's homeless ballad "Early Morning Rain" and hints at the musician's private life. He now sings about his children and grandchildren and laments that he's not allowed to see his grandchildren (Rolling Stone reported an estrangement between him and his daughter Amber Jean following the death of her mother, Pegi, on January 1, 2019).

He then praises his third wife, actress Daryl Hannah ("Blade Runner," "Kill Bill 1 & 2"), calling her "my best wife of all / the best cook in the world." An—with all due respect—an outdated image of women.

Musically, the album is largely successful, a solid debut from a motivated band whose initials are, not coincidentally, shared with Young's iconic rock 'n' noise collective Crazy Horse. Chrome Hearts consists of Anthony LoGerfo on drums and bassist Corey McCormick. On keyboards sits 82-year-old Spooner Oldham, a legend in his own right and a longtime collaborator with Young.

And guitarist Micah Nelson, at 35 the youngest offspring of 92-year-old country outlaw Willie Nelson, was "acquired" by Crazy Horse, which he had only joined in early 2023. At the time, Nelson told the instrument magazine "Guitar World" that he wanted Young to know which of the great Crazy Horse guitarists he should model himself after—Danny Witten, Nils Lofgren, or Frank 'Poncho' Sampedro. Young had only one requirement: "Be honest to the music."

The intimate "First Fire of Winter," about the idyll of a cabin fire at the beginning of the cold season, when it's time to "gather wood and feelings," is a folky gem that would have also fit on Young's albums "Harvest" (1970) and "Harvest Moon" (1992). In the lilting title track, Oldham's organ murmurs comfortingly as Young, standing in line at a farmers' market, thinks of Bob Dylan, the master of the protest song, and all the great songs he sang.

At the end, with “Thankful” (which, with its similarity to the song “Harvest Moon,” reinforces Young’s bon mot that “all songs are a song”), there is another glimpse into the private sphere, which ends with—what else—a harmonica.

"I'm grateful for the life we ​​have," Young sings, "the way we love / the way we love." And he says he'd be grateful "if we could stay here a little longer." That's what we wish for him and all his fans, especially since shocking news was announced on Saturday.

Namely, that people who stand for a continued democratic America were murdered in a Minneapolis suburb: Democratic Party politician Melissa Hortmann and her husband Mark were victims of an attack, and State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were seriously injured. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic Party's vice presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election, called it an "act of targeted political violence."

Blood has been shed in politically divided America. Despite, or perhaps because of, the police warning against Trump, a "No Kings" demonstration against Trump took place in front of Minnesota's State Capitol on Saturday, and Attorney General Keith Allison called for a movement "to oppose the dictator."

It's about time for Young to sing "This Land Is Your Land" with Guthrie's bridge-building lyrics, perhaps as a duet with Bruce Springsteen, who has performed it occasionally since 1980 and considers it "one of the most beautiful songs ever written." Currently (and on June 15 in Prague), Young's "old friend" is leading audiences out of stadiums with Guthrie's original version at the end of his European concerts.

Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts – “Talking to The Trees” (Reprise Records/Warner) – released June 13th

Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts' 2025 Love Earth Tour dates in Germany: July 3 – Berlin, Waldbühne; July 4 – Mönchengladbach, Sparkassenpark; July 8 – Stuttgart, Cannstatter Wasen