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Sunday, October 25, 2026 · Page 3 of 16
Earth Girl - Second Song of the Day

Alive Inside

10-1-26

Dan Cohen fights against a broken healthcare system to demonstrate music's ability to combat memory loss - Alive Inside is a joyous cinematic exploration of music's capability to reawaken our souls and uncover the deepest parts of our humanity. Filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett chronicles the astonishing experiences of individuals around the country whose minds have been revitalized and awakened by the simple act of listening to the music of their youth.

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Songs created by AI banned from Australia's music charts

8-26-26
by Simon Atkinson

Songs that are largely or wholly created by AI have been banned from Australia's music charts.

From this week, all releases must be "substantially human made" to be eligible.

The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) said the new code would help "promote the human nature of artistry".

It follows a controversy around a cover of Madonna's Like A Prayer by Australian DJ Josh Fawaz which recently topped the ARIA dance singles chart …

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Should You Have to Give Up Your Privacy to See a Concert?
Neil Young will not be playing venues utilizing the facial recognition surveillance.

8-15-26

NYA Staff

Going to a concert or basketball game normally involves buying a ticket, passing through security and finding your seat. If you go to Madison Square Garden your face may be scanned and matched against a database.

A recent WIRED report describes a rally outside Madison Square Garden where privacy advocates, musicians and New York City Council member Shahana Hanif called for legislation restricting the use of facial-recognition technology at public venues.

Hanif has …

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Neil Young Sounds Better
North of the 49th
'It's a Canadian Thing'

7-14-26

By Douglas Heselgrave

The first day of spring. The bees from our hive were buzzing around my head as I pulled out buttercups and planted arugula seeds. Morning dew burned off the grass and the sun rose above the Blue Spruce trees, throwing weaving shadows across the garden. A perfect Vancouver day, complete with construction noise and the echoing sounds of the crew's Bhangra music wafting from across the lane. There are moments in life …

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all one song

7-2-26

By Jim Wallis

The music journal Aquarium Drunkard has been shining a light on an eclectic selection of incredible music for the last 20 years. In their own words, “AD traces the connective tissue between contemporary sounds and the outer reaches of psych, jazz, avant-garde, dub, folk, post-punk and beyond. For heads, by heads”.

They recently concluded the second season of their podcast All One Song, in which writer Tyler Wilcox invites a different guest …

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Clive Davis, Music Industry Titan Who Launched and Revived Countless Careers, Dies at 94

6-22-26
U.S. Department of State

By NYA Staff

Clive Davis, the legendary music executive whose influence shaped popular music for more than half a century, died Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 94.

Few people outside the spotlight have had a greater impact on the music business. Over a career that spanned more than six decades, Davis discovered, nurtured, and revitalized the careers of some of the industry’s biggest stars, including Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Barry Manilow, Alicia …

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6-4-26
 

Senior Chief Update

Dear listeners and writers,

There are several items that have come to my attention from your letters to the NYA
“letters to the editors” section of the Times Contrarian. And of course they were
interesting queries that I wasn’t able to easily answer without doing some research as
opposed to just knowing off the top of my head, which is my preferred method of
interaction with people. You know, “contempt prior to …

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@knightsofmolino

5-24-26

We think that music and art should be made by humans and not artificial intelligence. We are the Knights of Molino - a San Francisco Bay Area punk band. Support local bands and come to a show! 5/23 - Phoenix Theater Petaluma. 5/30 - SF Porchfest in the Mission. Or check out the three songs we have out on all platforms (this one is called Take Back Control) 🤘🤘 if you like punk bands like …

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Being Indie Ain’t Easy

5-20-26

by Astrid Young

Being an indie musician is not for the faint of heart. Music has steadily been devalued; the only way you can earn a living is on the road, and only a select few actually make money from streaming.

It’s a wonder to me that kids still choose music as a career, but like the rest of us, I suppose it’s what we do and how we are wired… You can’t change your …

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President Barack Obama Essay in Rolling Stone

5-20-26

NYA view by Phil Baker

In a newly published essay on May 19 for Rolling Stone, former President Barack Obama examines the role that music plays in shaping American history and social progress.

Obama opens the piece with a personal anecdote from his 2008 presidential campaign, revealing that his pre-debate ritual evolved from listening to jazz classics by Miles Davis and John Coltrane and rap tracks by Jay-Z and Eminem. He explains that hip-hop helped …

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The Artist Economy

4-9-26

By Joel Gouveia

How skip culture, the 30-second rule, and your 15-second attention span killed the greatest art form in modern music.

The 45-Minute Ritual
I remember the smell of the plastic wrap.

There was a specific, tactile ritual to coming home from the record store. You’d crack the seal, pop the tray, and press play. Then, you’d do something that feels like an extreme sport in 2026: you’d sit still.

I used to have …

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‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ Is the Vintage Rock Song of the Year: Watch Five Great Versions

10-13-26
Neil Young at Farm Aid 2026, where he did in fact play “Rockin’ in the Free World”
Gary Miller/Getty Images

Everyone from Roger Daltrey and Lucinda Williams to Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl, Dave Matthews, and Billy Strings has played the 1989 Neil Young classic in just the past couple of weeks

By Andy Greene

 

Neil Young and the Restless, which included Crazy Horse guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro, were touring America in early 1989 when a proposed cultural exchange with the Soviet Union — which would have sent the rock band into the repressive communist nation and the Russian ballet into America — fell apart.

“Neil was like, ‘Damn, I really wanted to go,’” Sampedro recalled to Rolling Stone in 2013. “I said, ‘Me too. I guess we’ll have to keep on rockin’ in the free world.’ He was like, ‘Wow, that’s a cool line.’ Then I said it again later and he said, ‘That’s a really good phrase. I wanna use it.’”

 

Days later, on Feb. 21, 1989, Young and the Restless debuted “Rockin’ in the Free World” during a show at the Paramount Theater in Seattle. The lyrics are deeply rooted in that exact moment in time, referencing George H.W. Bush’s “thousand points of light” speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention, Jesse Jackson’s “Keep Hope Alive” slogan from his failed attempt to secure the Democratic nomination that year, and Iran’s repeated proclamation in the Eighties that America was the “Great Satan.”

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Rockin in the Free World
at the
POWER TO THE PEOPLE CONCERT

10-3-26

Timely New added lyrics by Dave Matthews

 
We got billionaires
And the homeless man
Another school shooting
We can pray again
We turn a million trees
Into toilet paper
We got Green house gas 
For the ozone layer
Got a liar and a thief
Says he’s gods right hand
Let the whole world burn
For the promised land

NEW ALBUM "SECOND SONG" RELEASED

9-18-26

the passage of time...

ROXX

 

The instrumental track "The Emperor of Wyoming" kicks off the 1969 self-titled debut from the venerated songwriter Neil Young. But some 57 years later, that song's distinct melody has resurfaced as part of Young's 50th studio album, Second Song, out Sept. 18. Along with five, brand new, sprawling and personal tracks from Young and his backing band, the Chrome Hearts, the album features two new recordings of songs he wrote while he was still a teenager in Canada, drawn from his massive and meticulously kept personal archive. One of those songs is "Casting Me Away from You," a track he first recorded around 1965 in a friend's attic in Toronto that he would later rework and release as "Emperor of Wyoming." The other, "I'll Love You Forever," was recorded in 1964 as a love song for his high school girlfriend, "my first real love" he told me.

That interplay between Young's compositional work as a younger man, and the musical (and emotional) place he finds himself in 2026, feels like the thesis of Second Song. The album plays less like a momentary snapshot and more like a meditation on life from someone who doesn't believe in getting stuck anywhere along the timeline. "I dream a way of living, a way of sharing what we find," he sings on the album's title track. "A way of walking slowly, through the smokey leaves of time."

The album was recorded to tape at Rick Rubin's Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, Calif. and produced by Lou Adler, along with the Volume Dealers, made up of engineer Niko Bolas and Young himself. The analog nature of the album is a point of pride for Young, who has long decried the deterioration of audio and sound quality in a world where digital recordings have become ubiquitous. In a long conversation from the control room at Shangri-La, Young talked to me about making Second Song and his strong views on music-making, from his issues with AI to the importance of retaining the soul in a recording: "I feel really badly for people around the world who no longer get to hear the quality of the music that we started doing."

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Album Review:
Second Song

9-14-26

By Douglas Heselgrave — via restlessandreal.blogspot.com

Review by Douglas Heselgrave

You were warned.  Or, better to say, you were tipped off when Neil Young released 'Second Song', the title song of his new album, a month or so ahead of the record's official release date.  Within its leisurely running length of more than eleven minutes, there's a lyric that establishes the theme  reflected in each of the new recordings:

"I dream a way of living, a way of sharing what we find.  A way of walking slowly through the smoky leaves of time."

"Second Song" is a slow record.  A mostly acoustic record with nary a guitar solo or elongated instrumental break anywhere.  The songs are conversations in real time. Old world, analog pre-digital conversations. Fireside talk.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Neil Young Takes a More Tempered View on ‘World Record’

7-28-26

By Douglas Heselgrave

The world record that Neil Young sings about on his so-named 42nd studio album isn’t one that anyone’s likely going to want to lay claim to or take credit for. Climate change, dirty water, air the color of charcoal, soil that won’t sustain life, and the incessant momentum of human greed have been occupying the elder artist’s mind, seemingly to the exclusion of anything else.

Neil Young, right, with "World Record" producer …

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Katy Perry Erupts on White House
Don't Use My Music to Back 'Destruction and Violence'

7-25-26

By TMZ Staff

Katy Perry just exploded on President Trump's administration for using her hit 2010 song, "Firework," in a social media video that shows missile attacks by the U.S. government.

Katy shared the fiery tweet Saturday morning in response to the TikTok -- she said she's "deeply appalled and angry" to see the popular song as a back track for the compilation video footage of military strikes.

She added, "I did not approve this, …

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The World’s Loudest Neil Young Cover Band Will Not Be Denied

6-26-26
Adam Reich (as Neil Young) performing at Industry City in Brooklyn in May - Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone

By Rob Sheffield

Real Young and Lazy Horse are a group of New York DIY lifers who play four-hour sets for the sheer love of it. It’s made them one of the most fun live acts in rock

“We’re almost halfway through!” The crowd screams in joy. The weird part is that (1) the band has been playing for nearly four hours already, and (2) they just banged out a 40-minute version of “Like a …

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Why NYA Recommends Qobuz

6-16-26

By NYA Staff

For years, the music streaming market has been dominated by a handful of giant platforms competing to become all-purpose entertainment hubs. Music, podcasts, audiobooks, videos, and advertising increasingly share the same space, often leaving the music itself feeling like just another piece of content. Many of them still deliver their music in low quality MP3 format.

Qobuz has taken a different approach. And that's precisely why we recommend it.

The French streaming …

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RECORDING and LISTENING

4-21-26

Recording ‘Second Song’, my next studio album for Reprise records, was a lifetime experience. First, the music was breathing. Every song of the seven released on this album is straight form the heart.
Second, we tried to do something we have never done: record digital and analog masters at the same time.
We did this so we could show the difference we know and believe in, my friends and I. Analog was the beginning, and …

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Ditch Spotify:
how to actually support
the bands and artists you love

3-9-26
Victoria Bigelow performs at Last Exit Live in Phoenix, Arizona. Photograph: Katherine Dusza/The Guardian

By Lauren Gould

A musician offers tips to helping your favorite artists thrive – from switching streamers to buying merch

Each week we cut through the noise to bring you smart, practical recommendations on how to live better – from what is worth buying to the tools, habits and ideas that actually last.

I stream thousands of minutes of music every year. Since 2016, it’s been me and my perfectly curated Spotify playlists against the …

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HEART OF GOLD:
THE SONGS OF NEIL YOUNG –
VOLS. 1, 2 & 3

10-1-26

A benefit for The Bridge School

Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young, Vol. 2 - Out of the Blue and Vol. 3 - Into the Black continue the series, with proceeds benefiting The Bridge School as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.

The first two recordings from the upcoming albums are available now:

King Princess – “Helpless"

Draco Rosa – "After the Gold Rush"

The albums will be released on November 6. Pre-order and learn more here: www.heartofgoldmusic.com

Thanks to all of the artists who contributed their performances in support of The Bridge School. - Neil

 

LOVE TO DOLLY

8-27-26

She was the greatest, a wonderful musician and an amazing person. Her projects to help people will be legend. Although i only met her once, she made movies with my lovely wife Daryl, who has written this about her:

It’s not unusual to speak in euphemisms about those who’ve passed - but with Dolly they are all truisms. 
Without exaggeration, Dolly Parton was one of the sharpest, funniest, and warmest people I’ve ever met. She is just the best example of how to be a great human. I’m sure we will all continue to discover more about her humble, important and generous altruistic charity work which, she would barely ever mention. Yet, Dolly had a talent for always finding something complimentary to say about everyone, even those for whom it might be challenging. She loved and embraced life completely, and in 4-inch heels! She was supportive, hilarious, outrageously talented, creative, and deeply empathetic! She was my protector in a time where women supporting women was uncommon. She outshines all the rhinestones on earth!
I couldn’t have adored & respected her more.
☮️

ALBUM REVIEW: Chrome Dreams II

8-4-26

By Douglas Heselgrave

If Neil Young reads his own press, he must be out there, somewhere, having a good laugh. His new album Chrome Dreams II is the sequel to a record he made in 1977 but never released, and it is suffering a deluge of bizarre analysis that is every bit the equal of the weirdness that characterizes the set’s overriding concept as well as the songs themselves.

Don’t believe what has been said …

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Neil Young: Hitchhiker

7-21-26

By Douglas Heselgrave

Expectations don’t often live up to reality. Fortunately, that’s not true of Hitchhiker, Neil Young’s most recent archival release. Like two of his other “great lost” records, Homegrown and Chrome Dreams, it has become the subject of great speculation and more than a little impossible-to-live up to rock ‘n’ roll mythology. Young’s hardcore fans have been talking about Hitchhiker for decades, and Young himself has done quite a lot to build the …

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Neil Young and Leonard Cohen: A Canadian Homecoming
From the prairie outback to Rue Frontenac:
November in Vancouver with Neil Young and Leonard Cohen

7-7-26

By Douglas Heselgrave

When I was just out of my teens, I left my home in Vancouver, Canada to travel around Europe, hoping that the time away would help me decide what to do with the rest of my life. I worked on a farm in France before traveling south and finally ending up in Greece. But, no matter where I went, one question followed me everywhere, and that was “what part of America are …

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LIVE REVIEW: Bob Dylan and Neil Young in Hyde Park – July 12, 2019

6-30-26

By Douglas Heselgrave

I am sure that you have been in this situation before. You have two friends and you love them both, but for almost completely different reasons. Taken individually, there’s no problem, but you worry about how it’d feel to see both of them at the same time in the same place together.

One of your friends is upbeat and soulful. He appeals to your sense of hope and optimism. You like it …

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Phases of the Moon

6-23-26

By Douglas Heselgrave

Neil Young has been an artist for his whole life. He’s released a record almost every year for sixty years. He’s toured generously. Solo acoustic, CSNY, Stray Gators, Crazy Horse, Blue Notes, Promise of the Real, Chrome Hearts: more than almost any other performer, he’s thoroughly explored a musical palette that is uniquely his own. He’s run through every chord sequence imaginable and tied them to lyrics that have expressed a full …

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Music - Neil Young, Beck, and Lana Del Rey

6-10-26

Music - Neil Young, Beck, and Lana Del Rey

Join us for *Harvest Moon: a Daytime Benefit Concert* featuring Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, Beck, and special guest Lana Del Rey on Saturday, October 25th at The Painted Turtle Camp in Lake Hughes, CA (30 minutes from Magic Mountain). Audiences will take in intimate performances on a grassy hillside with unobstructed views of the performers, mountains, and a beautiful lake nestled near …

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NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS
As Time Explodes

5-7-26

MICHAEL BONNER

8/10, Vital document from Young's 2025 live shows

Seasoned Rusties disappointed that Neil cancelled his 2026 UK dates can, at least, draw solace from this splendid live album recorded last year in Europe during his inaugural tour with the Chrome Hearts. Flipping between fiery dispatches ("Ohio", "Big Crime", "Be The Rain") and shaggy love songs ("Harvest Moon", "Name Of Love"), heavy hitters ("Like A Hurricane") and deep cuts ("Daddy Went Walkin'"), Young's digressive …

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Moon to Moon

4-21-26

On the recent full moon we were mastering our new untitled album. It’s quite a special album to me. Music is a gift and when it comes like this I really feel it. Everything here feels so good. I hope you will agree….

One day a couple months back, I woke up and started writing and playing. That night I noticed our moon was almost full. Every morning for the next days I was up …

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Ticketmaster is an illegal monopoly, jury finds

4-16-26
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

By Lauren Feiner

This verdict is the first step toward a potential breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster.

Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an illegal monopolist, a Manhattan jury found, according to Bloomberg. The jury found the company liable on three counts: illegally monopolizing the market for live event ticketing, amphitheaters, and tying its concert promotions business with the use of its venues, Bloomberg reported.

The verdict, reached after several days of deliberation, leaves the live entertainment giant open …

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How Live Nation allegedly terrorized the concert industry

3-9-26
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Adobe Stock

By Lauren Feiner

Even offering ‘retaliation insurance’ wasn’t enough, a rival company’s CEO claims.

SeatGeek was close to a deal that would bring its ticketing business to the next level. The company was in negotiations with the Dallas Cowboys, aiming to take over first-party sales at its stadium. But there was one sticking point: “the concert issue.” The team feared that if it dropped SeatGeek’s rival Ticketmaster, Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation could pull concerts …

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