Neil Young Drops Free Hourlong Concert Film 'Corduroy
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- Neil Young quietly released Corduroy Plants, a free hourlong, 11-song concert film on the Neil Young Archives built around his 2025 live LP As Time Explodes but omitting "After the Gold Rush" and "Looking Forward."
- Daryl Hannah, Young's wife, directed the film and intercut stage footage with politically charged news clips — pairing "Be the Rain" with footage of the East Wing's destruction plus brief shots of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, "Vampire Blues" with oil spills, "Like a Hurricane" with migrant laborers, and "Cortez the Killer" with WWII, the Holocaust, and recent conflicts.
- Young released the film with no promotional campaign, social media posts, or press release, leaving fans to discover it on the NYA — a break from industry norm that the source attributes to Young's refusal to use most social platforms due to their connections to the Trump administration and his habit of rarely granting interviews.
- Young updated fans on Volume 4 of the Neil Young Archives box set, which is entering its completion phase and will extend the series through the end of his 2004 Greendale tour.
- Young recently finished recording a new Chrome Hearts album, Second Song, at Rick Rubin's Shangri-La studios in Malibu — mostly new material, plus two or three previously unheard songs he wrote circa 1963-64.
- Young reemerged May 22 for a surprise four-song set at David Suzuki's 90th-birthday concert in Vancouver after pulling his European summer tour, and is booked for Farm Aid on Sept. 26 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Why it matters: Young is now distributing new work — including this free hourlong film and the recorded Chrome Hearts album Second Song — exclusively through the Neil Young Archives, with no press, social media, or interviews, meaning fans who don't check the site have no way of knowing new material exists. His next scheduled public appearance is Farm Aid on Sept. 26 in Virginia Beach.
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