A previously unheard Neil Young album will be released this summer. Titled Hitchhiker, the 9-track album was recorded in 1976 and contains the title track “Hitchhiker”, which appeared on his album Le Noise – released in 2010. Apart from the title track, the rest of Hitchhiker has never been heard.
The album was recorded at Malibu’s Indigo Ranch Studios, which Young reminisced about in his 2014 memoir Special Deluxe: A Memoir of Life & Cars.
“I spent the night there with David and recorded nine solo acoustic songs, completing a tape I called Hitchhiker,” Young wrote.
“It was a complete piece, although I was pretty stony on it, and you can hear it in my performances. Dean Stockwell, my friend and a great actor who I later worked on Human Highway as a co-director, was with us that night, sitting in the room with me as I laid down all the songs in a row, pausing only for weed, beer, or coke. Briggs was in the control room, mixing live on his favorite console.”
Fan sites have obtained the album artwork and a full tracklist. The tracklist is as follows:
01 “Powderfinger”
02 “Hold Back The Tears”
03 “Human Highway”
04 “Hitchhiker”
05 “Ride My Llama”
06 “Lookout For My Love”
07 “Lotta Love”
08 “Fontainebleau”
09 “Campaigner”
Hitchhiker is reportedly set to hit shelves on July 14.