Peace Trail (album)
| Peace Trail | ||||
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| Studio album by Neil Young | ||||
| Released | December 9, 2016 | |||
| Recorded | Shangri-La Studios, 2016 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 38:20 | |||
| Label | Reprise | |||
| Producer | Neil Young & John Hanlon | |||
| Neil Young chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Peace Trail | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 57/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Classic Rock | |
| Pitchfork | 6.7/10 |
| Uncut | |
Peace Trail is the thirty-seventh studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young, released on December 9, 2016 on Reprise Records. Co-produced by Young and John Hanlon, the album was recorded at record producer Rick Rubin's Shangri-La Studios.
Described as a "primarily acoustic" album, Young recorded Peace Trail with drummer Jim Keltner and bass guitarist Paul Bushnell.
Peace Trail was written and recorded following the release of Young's live album, Earth, in 2016. Despite working extensively with Promise of the Real throughout 2015 and 2016, Young opted to record a solo album with session musicians Jim Keltner (drums) and Paul Bushnell (bass). According to Bushnell, the album was recorded in four days: "We did the ten tracks over four days. Most of them were recorded on the first or second take."
Young invited Bushnell to participate in the recording sessions after discovering his playing on Promise of the Real bandmate Micah Nelson's forthcoming solo album. According to Bushnell, "Micah told me [that] Neil Young loved my bass playing on the record and [that he had] asked Micah for my mobile. I didn’t really believe it until the next morning; at 10am, my phone rang from this blocked number. I answered, and the guy said, ‘Is this Paul?' I said, ‘Yes it is.’ The voice said, 'Well, this is Neil Young.’"
Peace Trail received mixed reviews upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 57, based on 18 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
In a positive review for Uncut, Damien Love expressed surprise that Young opted not to record with his current backing band Promise of the Real, but praised the album's collaborators, Paul Bushnell and Jim Keltner: "Bushnell provides that perfect kind of bass you barely notice. Keltner’s percussion is a different story. Captured mostly in first or second takes, he doesn’t so much keep the beat as respond to what Young is doing, an improvised interplay of odd, shaggy patterns. The record often becomes a duet between Young and Keltner." In another positive review for Classic Rock Magazine, Rob Hughes wrote: "While it may not be the most musically involved album of his 50-year career, it’s persuasive evidence that Young still has a lot to offer."
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