Neil Young Is Creating His Own Bootleg Series

Folk rocker Neil Young is planning to beat bootleggers at their own game by emulating Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series. While additional details are yet to be revealed, Young wants to take famous concert bootlegs and hunt down the actual master recordings – ultimately releasing them himself on his website.

Young addressed this on a statement on the Neil Young Archives, writing, “We have ripped off all of the original art from the bootlegs. No expense will be spared. The only difference will be the radically better sound from our masters.”

The folk icon has set his eyes on a particular solo acoustic show which was recorded on February 1, 1971, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Bootleg label Rubber Dubber – who flagrantly violated US copyright laws – released it on vinyl titled I’m So Happy That Y’all Came Down back in the ’70s. “We are going full bore with our series right now, so write letters in to me with your favorite bootlegs and we will find them and use the best audio we can locate, either from the NYA vaults or somewhere else. Watch for this coming soon. We are building it starting today,” Young continued.

This is just one of the many archival releases on its way to release. The Homegrown LP will now be unveiled on June 19, after being recorded and subsequently shelves in 1975. Alongside this is a 1990 Crazy Horse club gig, a 2003 leg on the Greendale tour, and a compilation of late ’80s studio sessions he calls Road Of Plenty.

He’s also participated in the home performance bandwagon with the Fireside Session acoustic gigs. “May be a couple of years before I feel safe asking people to come and see/hear me. That’s just the way it is,” Young referring to the current quarantine predicament.