Like many others, Neil Young is doing his bit to help us get through this trying time with a little music and the magic of the internet. Announcing last week: “Because we are all at home and not venturing out, we will try to do a stream from my fireplace with my lovely wife filming. It will be a down-home production, a few songs, a little time together.” 

The legendary folk-rocker invited us into his home in Colorado to watch him perform rarities from across his discography in a six-song acoustic Fireside Session. The idea was to make it into an ongoing series. And today, he’s shared a second Fireside Sessions concert on his official Archives website.

The show begins outside the home he shares with his wife, actress Daryl Hannah with the Ian and Sylvia classic “Four Strong Winds,” which Young first covered on his 1978 LP Comes a Time. He steps inside to play “Birds” from After the Gold Rush on the piano before taking a quick break to wash his hands, jokingly announcing: “Our sponsor, folks. Water and soap. That’s what this is, a soap opera.”

The action finally moves to the aforementioned fireplace where he breaks out the title track from 1974’s On the Beach followed by the 1974 studio outtake “Homefires,” then wraps things up with “Words” from Harvest Moon and “Love And Only Love” from Ragged Glory, both of which he’s never performed solo acoustic before.

Once again, Young’s wife Daryl Hannah directs, filming him performing the six songs in and around their cosy home. The Neil Young Archives site isn’t normally free/open to all, but in the spirit of encouraging people to stay home during the pandemic, it is. You can watch the second Fireside Session here.

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