Neil Young is at the very top of a very small list of artists we consider to be the best of all-time.  Many of his best albums have been collaborations with the great band, Crazy Horse.   Now comes the great news, via Rolling Stone, that Young and Crazy Horse will release a new album, entitled Americana, on June 5th.  This will be the first Young album backed by the entirety of Crazy Horse since 1996, and we can’t wait.

As reported in Rolling Stone, the songs on Americana are all classic American folk songs, including This Land Is Your Land, Gallows Pole, Tom Dooley and Clementine.  This album now stands atop our list of most anticipated albums of 2012.  When done right (a la Dan Zanes and many others), these old standards are born anew and give history a chance.  We assume these covers by Young and Crazy Horse will be definitive new versions. As pointed out by the Audio Perv, Neil has penned words about each of the songs that can be found HERE.

Young has said this about the album: “What ties these songs together is the fact that while they may represent an America that may no longer exist,… [t]he emotions and scenarios behind these songs still resonate with what’s going on in the country today with equal, if not greater impact nearly 200 years later. The lyrics reflect the same concerns and are still remarkably meaningful to a society going through economic and cultural upheaval, especially during an election year. They are just as poignant and powerful today as the day they were written.”

Here is the complete track-listing for the new album (and no, it’s not THAT God Save the Queen):

Oh Susannah
Clementine
Tom Dooley
Gallows Pole
Get A Job
Travel On
High Flyin’ Bird
She’ll Be Comin ’Round The Mountain
This Land Is Your Land
Wayfarin’ Stranger
God Save The Queen