Neil Young Announces Next Release, “A Letter Home”

Neil Young has set the record straight regarding a widespread rumor that he recorded duets album with Jack White.  The folk-rock legend posted a note on his Facebook page Wednesday to let fans know he and the ex-White Stripes frontman will not be singing together on his next release.

The message reads, "False Rumors: Neil Young and Jack White are not doing a record of duets as has been erroneously posted on various outlets.  We are certain those rumors have no basis in truth."

Meanwhile, Young has announced some details about an upcoming album he's recorded called A Letter Home that will be released by White's Third Man Records label.  A message posted on Neil's official site and ThirdManRecords.com describes the record as "an unheard collection of rediscovered songs from the past recorded on ancient electro-mechanical technology [that] captures and unleashes the essence of something that could have been gone forever."

The album's description appears to be similar to that of the rumored duets record, which Michael Goldberg was to include interpretations of songs by various influential folk musicians such as Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Tim Hardin, Phil Ochs and Bert Jansch.

It appears that Young may have recorded A Letter Home on the 1947 Voice-o-Graph machine located in the Third Man Records' Record Booth at the label's Nashville headquarters.  This past April, in conjunction with Record Store Day, Young used the device to record a version of the late Jansch's "Needle of Death," a song he's been playing regularly at his recent concerts.  The machine allows the user to record for up to about two minutes, and the recording is immediately cut onto a six-inch vinyl disc.

Young tells Rolling Stone that A Letter Home will arrive in March, although no official release date has been announced.