Listen to Fiona Apple's moving cover of Neil Young's Heart of Gold
Neil Young's song Heart of Gold was first released in 1972 and became a classic: the track is his only No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and has been covered by artists including Johnny Cash, and now, Fiona Apple.
Apple's version of the song appears on the newly released tribute album, Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young Volume I. It is very faithful to the original, with Apple singing over piano and soaring strings.
LISTEN | Fiona Apple covers Heart of Gold by Neil Young:
Other artists on the album include the Lumineers, Brandi Carlile, Eddie Vedder and Mumford & Sons.
All proceeds from the project will go to the Bridge School, a non-profit co-founded by Young's late ex-wife, Pegi Young, which supports children with severe speech and physical impairments.
Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young Volume I is the most recent Young tribute album, however a number of others have been released over the years, including 1989's The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young, 1994's Borrowed Tunes: A Tribute to Neil Young, and 2007's Borrowed Tunes II: A Tribute to Neil Young.
Recently, Young has been performing as he prepares to kick off a tour with the Chrome Hearts in June. Earlier in April, he performed Rockin' in the Free World at Bernie Sanders's Fighting Oligarchy rally in Los Angeles alongside Joan Baez and Maggie Rogers.
He was also the subject of Neil Young : Coastal, a documentary about his 2023 solo tour. The film was released on April 17 and was directed by his wife, Daryl Hannah.
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Toronto Star
20 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Neil Young renews attacks on Trump, calls the U.S. government ‘out of control'
Neil Young is once again taking shots at U.S. President Donald Trump, calling the American government 'out of control' and suggesting that the country is at risk of 'martial law' in a statement shared on his website this week. 'Our country and our way of life, that which our fathers and theirs fought for, is now threatened by our government,' Young declared in a post titled 'WAKE UP AMERICA,' though he did not mention any government policy in particular. 'Our government is out of control, not standing for us.' Young is set to embark on a world tour with his new band the Chrome Hearts later this month. In his post, he said that his shows will not be political, but also acknowledged the fraught political situation in the U.S. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'When I tour the USA this summer, if there is not martial law by then which would make it impossible, let's all come together and stand for American values,' Young's statement said. Entertainment Bono says 'the whole world is in awe' of Canada, takes shots at Pierre Poilievre and Donald Trump Richie Assaly However, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer did appear to offer Trump an olive branch of sorts: 'President Trump, you are invited. Come and hear our music just as you did for decades,' Young wrote, making reference to the fact that the president was a self-proclaimed fan before their relationship deteriorated in recent years. Last month, Young also came to the defence of Bruce Springsteen, another rock star who has drawn the ire of Trump in recent weeks for publicly criticizing the administration. 'Bruce and thousands of musicians think you are ruining America,' Young wrote on his website on May 20 in a post titled 'TRUMP!!!' 'You worry about that instead of the dyin' kids in Gaza. That's your problem.' Entertainment Opinion Vinay Menon: Donald Trump is feuding with Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen. Here's why other celebs should beef with the president Vinay Menon The feud between Young and Trump: a timeline Young, 79, was born in Canada, but has lived south of the border for decades (he officially became a U.S. citizen in 2020). As an artist and an activist, Young has never shied away from politics and has thrown constant barbs at Trump since he launched his political career in the mid-2010s. Music Decoding the enduring genius of Neil Young and the depth of his Toronto connection Luke Savage Special to the Star In 2015, Young spoke out against Trump's use of the 1990 single 'Rockin' in the Free World,' after the song accompanied Trump's announcement of his presidential campaign. In 2020, Young sued Trump's re-election campaign for copyright infringement, saying he doesn't want his music used as a theme song for a 'divisive un-American campaign of ignorance and hate.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW After Trump was elected for the first time, Young penned an open letter calling Trump a 'disgrace' and 'the worst president in the history of our great country.' Young has also been a vocal critic of Trump's tariffs targeting Canada and his threats of annexation. In April, he attended a protest against Trump's threats in Los Angeles, where he was spotted holding up a sign that read, 'HANDS OFF CANADA.' Neil Young attends a protest on April 4, 2025. Neil Young Archives Young and the Chrome Hearts Earlier this year, Young announced that he is releasing a new protest album with a newly assembled band called the Chrome Hearts, which includes guitarist Micah Nelson, bassist Corey McCormick, drummer Anthony Logerfo and organist Spooner Oldham. Titled 'Talkin to the Trees,' the album's first single is about electric cars, and takes a shot at Tesla CEO and Trump ally Elon Musk. Young and the Chrome Hearts will perform in Toronto at the Budweiser Stage on Aug. 17.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Kara Young, already on a Broadway streak, could make Tony history with her role in ‘Purpose'
NEW YORK (AP) — Don't bother asking Kara Young which one of her roles is her favorite. They're all her favorite. 'Every single time I'm doing a show, I feel like it is the most important thing on the planet,' she says. 'I don't have a favorite. It's like this: Every, every single project has held its own weight.' Right now, the weighty project on her mind is Broadway's celebrated 'Purpose,' Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' drawing-room drama at the Helen Hayes Theater about an accomplished Black family revealing its hypocrisy and fault lines during a snowed-in gathering. 'There's so much in this play,' says Young, who plays an outsider who witnesses the implosion. 'Like a lot of the great writers, he creates these universes in a line or the space between the words.' A tense family gathering 'Purpose' is set in the Jasper family's living room in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Chicago. The patriarch is Pastor Solomon Jasper, a Civil Rights legend, and his steely wife, Claudine. They are reuniting with their two sons — Junior, a disgraced former state senator, recently released after serving a prison sentence for embezzling funds, and Naz, who fled divinity school and is now a nature photographer. Young plays Aziza, a Harlem-bred social worker who has been close friends with Naz but didn't know anything about his family. 'This kind of thing never happens to me! I never meet famous people and you've been famous this whole time?' she screams. Her awe quickly fades as sibling jealousies, parental frustrations, past sins and the pressures of legacy come tumbling out over a fraught dinner. There is some slapping. 'We are so susceptible to get angry with the people we love the most,' says Young. 'What we're seeing in the less than 12 hours of them being together for the first time in two years, they're sitting down and having dinner, and all of these things come up, as they often do.' Young poised to make history Young's work has earned her a Tony Award nomination and a chance to make history. Already the first Black person to be nominated four times consecutively, if she wins, she'll be the first Black performer to win two Tonys in a row. Young made her Broadway debut in 2021 in 'Clyde's,' was in 'Cost of Living' the next year and co-starred opposite Leslie Odom Jr. in 2024's 'Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch,' winning a Tony. Jacobs-Jenkins calls Aziz in his script a 'deeply perceptive person and empathetic' and that could also apply to Young, She says she closely identifies with her character in 'Purpose,' — they're both Harlem-bred advocates for others, hoping to make the planet better. 'I feel connected to that core of her,' says Young. 'Every single play I've done since my 10-minute play festivals, I'm always like, 'Wow, this feels like this can change the world,' you know? And I feel like at the core of Aziza, that's how she feels. She wants to change the world.' 'Purpose,' directed by Phylicia Rashad, also stars LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Harry Lennix, Jon Michael Hill, Alana Arenas and Glenn Davis. 'Joy and curiosity and enthusiasm' Hill, who as Naz also earned a Tony nomination for best lead male actor in a play, calls Young 'the heart and joy of our little family over there at the Helen Hayes.' 'She enters the building and she just makes time for everyone and is genuinely excited to see people and hear about how they're doing,' he says. 'I've really never seen anyone have as much room in their consciousness and their being for everyone she encounters. She approaches every day with joy and curiosity and enthusiasm.' If there's one story that shows who Young is, it would be from the day of the Met Gala, which she and cast members of 'Purpose' were invited, along with its playwright. That same day, Jacobs-Jenkins won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Young found out while getting her makeup done and began screaming. When she got to the gala — a look-at-me moment, if there ever was one — she was a walking advertisement for the play. 'I told everybody, 'You have to come and see this play. He just won a Pulitzer!'' Hill was right behind her and smiling as Young made connections and introductions. 'She was just going up to everyone and introducing us and talking about our show and trying to get folks in the door.' Young made her 2016 stage debut in Patricia Ione Lloyd's play 'Pretty Hunger' at the Public Theater, a play about a 7-year-old Black girl who didn't know she was Black. The playwright told her she wrote it with Young in mind. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. 'Ione Lloyd is one of the people who really made me see myself as an artist,' she says. 'She's the one that kind of set a path for me in a really beautiful way.' Next up for Young is the movie 'Is God Is,' which playwright Aleshea Harris is directing from her own 2018 stage play. Sterling K. Brown, Vivica A. Fox and Janelle Monáe are in the cast. Young calls it 'a spaghetti Western-meets-Tarantino-meets-the Greeks.' Next summer on Broadway, she'll star in a revival of 'The Whoopi Monologues' opposite Kerry Washington. After that, who knows? 'I don't know what's next, but I can't wait, whatever that is,' she says. 'If something comes along, it's about jumping into the next thing. If there's life in me, I got to live it.' ___ For more coverage of the 2025 Tony Awards, visit:
Globe and Mail
7 days ago
- Globe and Mail
Toronto band Martha and the Muffins at odds with Conservatives over song use
Toronto new-wave band Martha and the Muffins is trying a relatively novel legal strategy to prevent Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre from using its song Echo Beach at rallies in his upcoming by-election campaign. After learning that he and at least one other Conservative candidate used the Juno Award-winning 1980 song at rallies during the spring election cycle, the band's manager took to social media to ask him to stop, but says Poilievre did not respond. Because Mr. Poilievre lost his Ottawa-area riding and plans to run again in an Alberta by-election, Martha and the Muffins is taking steps to prevent him from once again using Echo Beach at events. Crucially, the band is asserting its moral rights to not be associated with Mr. Poilievre's politics, which are at odds with the often left-leaning stances the band takes in song. 'They do not endorse you or the Conservative party in any way, and the false perception that they do causes prejudice to their reputation,' the band's intellectual-property lawyer, Dickinson Wright LLP partner Paul Bain, wrote in a letter to Poilievre this week. Musicians often send legal threats to politicians they don't agree with who use their songs in campaigns without consent, sometimes escalating them into lawsuits. Neil Young and Rihanna are among the many musicians who've tried to stop U.S. President Donald Trump from using their music. Paul Langlois of the Tragically Hip also condemned the federal Conservatives' use of his band's song Fifty Mission Cap at an event in 2023. But the Conservatives' use of the Hip's music, like the party's more recent uses of Echo Beach that Martha and the Muffins's lawyer outlines in his legal letter, highlights a lesser-known tenet of Canadian copyright licensing. It's typical here for venues or event organizers to have licences from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) – and so permission isn't explicitly required from songwriters to use individual licensed songs. As well as disagreeing with the Poilievre's policies more generally, in an interview, Martha and the Muffins members Martha Johnson and Mark Gane decried the Conservative Party's historic treatment of the arts, which saw cuts to supports under former prime minister Stephen Harper. 'Respect for the artist doesn't seem to be there,' Ms. Johnson said. When it came to the party's use of Echo Beach, Mr. Gane said, 'It's not just an affront to us – it's an affront to anybody who makes anything, and has somebody come and take it for their own use.' In the U.S., the performing-rights organization ASCAP allows musicians to opt out of having their songs featured in political campaigns. The blanket licences from SOCAN, a parallel organization in Canada, do not have that same flexibility. 'If Mark had opted out of a political-campaign blanket licence, then no politician would have been able to use that song,' Martha and the Muffins manager Graham Stairs said. In an e-mail, SOCAN's legal counsel Adam Jacobs said: 'We understand the concerns raised by our members about the use of their music in political campaigns. As always, we will explore and consider the most effective ways to protect our members' rights and their musical works.' This is why Martha and the Muffins is taking the relatively untested avenue of asserting their moral rights not to be associated with the Conservatives or its leader. In one oft-cited case in the visual-art world, Toronto's Eaton Centre was found to have violated sculptor Michael Snow's moral rights by tying Christmastime ribbons around the geese he had sculpted for display in the mall. 'While there have been some cases dealing with violations of moral rights of musicians and performers, there is no precedent in the context of use by politicians,' Mr. Bain said in an e-mail. Though this specific kind of music use by politicians has not been tested in court, 'that does not mean that the law is unclear, or that this is some 'out-there' theory, or that artists have no recourse.' The letter points to the Copyright Act's safeguards for 'the author's or performer's right to the integrity of a work or performer's performance,' which can be 'infringed only if the work or the performance is, to the prejudice of its author's or performer's honour or reputation . . . used in association with a product, service, cause or institution.' Moral rights fall outside SOCAN's mandate, Mr. Jacobs said, but he added that they 'may be relevant' in certain situations. 'It would be up to the individual songwriter or performer to assert those rights and meet the legal thresholds for proving an infringement of their moral rights.' A representative for the Conservative Party did not respond to comment requests – nor did Re:Sound, the not-for-profit that administers licences for recording copyrights, which are separate from songwriting copyrights.
