Studio Album · No. 27
Prairie Wind Songwriting Credits by Neil Young
Holds writing credit on 10 of 10 tracks
Authorship Breakdown 10 / 10 documented
Scored across the 10 tracks with documented writers, by whether Neil Young carries a lyricist or composer credit.
Share of the 10 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.
By the Numbers
Awards & Recognition 1
Every song on Prairie Wind was written by Neil Young alone, and the album closes out the loose "Harvest trilogy" that began with Harvest in 1972 and continued with Harvest Moon in 1992. Young wrote and recorded the songs in the order they appear on the record, much of it after being diagnosed with a brain aneurysm but before his spring 2005 surgery, which gives the album its reflective, mortality-haunted tone. The record is shaped by his father, the writer Scott Young, who was gravely ill during the sessions and died weeks after it was finished, and by Young's own boyhood memories of music. He cut several tracks on a guitar that had once belonged to Hank Williams, the instrument he sings about directly on "This Old Guitar."
"Prairie Wind" is a 2005 country rock, folk rock, and Americana album by Neil Young, his 28th studio album, recorded at Nashville's Masterlink Studios as Young contemplated mortality during treatment for a brain aneurysm and following his father's illness. Neil Young produced the record with Ben Keith, joined by Emmylou Harris, Spooner Oldham, Rick Rosas, Chad Cromwell, and the Fisk University Jubilee Choir, and its acoustic-based sound echoes "Harvest" and "Harvest Moon." Key songs include "The Painter," "Far From Home," the title track "Prairie Wind," and "When God Made Me." Released September 27, 2005, the album debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200, charted for 26 weeks, and earned two Grammy nominations. It was certified Gold in the United States and Silver in the United Kingdom.