Neil Young — Prairie Wind

It's hard to separate Neil Young's latest album, Prairie Wind, from the context of his recent health scares and the death of his father. There are none of the convoluted narratives of Greendale, nor are there any of the musical misadventures which Young has sometimes chased in the past.

Instead, you're treated to the simple waltzing country rock that made Harvest and Harvest Moon such timeless records. It's all about Young returning to his roots, and when he says to "just bury me out on the prairie, where the buffalo used to roam, where the Canada geese once filled the sky cuz then I won't be far from home," as on the song "Far From Home," you get just a touch of the same heartsick mortality that made Johnny Cash's last couple albums so great.

It's clear that if this is Young's epitaph, it's written on a tombstone lodged firmly in a field of wheat with four strong winds blowing all around.