NOW OPEN: Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary T-Shirts Ordering

Down By The River w/ Thrashette

Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary: 1996 - 2026
Design by Silver Moon Art & Design

Shirts Hand-dyed by artist Zach Wright, InnerLightTieDye
(Click photo to enlarge)

Here's an update on ordering Thrasher's Wheat Anniversary T-Shirts.

First, so many thanks to all of you out there who have already pledged to place orders! Orders have come in from around the world and we've tracked each shirt pledge as it arrived.

As we noted earlier,  2026 is the year that we here at Thrasher's Wheat are celebrating our 30th anniversary of archiving Neil Young's musical talents and the rustie fan communities. (BTW, we had a lot of fun reviewing all the photos we've been sent of fans flying the colors around the EARTH!)

It has been a long, long road since 1996 and we're making 2026 a year of celebration. A celebration maybe not so much of our little blog website or even of Neil Young. No, a celebration of this wonderful community we joined back in 1993 that eventually became known as "The Force of Rust".

Thanks to our dear friend Geoff Moore, we've come up with a Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary t-shirt.

 

Still separating the wheat from the chaff...

Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary: 1996 - 2026

Design by Silver Moon Art & Design
(Click photo to enlarge)

And we want all of our readers to have a commemorative tie-dyed Anniversary shirt.

 
A few questions which have come up since we began taking pledges earlier:

Q - How do I determine my shirt size?
A - These commemorative tie-dyed 100% quality cotton T-shirts will be available in sizes Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large (XL), Extra Extra Large (XXL), Extra Extra Large (XXL) or Extra Extra Extra Large (XXXL)

For reference, Geoff in the 2 pictures above is wearing a medium. He says it's a comfy, snug fit and he's about 5'-8" or so, 170 lbs on a good day. Our dear Thrashette -- in top photo, a true unknown legend -- is also wearing a medium. She says it's a comfy fit and she's about 5'-5", 145 lbs on a good day. (And her days are almost always good.)

* NOTE: Shirts are pre-washed/pre-shrunk.*

Q - "Where do I indicate shirt size on the order?
A - Select Goods & Services (not Donation), then specify shirt size in the "Instructions to merchant" field *after* entering total $ amount and *before* confirming purchase.

Q - "What is the order cutoff date?"
A - All orders must be submitted by June 14. Shipment estimate is late July/August.

Q - "I'm looking for XXXL size"
A - Please add $5 for Extra Large (XL) or Extra Extra Large (XXL) sizes. For XXXL size, please $8 to your order.

Q - "I have a question about ordering not covered here"
A - Feel free to get in touch with us on any questions at thrasher@thrasherswheat.org .

To proudly have your very own Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary T-Shirt and celebrate our golden moment with the Neil Young community, here's the REAL deal:

USA only - $39.00 (Note: Include upcharge for largest sizes) + $12.00 Shipping = $51.00 

International/Non-USA - $39.00 (Note: Include upcharge for largest sizes) + Shipping Fee (*see details next*)

(* International/Non-USA orders, please note following regarding shipping. ** Shipping International is a major challenge these days. It is impossible for us to calculate every country's postal scenario. Therefore, we ask that International orderers determine your cost of shipping to your country. Please be aware that mailing packages Internationally now is tremendously labor intensive with postal forms, rules, plus increasingly expensive. Thank you!)

To support Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary T-Shirt, purchase securely using PayPal by clicking the BUY NOW button below.

Only your credit card is necessary to apply directly & securely. No PayPal account setup is necessary.

(NOTE: Any excess donations will be contributed to helping The Bridge School, Farm Aid, Musicares, and other worthy causes.)

Your donation must include shipping address, including country. Also, include your T-shirt size (Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large (XL), Extra Extra Large (XXL), or Extra Extra Large (XXL)). NOTE: Please add $5 for Extra Large (XL) and Extra Extra Large (XXL). For Extra Extra Extra Large (XXXL) sizes, Please add $8. Specify shirt size in the "Instructions to merchant" field after entering $ amount and before confirming purchase. All orders must be submitted by  June 14. Shipment delivery estimate of late July/August.

Feel free to get in touch with us on any questions at thrasher@thrasherswheat.org .

So help us celebrate this milestone with you -- our dear TW readers and supporters. Thanks again to our dear friend Geoff, for the design of the Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary t-shirt!

We will soon be diligently producing our commemorative T-shirts -- 100% quality cotton. Each shirt will be uniquely hand tie-dyed in a 7 stage process under the Maui, Hawai'i sun (by tie dyers who were trained within the Grateful Dead family tree). 

Each shirt will be uniquely hand tie-dyed under the Maui sun by artist Zach Wright of InnerLightTieDye, based in Maui, Hawaiʻi. Zach creates one-of-a-kind tie-dye pieces using traditional techniques, with a focus on precision, flow, and depth of color. His work spans wearable art and large-scale backdrops, and has found its way into the hands of notable musicians within the music community over the years. His style is recognized for its balance of structure and organic movement, with layered symmetry and rich color palettes.

This Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary prototype was custom-dyed as a unique collaboration piece, bringing a bold, high-contrast energy to the design. Zach created this extra crunchy Thrasher's Wheat 30th Anniversary shirt with Neil Young and Rusties in head!  (Explore more of Zach's work at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/innerlighttiedye)

Our intention is to connect the dots.....to encourage greater connection through sincerity, fun, and focus. The shirt won't make the difference but you can bet all those that wear it are trying.

Lastly, we should mention that these TW anniversary shirts are not necessarily intended as fundraiser like we did back in 2013 when we did Thrasher's Wheat Radio Goes To Europe T-Shirts. No, this effort is our way of saying thanks to you. Essentially, we are giving you the shirt at our cost for the blank shirts, the tie dying (each individual shirt will be unique) + shipping. Yep.

This is really all about you cowboys & cowgirls out there -- our loyal and faithful readers here on Thrasher's Wheat and the entire Neil Young fan community.

It's a hippie dream, so let your freak flag fly & don't be denied! 

w/ Geoff @ Silver Moon Graphics @ Telluride 2016 

peace & love,
thrasher & thrashette

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Ranking Neil Young's First Decade of Albums | All Music

Neil YoungPhoto by Gary Burden

As we await the latest album from Neil Young ( see announcement for album titled 'Second Song', recorded with the Chrome Hearts) here's Ranking the Neil Young Albums from His First Decade | All Music by Daniel de Visé:

Few artists garner more attention on AllMusic than Neil Young. Trust me: I've seen the numbers.

Back in the '80s, when I was searching out used vinyl of On the Beach and Time Fades Away in Chicago record stores, those records felt like guilty pleasures. Neil Young wasn't widely regarded as a top-drawer artist, like Springsteen or Dylan, although the triple-LP Decade in 1977 made a pretty strong case.

That's all changed now. Fans and pundits have come to regard Young as the standard-bearer for real, garage-band rock and roll, passing the tradition from the Troggs and The Standells and Seeds in the '60s to Kurt Cobain and Pearl Jam and Wilco in the '90s and beyond, carrying the torch through the eras of yacht rock, arena rock, prog rock, synth rock, hair metal and disco. All hail the Godfather of Grunge.

Young has been churning out solo albums for nearly 60 years. Some of the later ones are really good. And that poses a problem: Every time Young puts out a Ragged Glory or Harvest Moon, he pushes the old stuff a little further into the past. Time fades away.

As good as those albums are – I also love Mirror Ball – I don't think they hold a candle to most of Young's recordings from roughly the first Decade. In that spirit, let's go back and revisit the early albums: The first 10 solo studio LPs, from Neil Young through Rust Never Sleeps, and the essential live set Time Fades Away.

Here's my attempt at a ranking.

Full review and ranking @  Ranking the Neil Young Albums from His First Decade | All Music by Daniel de Visé.

Also, see:

Neil Young's Ditch Trilogy

"Time Fades Away", "Tonight’s the Night" & "On the Beach"

(See Neil Young 's Ditch Trilogy/Quadrilogy/Quintology/Sextology In Light of "Homegrown" Release: What Might Have Been? )

Neil Young's "Ditch Quadrilogy":
"Time Fades Away", "Tonight’s the Night", "On the Beach" & "ZUMA"

"Every Neil Young Studio Album, Ranked" | UPROXX by Steven Hyden

image credit: Neil Young Album Cover Images via Sugar Mountain | Discography

(Click photo to enlarge)

Neil Young Albums From Worst To Best | Stereogum
(Click photo to enlarge)

The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time| Rolling Stone
P. 80 - 3 of Neil Young's Albums
 (Click photo to enlarge) 

1. Rust Never Sleeps (1979)

 (see Every Neil Young Album Ranked | The Guardian)

More on Neil Young's albums, reviews and commentary.

Also, see more on the origin of the expression "Ditch Trilogy" as applied to Neil Young's 3 albums "Time Fades Away", "Tonight’s the Night" & "On the Beach". Also, see Neil Young's Ditch Trilogy -- Or is it a Quadrilogy? Or Quintology?.

Also, see The Beautiful, Enduring Gloom of Neil Young's Ditch Trilogy | PandoraMusic.

UPDATE:  

• The Essential Neil Young Albums
• Neil Young Albums From Worst To Best | Stereogum  
• The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time| Rolling Stone
• Every Neil Young Album Ranked | The Guardian) 
• Neil Young's albums, reviews and commentary
• Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Times
• Neil Young: Rolling Stone | 100 Greatest Guitarists
• Reviews of 52 Neil Young Albums | Everybody's Dummy 
• Results and discussion of Poll for Favorite Neil Young Studio Album of 21st Century 
• Comment of the Moment: Poll Results for Favorite Neil Young Studio Zero's Album 
• Neil Young on Swedish TV Interview Discussing His Catalog - 2005
• Listening to All of Neil Young's Albums in Chronological Order: His journey, his self-appointed task by Mike "Expecting 2 Fly"

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Neil Young Archives Migration from Amazon to DigitalOcean Platform Completed

Neil Young @ Farm Aid 40

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota - Sept. 20, 2025

photo by thrasher

(Click photo to enlarge)

Neil Young has announced that his Archives (NYA) have completed platform migration from Amazon to DigitalOcean per a statement.

In 2025, Neil Young announced that he would withdraw his music from Amazon due to big corporations "selling out America", as well as, Jeff Bezos' support of the Trump administration.  In January, a statement on Neil Young Archives, called for a boycott of Amazon.  

The now-completed migration was considered technically demanding and costly internally. The migration team was led by archivist Phil Baker, together with DigitalOcean's engineers, who developed a new infrastructure for cloud storage, databases, and servers. As part of the move, the entire streaming workflow was also modernized to improve performance and scalability. A key component of the new architecture is a "hot storage" layer. This temporarily caches frequently requested audio content. Frequently streamed tracks can thus be delivered more quickly without constantly accessing long-term storage. For platform members, this translates to shorter loading times, more stable streams, and fewer interruptions during peak usage.

By making the migration away from Amazon to DigitalOcean's platform, Neil Young believes that the switch is part of a larger movement away from the dominance of a few technology companies and toward independent digital services and stronger local structures.

Full statement on Neil Young Archives (NYA).

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Comment of the Moment #2: "As Time Explodes" by Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts

"As Time Explodes" 

Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts

 (Click photo to enlarge)

The  album  "As Time Explodes" by Neil Young w/Chrome Hearts  was released for this year's Record Store Day on April 18. 'As Time Explodes' will be released on CD on May 29.

Last week's Comment of the Moment on "As Time Explodes" by Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts was by JVJ and sparked a few interesting comments.

Our latest Comment of the Moment #2: "As Time Explodes" by Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts is also by JVJ:

Another reminder of how lucky we are to have the Archives and the letters section... between the time I lamented the omission of Ambulance Blues and now, some intrepid fan sent in asking why it didn't make the cut and Neil explained succinctly: "THEY WERE GOOD BUT NONE WERE RIGHT FOR ME ON THIS ALBUM. MAYBE IN THE FUTRE IT WILL BE USED."

I'll echo that the version of Cortez the Killer contained here - as most of you know, the version with the missing verses that have been included since last year's tour with the horse - is absolutely essential. I understand the minor grievances listed in this thread (the slow start of Side 1. Spooner still being lower in the mix in the same way as on tour...) but damn, Side 3 is a towering and killer slab of rock and roll... Vampire Blues (from one of the shows I attended! I get a sensorial memory of my best friend and me losing our shit when they kicked into that one) and Cortez? An absolutely unmissable document of the band at their best right there.

Another letter I read in the most recent batch made the cover art make sense to me. I had no idea it was a picture of the band reflected in rained out pit at the Jones Beach show. I just thought it was an artistic decision that didn't do anything for me compared to a simple shot of the great stage set-up they had on this run. Really made my appreciation to the cover art skyrocket.

Anyways, looking forward to more opinions as the album continues to officially roll out. I really would live to see the truncated Crazy Horse tour make it to record at some point, though that feels unlikely (and maybe a bit greedy given the embarrassment of riches we've already received).

Thanks  for the comments JVJ! A 2fer.

More on the album "As Time Explodes" by Neil Young w/ Chrome Hearts  (Tracklist, etc.).  

Also, more on  2025 "Love Earth" tour in Europe and North America (concert reports). 

love earth 2025 WORLD tour neil young and the chrome hearts 

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"Ohio" Revisited: Is Song by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young An Anthem For Our Times?

Crosby Stills Nash & Young
 (Click photo to enlarge)

Earlier this year in January -- after the tragic events in Minneapolis, Minnesota, we ran a post titled "Ohio" Revisited: Is Song by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young An Anthem For Our Times? from Rock 'n' Roll with Me  by Ellen from Endwell.

So is the song "Ohio" "an anthem for our times?". While the jury may still be out, our readers here were somewhat divided on the answer. Regardless, the CSN&Y song "Ohio" is a powerful song still resonating 56 years later.

Thrasher's Wheat has been observing the anniversary of this event for decades now, sadly.

We can only continue to ask the pertinent question: "How many more?"

Also, see:

Why Neil Young’s “OHIO” has earned it’s place on the National Recording Registry 

"Ohio" Revisited: Is Song by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young An Anthem For Our Times?

The Truth About The Kent State Massacre

The Girl in the Photo: Kent State, Ohio - May 4, 1970

40 Years Since 4 Dead in Ohio: Kent State Massacre Remembered

4 Dead In Ohio: May 4, 1970

53 Years Later: "Ohio", Kent State & Tin Soldiers Still Marching | #MayTheFOURBeWithYou

50 Years Ago: “Four Dead In Ohio” | Decaturish

51 Years Later: "Ohio", Kent State & Tin Soldiers Still Marching | #MayThe4thBeWithYou

Ohio: Kent State 45 Years Later

Kent State, Ohio 47 Years Later: The Tin Soldiers March On & On...

Kent State University on May 4, 1970 Library of Congress Exhibit photo by Howell PosnerOriginal photo by photojournalism student John Filo 

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