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Neil Young Covers Bert Jansch's 'Needle Of Death'

This video shows Neil Young cramped with his guitar in a small space about the size of a phone booth. It's actually a refurbished 1947 "Voice-O-Graph," a sort of self-contained studio that records and presses vinyl records. Guitarist and producer Jack White acquired the booth for his Third Man Records label. All of the songs on Young's new covers album, A Letter Home, were made with the device.

Bert Jansch's "Needle Of Death," originally released on his self-titled album in 1965, was the inspiration for Young's own song "The Needle And The Damage Done," from 1972's Harvest. Other songs on A Letter Home include Bob Dylan's "Girl From The North Country," Bruce Springsteen's "My Hometown" and Willie Nelson's "Crazy."

While A Letter Home was originally released on vinyl only, for Record Store Day, a deluxe version, due out May 27, will include a CD and a link to download a digital copy of the album.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Robin Hilton is a producer and co-host of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.
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