Songfacts®:

• "Peace Trail" is the title track of Neil Young's 38th album (yes, 38th; the man is nothing if not prolific). Released on December 9, 2016, the album is notable for how quickly it was conceived and recorded. Young watched 2016 unfold with dismay, particularly the Standing Rock protests, which he personally supported, and in classic Neil fashion, he responded the way other people might with a stiff drink or an angry letter: he wrote a record.
• "Peace Trail" is an acoustic song with a distinctly raw, rattling edge. The song's core message is one of a weary but persistent optimism. Young acknowledges the difficulties and confusion of modern life, singing about a world where things are "different now." He looks to find a path toward peace and positive change - a "peace trail" - despite the challenges.
• For the Peace Trail album, Young decided to keep it lean recruiting drummer Jim Keltner - the former sticksman for the supergroup the Travelling Wilburys under the pseudonym Buster Sidebury - and bassist Paul Bushnell, a session player who's worked with John Fogerty, Elton John, Rod Stewart and Phil Collins. The trio, plus co-producer John Hanlon, wrote and recorded the album at Rick Rubin's Shangri-La Studios in Malibu from September 9-12, 2016.
• Keltner got a call summoning him to Malibu out of the blue. "There was not a whole lot of talking; Neil would just play," he told Uncut magazine. "Fortunately I did homework back in the day. I became very acquainted with Neil's groove, and so when it was time to play with Neil, I knew where to go."
• The recording of "Peace Trail" started with Young playing the song. "Another drummer might have sat there and made notes, but I was just going to catch on," Keltner said. "I didn't even have a chance to put the snare on."
  
  Keltner just played with the snares off, figuring he'd fix it on the next take. But when they played it back, it turned out to be the take he wanted. "That's typical Neil," said the drummer. "Sometimes the track that you hear on the record is not even take one. It's not even like, 'Hey guys, let's run this down.' It's actually just the first time that he starts playing and everybody falls in."