New Neil Young, a Queen Drummer Returns, and 35 Years of ‘Use Your Illusion’

A big anniversary on the rock calendar, a stacked New Music Friday, Americana's biggest week in Nashville, and good news for the AM dial — here's what's spinning this Wednesday, September 17.

Set the wayback machine to this very date in 1991, when Guns N' Roses pulled off one of the boldest moves in rock history: releasing 'Use Your Illusion I' and 'Use Your Illusion II' on the same day, as two separate albums. Thirty-five years later, 'November Rain,' 'Don't Cry,' and 'Civil War' still sound massive. And as if that weren't enough for one Tuesday in '91, Ozzy Osbourne released 'No More Tears' that same day — an album that went on to sell more than four million copies in the States.

September 17 was already a landmark date by then. Back in 1967, The Who made their American television debut on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, where Keith Moon's famously overloaded exploding drum kit reportedly did permanent damage to Pete Townshend's hearing. That same night, The Doors played the Ed Sullivan Show — and got themselves banned when Jim Morrison sang the line the censors had asked him to drop.

Now to the new stuff, because this Friday is loaded. Neil Young releases 'Second Song,' his fiftieth studio album — let that number sink in — recorded with his band the Chrome Hearts and produced by the legendary Lou Adler. It's a mostly acoustic affair, and it includes two songs Neil wrote back in the 1960s that never saw the light of day until now.

Also arriving Friday: Queen drummer Roger Taylor's 'Violence Insane in a Beautiful World,' his seventh solo record and first since 2021. It features nine originals plus a cover of John Lennon's 'Jealous Guy.' The same day brings new albums from Beck, Chaka Khan, and thrash veterans Anthrax — something for every corner of the record store.

A few hours up the road in Nashville, AmericanaFest is in full swing through Saturday, with more than 200 artists playing over 50 venues. This year's keynote pairs songwriting legend Bernie Taupin with Brandi Carlile, and the lineup includes Melissa Etheridge, Judy Collins, and Tom Petty's longtime guitarist Mike Campbell with his Dirty Knobs.

And here's one for everybody who's ever leaned on the AM dial in the truck: the U.S. House just passed the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act with broad bipartisan support. The bill would require automakers to keep AM radio as standard equipment in new vehicles, and it now heads to the Senate. We'll keep an ear on it — right here on Pretoria Fields Radio.

— The Pretoria Fields Radio news desk