Neil Young offers his music catalogue for free, for one year, to all citizens of Greenland in a righteous act of Peace

Neil Young has never shied away from using his music and his platform to wield his powers to affect change for the greater good. Weather it be the through the writing of "Ohio" with CSNY to his bridge school benefit concerts series and countless other examples over the years.

Mr Young has always said what he thinks needs at key moments in history and he says it loudly and proudly.

Inspiring so many fans and musicians over the years, after all he is the "Godfather of grunge". In 2012 he took on apple with his own music player and music store which was called pono which ultimately evolved into what we know of today as the Neil Young archives with the same fidelity of music just without the stand alone player.

Neil young fans know what a man of strength, protest and unity there is in his character. You have to even love the wry genius of his own music store being called "The greedy hand".

Neil Young has full control of his legacy as he sees fit while he is on this earth and that is a beautiful thing. As citizens of Greenland found out today, Neil Young really does Love Earth.

I'd be lying if I said that his agency over his own content didn't help inspire and greatly influence my choices for this very website.

Perhaps an unpopular opinion today at the start of 2026, but even now we can see the tides are shifting with the fairness of music services like bandcamp, which will hopefully contribute greatly to more artists getting their fair share for their work.

Neil Young's most recent act of generosity and brilliance was today directed toward the good citizens of Greenland.

He offered the following statement from his website:

"Im honored to give a free year's access to neilyoungarchives.com to all of our friends in Greenland. I hope my Music and Music Films will ease some of the unwarranted stress and threats you are experiencing from Our unpopular and hopefully temporary government.

It is my sincere wish for you to be able to enjoy all of my music in your beautiful Greenland home, in its highest quality. This is an offer of Peace and Love. All the music I have made during the last 62 years is yours to hear. You can renew for free as long as you are in Greenland. We do hope other organizations will follow in the spirit of our example."

Going back to his early history with Crosby Stills and Nash and Young with their famous demonstration song "Ohio".

Neil Young has always spoken out for the underdog and the disenfranchised. Although he is now an American citizen, he is to me, most certainly one of the great Rock and Roll ambassador's for Canada. And I for one, am always listening to what he has to say.

Do not forget he also made a personal endorsement for our current prime minister Mark Carney just before our last election 9 long months ago. And since that time, Mark Carney has stated how we in Canada also respect the peace and sovereignty of Greenland and Denmark : "On Arctic sovereignty, we stand firmly with Greenland and Denmark and fully support their unique right to determine Greenland's future.

Our commitment to Article 5 is unwavering."

In a world that changes so fast from issue to issue, it is my hope that today's actions are widely embraced by all musicians, artists and citizens of the world as we stand in solidarity with the people of Greenland.

Neil Young's most recent album Talkin to the Trees is the 49th studio album by Neil Young. It was released on June 13, 2025, through The Other Shoe Productions and Reprise Records.

Neil Young's tour bus, "The Silver Eagle"

Photos taken by me from Neil Young's Love Earth concert in Toronto, Monday May 20th 2024 at Budweiser Stage at Ontario Place.

Article written by Brad Gardner January 27th, 2026

The Plant, the drawing, the poem and the song

This week I decided I was wanting the aroma of a fresh plant in my room. I went to my local nursery and asked what a somewhat low maintenance house plant would be for someone with not much gardening experience. 

The clerk went on to direct me to exhibit A: A spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum). He told me that they can survive with with very little water and are very popular. I went to smell it and it pretty much smelt like nothing. 

"Hmm, what else would you recommend?" he then proceeded to show me a money tree (Pachira aquatica) which he mentioned is very low maintenance and told me they can grow to be very large over time.

It was very nice looking and I have certainly seen them at friends houses over the years but again, I went to smell it and it too kind of smelt like nothing. 

"Do you guys have any Eucalyptus by chance?" I asked. This is when the store clerk called for backup. He got on the walkie talkie and one of his colleagues came to join in on our conversation. 

She went on to inform me that Eucalyptus is quite seasonal and moves pretty quick when it does come in to the nursery. 

She recommended that I check their website regularly to see when it comes in. She also remarked that it’s usually available in the fall and spring.

"So that's when all of the Koalas come?" I joked. Sadly, not the laugh I was expecting from them, some kind smiles though which is good enough for me.

"I'm looking for something indoor that's fragrant and invigorating". The employee walked me right over to a Jasmine plant. I leaned in and without question that was the one. 

After bringing it home and giving the plant it's spot by the window I kept coming back to smell it. Such a welcomed companion on a grey January winter day. I then thought to myself …  I'm going to try to draw it,  I've never done that before. 

From there, I thought that I would maybe see if I could write a poem based on the inspiring plant.

What's originally written next to the drawing is not the final version of the poem. I did several slight re-writes ultimately arriving at:

Jasmin

(Final Edit) 

 The start of winter had its fair share of plastic trees

I welcome you Jasmine and your aroma to breathe

A shiny white pale, and your indisputable truth

Your familiar scent transports me to my youth

In the centre of winter, I vow to take care of you

To watch you grow, with your green vibrant hoop

I vow to listen as we grow through the new year together

I’ll tend to your leaves in every kind of weather

You breathe life into air that had been stale

I praise your fragrant gifts that emanate from your ivory pale

A thread of purity drifts through the winter air

The transfer of memory and scent lifting any despair

Why it took so long I may never know

Thank you dear Jasmine 

It’s an honour to watch you grow

Feeling quite chuffed with the experience and the wave of inspiration, I posted the drawing and poem on my instagram and facebook pages to share with friends.

One of my friends commented that I should try turning the poem into a song like Canadian singer songwriter Sarah Harmer had done with her song "Oleander"

A total light bulb moment, and a welcomed suggestion. What's funny is I wasn't thinking of anything musical with the poem at all at the time, but why not! 

I picked up my guitar and sat there for a moment looking at the plant, my new drawing and the freshly written poem. 

From there, the song kind of came out right away. Trying to catch lightning in a bottle, I ran from the couch to the computer to have a go at recording the song right away.

I recorded a version that was sounding pretty cool to start. I worked on it for a few hours and then was pried away to eat dinner. I put it on the speaker while eating dinner, and played it for my parents and they had kind of mixed reactions.

Back to recording I went. I rearranged the lyrics a bit from the original poem so that they fit a bit better rhythmically. I recorded the guitar and vocals again, added keys, bass and harmonica and Voila! 

Jasmin: The plant, the drawing, the poem and the song.

You can download the song on my bandcamp or here on my website 

  Jasmine Song Lyrics 🌱

The start of winter had its fair share of plastic trees

I welcome you Jasmine and your aroma to breathe

A shiny white pale, welcomed to my room

The old familiar scent transports me to my youth

In the centre of winter, I vow to take care of you

I love to watch you grow, with your green vibrant hoop

I vow to listen as we grow through the year together

I’ll tend to your leaves in any kind of weather

You breathe life into the air that was once stale

I praise the fragrant gifts that emanate your ivory pale

A thread of purity catches the winter air

That old warm exchange of memory and scent

Why it took me so long I may never know

Thank you dear Jasmine 

It’s an honour to watch you grow

Smelt, drawn, written, recorded and blogged by Brad Gardner January 20th 2026

Paul McCartney, The Beatles and a personal Christmas Miracle.

Happy New Year everyone. I thought I would take this opportunity to write a little update as we ring in our new year here in Snowy Canada.

First of all, I would like to start by sharing that I had the amazing opportunity to see Paul McCartney play in Hamilton, Ontario at the end of November at the "new" TD Coliseum.

I had seen him play once before in 2009 so this long break between seeing him last was such a welcomed experience.

He and his awesome band played all of the hits I could possibly want to hear, and the fact he is performing at 83 years old is nothing short of amazing. It was truly a historic gig and your damn right I bought the t-shirt and the poster to commemorate the the show.

As I've have mentioned many times before to people who know me, I can truly pinpoint the day I first felt the desire to make music and play guitar. And it was after hearing The Beatles music for the first time as a child.

Needless to say, being at the stereotypical midlife crises age of 40, I've been doing lots reflecting on my life as a musician. With all of the experiences and friendships and bonding moments the Beatles music and their respective careers have given me. That concert really opened a wellspring of reflection and creativity for me.

To start, I felt the desire to learn how to play all three of those Beatles songs that were made with John Lennon's old demos. Paul Performed the newest single "Now and Then" live at the concert. To hear that song live gave me a lot of vigor and inspiration about those songs. I personally thought they were the perfect bookend to the Beatles music catalogue.

Music is magic.

I'm sure it was planned out, but coinciding with Paul McCartney's Got Back Tour. The Beatles also re-released the Beatles Anthology album which included the incredible new 2025 mixes done by Jeff Lynne of "Free As Bird" "Real Love". They also released a 45" single of "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" 2025 mixes. Of course ordered it right after that Paul McCartney concert.

Riding that enthusiasm for those songs I also decided to learn and record some home studio covers of those songs. It's simply something I always do when I'm truly appreciating a piece of music, the next step of appreciation is to learn it.

To walk in the footsteps and see what a song is made of. It's something that is very hard to describe if you do not play music. All the more reason to pick up an instrument today! It's never too late.

Anyways, once I had learnt the songs, I was teaching some of the songs to one of my guitar students.

Here's where the magic kicks in .... as I was writing out the tablature at home for the slide guitar solo of "Free as a Bird" I got a knock on the door. To my shock, it was the delivery of the 45" single of "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love".

For me personally, that was a true Christmas miracle. I was in tears by that synchronicity. All I could do was look up to the sky and say thank you so much.

As for the chances of this happening, I had ordered the 45" roughly a month prior and it's not like I was teaching that song to a lot of students, just one. The odds of that split moment lining up like that is an experience that I will never forget.

My first Christmas recieving my guitar at age 7. This Christmas I celebrated my 33rd Christmas as a musician and guitar player.

The only bit of sad news to go with this story was that at the start of the new year, Hoffner, the German company famous for creating the iconic "Beatle" club bass announced that they have now gone out of business. I guess I will have to try to track one of those basses down someday.