Neil Young Album by Album by Horsham-based writer

It has been published by White Owl, an imprint of Pen & Sword Books at £20 (available from Amazon, WH Smith, Blackwells, as well as directly from Pen & Sword's own website).

Chris, aged 49, said: “The idea behind the book was to write the most up-to-date overview of Neil Young's music available. There had been a number of other very good books written about him, but some of these dated back 20 years or more and I felt the time was right for a book that encompassed his later career as well.

“He's best known for his series of consistently outstanding albums in the seventies, but Young has continued to be an interesting and impressive artist up until the present day, even though not everything he does always works!

“Doing an album by album guide did make the initial planning more straightforward, but with so many records to potentially include due to his huge back catalogue I had to consider carefully what albums made the cut. I didn't include Young's work with Buffalo Springfield or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young for example. Then it was a case of setting myself strict word limits for each chapter and listening to an awful lot of music!

“Young has a pretty big fanbase globally, especially in North America, and realistically I expect my book to appeal mostly to those who are already converts. However, I also hope the book will be interesting and informative for people who are looking to explore Young for the first time, or to expand their listening beyond the few songs they know already.

“The significance of the book is twofold for me. Firstly, it has meant I've fulfilled a lifelong ambition to write my own book and secondly, I hope I've come up with something that's a fitting tribute to an artist I've always greatly admired.

“I spent a number of years as a freelance music journalist alongside my day job doing internal communications, writing for BBC Music online among others. A fellow music writer who had become a publishing agent reached out to see if I'd be interested in putting together a book proposal on an artist of my choice, focusing on an overview of their career to date. I'd always wanted to write a book and this seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to realise that ambition. I chose to write about Neil Young because I felt that of all the great figures of rock music, his musical journey had been the most interesting and varied, and I wanted to tell his story by reviewing his albums one by one and weaving in biographical information alongside my insights into his music.

“I thoroughly enjoyed researching and writing the book. I took a six-month career break so I could focus on it completely and found the structure of writing a chapter for each album suited me well. The biggest challenge came when Young - who remains incredibly prolific even in his late seventies - decided to release two new albums late in 2023, which meant I had to do some swift rewrites to ensure my book was completely up to date when it went to print!”