At the tail end of a New York Times conversation with rock musician Neil Young lies a snippet on one of his latest personal challenges - to write his autobiography sans drugs or alcohol. "I did it for 40 years," he said. "Now I want to see what it's like to not do it. It's just a different perspective."

That's the lead, but in truth, the rest of the essay provides much contextual background.

There's insight into what Young's time and money went towards over the years -- classic motors, filmmaking, a school for handicapped children, business ventures developing a high-end automobile sound system and a model train set company -- and a reminder of the the artist's own musical journey and the health issues that contributed to abstention from recreational drugs.

Waging Heavy Peace is due for release on September 25; not long after, The Who's frontman Pete Townsend has Who I Am and Kenny Rogers has Luck or Something Like It publishing early October.