Young and Crazy Horse's Greendale is a 10-song musical novel[3] set in a fictional California seaside town of the same name.

Based on the saga of the Green family, Greendale combines numerous themes on corruption, observation of the passing of time, environmentalism and mass media consolidation.

The sessions feature Young on guitar, organ and harmonica backed only by drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot of longtime collaborators Crazy Horse.

"[8] In 2004, the CD was released with a DVD containing Inside Greendale, a documentary featuring in-studio performances of the album being recorded.

A map of the fictional town,[11] a gallery of Earl Green's art, a family tree diagram, and biographies of each character were provided on Young's website at the time.

[15] Sun Green is played by Sarah White, a classmate of Young's daughter Amber.

Young performed the song cycle in a solo acoustic setting during a tour of Europe in April and May 2003.

[16] The concerts marked the first time Young played a setlist consisting of a song cycle of new material since introducing Tonight's the Night to audiences in 1973.

"[18] A DVD of performances filmed at Vicar Street, Dublin was included with some editions of the album.

An audio-only version has since been made available as a stand-alone live album on digital download and streaming services such as iTunes and Amazon.

[19][20] Between June and November 2003, Young toured the material with the support of Crazy Horse and background singers.

In November 2020, a live album from a September performance from The Air Canada Centre in Toronto was released as Return to Greendale.

[23] Greendale graphic novel (ISBN 1-4012-2698-1) was released in June 2010,[24] with Cliff Chiang providing the art.