Americana er Neil Youngs første album med hele Crazy Horse - Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina og Frank "Poncho" Sampedro - siden de sammen ga ut Broken Arrow i 1996. Young og bandet tar denne gang for seg klassiske låter fra den amerikanske folktradisjonen, deriblant "This Land Is Your Land", "Gallows Pole", "Tom Dooley", "Clementine" og "Wayfaring Stranger". Sangene er omarrangert, men tekstene er de samme - og minst like aktuelle i dag som da de ble skrevet, ifølge albumets presseskriv: "What ties these songs together is the fact that while they may represent an America that may no longer exist, the emotions and scenarios behind these songs still resonate with what's going on in the country today with equal, if not greater impact nearly 200 years later. The lyrics reflect the same concerns and are still remarkably meaningful to a society going through economic and cultural upheaval, especially during an election year. They are just as poignant and powerful today as the day they were written." Americana ble innspilt i Audio Casa Blanca med Neil Young, John Hanlon og Mark Humphreys som produsenter.