Neil Young may be best-known for his music, but the singer-song writer has been branching out in recent years, becoming an author, artist, and tech entrepreneur as well, reports the Wall Street Journal.

At 68, Young claims to have a new outlook on life, in part thanks to the gift of a pair of colorblindness-curing sunglasses that finally let him see red and green. “Things jump out that didn’t jump out before,” he told the WSJ. “I’ll be driving along the highway looking out, and I’ll see a green lawn, and I’ll say, ‘Wow!’”

Those glasses can only benefit the Buffalo Springfield co-founder’s painting hobby, showcased in his new book, Special Deluxe: A Memoir of Life & Cars. The tome tells Young’s life story as related to the many vehicles he’s owned over the years, with each chapter illustrated by an automobile watercolor.

Neil Young, 1954 Monarch Lucurn. Photo: Neil Young.

“I gave myself cars as rewards for finishing specific projects,” said Young, explaining his decades-old car-collecting hobby. He likes them “mostly for the way they look. They’re like pieces of art.” Clearly, the man was ahead of the curve (see “Vintage Cars Overtake Art on Luxury Asset Racetrack“). Young will soon sell most of the collection.

In addition to his new roles as memoirist and artist (with a sci-fi novel on the way), Young will launch Pono, a new digital-music device and download service, later this month—not that he’s forgotten his musical roots: Young’s next album, “Storytone,” drops November 4.