WINNIPEG - Out of the blue -- and into the MTS Centre. Unconfirmed word is that a mighty prairie wind is finally going to carry Neil Young back to Winnipeg for a July 14 concert date at MTS Centre -- a stop on the forthcoming Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young tour.

Aside from giving fans a massive case of deja vu, the long-awaited hometown gig would fulfil a promise Young made after a cerebral aneurysm forced him to back away from last April's Juno Awards show in Winnipeg. It would also let MTS event guru Kevin Donnelly cross a monster catch off his to-do list -- although without an official announcement, Donnelly refused to comment yesterday on any CSNY bill except to say it's "certainly a very exciting prospect."

However, Donnelly is standing by a long-standing pledge to lure Young to town, come hell or high water. The Sun quoted him in November when he said he was determined to make the show happen in 2006.

"Since before the building opened we've been making overtures, and he went on record as saying he was looking forward to being able to come back to Winnipeg as a result of not being able to make his Juno date," Donnelly says. "We always had the full-court press on. I don't mind that it's not Neil Young solo if it comes to that. Neil Young with Crosby, Stills and Nash is as exciting, if not more exciting."

Young, 61, reunited with former mates David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash in 2000 and the quartet played a Toronto gig during a followup tour in 2002. Crosby, Stills and Nash turned up in Winnipeg a year later but, alas, without Young.

A CSNY tour is definitely in the works for this year, but Canadian promoters at Live Nation -- formerly Clear Channel Entertainment -- would not confirm the possibility of a local date yesterday.

Young has had an unusually high public profile over the past year. He paid tribute to his local roots on last year's Prairie Wind album. Written and recorded in Nashville while he was recovering from that aneurysm, it's filled with nostalgia in lyrics like "The Red River still flows through my hometown." He did the Live 8 Toronto concert last summer and this spring, he appeared on TV talk shows and hit a couple of film festivals to support director Jonathan Demme's poignant concert film Neil Young: Heart of Gold.

Local writer John Einarson, whose local rock history books include Aurora: The Story of Neil Young & the Squires, was invited to the concert taping in Nashville and at the time, Young told him he had not forgotten his promise to play Winnipeg.

Einarson says he knew CSNY were embarking on a 40-city tour this summer and figured a local stop was a no-brainer, although he stressed he was not privy to official details.

He said a CSNY concert would be more satisfying to fans of Young's rockin' youth -- and it would be especially significant given the likelihood this will be the last CSNY tour. The aging quartet were only together for a short time in the early '70s -- after Young's Buffalo Springfield years -- but they were huge. During their last tour, they pulled out joint hits like Our House, Teach Your Children and Woodstock, along with Young solo cuts like Old Man and Rockin' in the Free World.

It would be a fine thing to hear their trademark harmonies and guitar-duels in Winnipeg. And, hey, after years of hearing visiting bands close Winnipeg concerts with homages to Young, wouldn't it be cool to hear Cinnamon Girl from the man himself?