© 2024 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY · WNPR
WPKT · WRLI-FM · WEDW-FM · Public Files Contact
ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

After 40 Years, Graham Nash Says There's Still Music to Be Made

Chris Boland
/
Creative Commons
Graham Nash at the Glastonbury Festival in 2009.
"The sound that Crosby Stills and Nash has vocally was born within the first minute of us singing together."
Graham Nash

It's been more than 40 years since Graham Nash first sung with David Crosby and Stephen Stills.

Earlier this this week, Crosby publicly apologized to frequent collaborator Neil Young and his girlfriend Darryl Hannah for insulting comments he made last year. In an interview with the Idaho Statesman, Crosby discussed Young's divorce from his wife of nearly 37 years and his new relationship:

I happen to know that he's hanging out with somebody that's a purely poisonous predator now. And that's karma. He's gonna get hurt. But I understand why it happened. I'm just sad about it. I'm always sad when I see love get tossed in the gutter.

Graham Nash hopes that isn’t true. He recently spoke with WNPR’s Tucker Ives.

Nash told Tucker about the audiences at his concerts, his first time singing with David Crosby and Stephen Stills, and why today, nearly five decades after that first meeting, he still says, "the best thing about it is the music."

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

On the age of CSN's audience:
"An amazing amount of younger people coming to see our show. I think it’s a reaction to two things. One, the influence of their parents on them musically, and I think the younger kids are really screaming for reality."

On the cost of the upcoming Grateful Dead farewell concerts:
"I think two things. I think it’s a shame that they’re doing it because it’s not the true Grateful Dead without Jerry, but at the same time I know that the Dead have a lot of fans the will clamor to see any representation of the band so it’s both good and bad in my view."

On the CSNY 1974 box set:
"It was difficult from this point of view: We did you know 30 odd stadium shows, we only multi tracked I think nine of them -- eight or nine -- and so we only had eight or nine shows that we could really choose from. So my job as a producer was to sonically put you in a great place in a great hall and think that you are listening to one concert. And with every venue being a different size, a different echo, a different sound ambience, to marry them together, to make you believe that you were sitting at one great show, was the most difficult thing."

Credit David Gans / Creative Commons
/
Creative Commons
Nash in 1976.

On his first time singing with David Crosby and Stephen Stills:
"I was the third part. I’d come from London to be with Joni [Mitchell] for a few days. David and Stephen were at the house. David said to Stephen, 'Hey, play Willy [Nash] that song that you sang, you know, that 'You Don't Have to Cry.' They sang it, I loved it, I asked them to do it again, I loved it even more, I asked them to do it a third time, and I had my harmony down, and whatever the sound that Crosby Stills and Nash has vocally was born within the first minute of us singing together."

On why he wants a CSNY reunion:
"This is a great band and I certainly hope that, you know, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young get it together and play again. Look at the music we have created together in the last 40 odd years. Look at how much that music has affected people. Look at how much that music is loved. Why would we not want to do that?

"The only reason that we can do that is because we are close as friends and we are pretty smart as human beings. And we know that, by far, the best thing about it is the music. It’s not about who stabbed who in the back or who did this or who argued about that. That’s all meaningless. And I feel sure that if CSNY ever got back together, we would have a lot of incredible music to make."

Tucker Ives is WNPR's morning news producer.

Stand up for civility

This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.

Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play.

Related Content