Graham Nash: “I’m still undecided about Neil Young”

Most musicians would count themselves lucky to have been in one classic band, Graham Nash has been in two: The Hollies and Crosby Stills & Nash. Or perhaps, as he tells Neil McCormick on Needle Time, we should say three, because Crosby Stills Nash & Young is effectively another group altogether. The veteran Manchester born singer admits that, even after four decades of making music together, he is not sure how he feels about Neil Young, who has drifted in and out of his life since 1969.

“I’m still undecided about Neil,” he candidly admits. “One thing about Neil is, he’s the consummate musician, he loves it when it’s good, and he demands that every time. What Neil Young brings to our band is a certain darker edge, a certain intensity. Our music is a little sunnier, it’s full of bikini blondes and palm trees, southern California acoustic rock. Neil brings a certain edge to it that is very necessary.”

David Crosby, Stephen Stills & Graham Nash had a massive debut album in 1969, which immediately established them as singer-songwriting superstars, before Neil Young joined them on tour and added his initial to the band name. Nash recalls his first meeting with Young, over breakfast in New York, to find out more about the man mooted to become the fourth member of an already very successful trio. “He was incredibly self-assured, incredibly dry, very very funny , and he knew what he could bring to us. I asked him, ‘why am I talking to you about joining this band?; And he said, ‘Have you ever heard me and Stephen play guitar together?”

The first CSNY album, "Déjà vu" in 1970, is a classic yet it is probably fair to say that Young had a destabilising effect on the trio, leaving and rejoining apparently at whim. Nash insists that he has no regrets about recruiting him, however. “In the end result, look at the music we made together.”

Nash has been working on a box set of live concert performances by CSNY from their 1974 tour and is hopeful that he can persuade Young to come out on the road to promote it next year. “I had lunch with Neil a week ago in New York city. It was incredibly friendly, it was forward thinking. He knows I am working on this box set of CSNY 74, and its 40 years ,and its 40 songs, Neil’s not a fool, he loves it when it’s right. He doesn’t love it when it’s not. And you’ve gotta love him for that. I hope were smart enough to go out and support a piece of music that I’m thrilled with. When I went back to the tapes and realised what a great rock and roll band we were, I really got re-excited about the possibility of playing again together. And fortunately, he likes what we’re doing, he loves the performances, and at lunch he was very friendly, so who knows? In my perfect dream, we’d go out next year and kick ass.”