LOS ANGELES (Sanctuary Records) -
David Crosby and Graham Nash Will Tour as "Two Together" in Late 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Famers
David Crosby and Graham Nash first sang together in 1968, at Joni Mitchell's house in Laurel Canyon.
Crosby and Stephen
Stills were there creating songs that would later end up on Crosby,
Stills & Nash's landmark '69 self-titled debut album, and they'd invited Nash, in L.A. for a Hollies date, to come listen. When Nash jumped in on harmony for Stills' "Helplessly Hoping," Crosby remembers that the sound of their voices together "was about the rightest thing I ever heard." Nash concurs, saying, "It was truly a magical moment."
They've never stopped harmonizing, touring, and recording ever since, both with CSN (& sometimes Young), and in tandem. On August 10th, Sanctuary Records will release their fourth studio album as a duo - and their first-ever double album together - Crosby-Nash, recorded in L.A. in early 2004. David and Graham produced the 2-CD set in collaboration with the father/son team of Russell and Nathaniel Kunkel. The elder Kunkel's association with Crosby and Nash dates back to when he played drums on their first LP as a pair, 1972's Crosby & Nash, which online music bible allmusic.com has called "one of - if not arguably the - most impressive side project to arise from CSN."
Russ plays on '04's Crosby-Nash as well, alongside fellow rock virtuosos Dean Parks (guitar) and Leland Sklar (bass), a veteran team who collectively have enriched many hundreds of the best-known records in the entire rock and pop canon. Completing the stellar line-up are Crosby's son James Raymond on keyboards and Jeff Pevar - the 'P' of Crosby and Raymond's trio CPR - on guitar. "They were all amazing," says Nash. "They shortened the distance between our minds and the music."
The music is what shines on 20 tracks spotlighting both the distinctly individual - but equally literate and melodic - styles of legendary singer-songwriters Crosby and Nash, and the powerful alchemy of their pooled talents and decades-long friendship and artistic partnership. Although the duo's last studio album, 1976's Whistling Down The Wire, was released almost 30 years ago, Nash comments that the making of their new one was, "...so easy. It felt like we'd just carried on where we'd left off 28 years ago." The collection of songs making their recorded debut on Sanctuary's August 10th 2-CD release were composed at various times during the intervening years, with one, notes Graham, "written the morning it was recorded," the lovely "Milky Way Tonight," which is simply essential Nash.
Other standouts include Crosby's eloquent "Through Here Quite Often," in which he quietly observes the small kindnesses enacted by a coffee shop waitress, and the James Raymond-penned album opener "Lay Me Down," featuring a signature Crosby lead vocal and, according to Nash, "what sounds like a 200 year old melody." And, the social activism that helped make CSN an era-defining act in the years following the original Woodstock, thrives on Crosby-Nash, much as it has been a constant in the way these two artists conduct their lives outside of music.
"Don't Dig Here," co-written by James Raymond, Russ Kunkel, and Nash, addresses the issue of nuclear waste disposal at Yucca Mountain, and the searing "They Want It All," is Crosby's potent strike at Enron and corporate greed.
Throughout, Crosby-Nash delivers the sublime harmonies that are one of the true touchstones of contemporary music, and the timeless songwriting and indelible performances of two rock icons and lifelong musicians. Before CSN/CSNY, David Crosby was instrumental in mixing acoustic folk and electric rock to forge The Byrd's then-revolutionary sound, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with that seminal group in 1991.
Nash first rose to stardom as co-founder of The Hollies, one of the most popular groups of the British Invasion era. In 1997, Crosby and Nash were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame for CSN, and both with the trio and the four-man configuration also featuring Neil Young, they have made some of the most memorable music of the last four decades.
And, in addition to their colorful solo careers, their incarnation as a duo is an essential part of the extensive legacy of David Crosby and Graham Nash.
From "Immigration Man" and "Southbound Train" on their debut album together 28 years ago, to the classics-in-the-making on Sanctuary Records' 2004, double-disc Crosby-Nash, it is a musical alliance that brings out the best in each of these very distinct yet magically complementary creative partners. Following a coast-to-coast sweep with CSN this summer, they will launch a rare tour as "two together" in late 2004 in support of Crosby-Nash.
