The artist that saved Graham Nash’s life: “We were in love with each other”
Such is Crosby, Stills and Nash’s lasting genius that it’s hard to imagine any of them facing creative hurdles. The effortless flow of their three-part harmonies gave the impression of a band with songs pouring out of them at will.
The three members of the band shared some sort of divine alchemy, where their three voices were seemingly destined to be shared on a collection of songs. Together, they helped soundtrack a generation of bare-footed canyon dwellers in the valleys of California.
However, despite their obvious musical synergy, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, and Graham Nash represented different individual ideas and were, therefore, an unlikely brotherhood of harmony. Behind the cool-breeze vocals were vastly different songwriting styles and, at times, fractious relationships to get respective band members on board with otherwise alien ideas.
But despite that, there was always an underlying respect for one another and, perhaps most importantly, an appreciation of each other’s work, which is ultimately what led to the formation of the band. During his days as a member of The Hollies, Nash tried driving the band further into a world of countrified psychedelia and experimenting with the sorts of sound we’ve now come to associate with Crosby Stills and Nash.
But without the presence of Crosby and Stills, his vision was never brought to life. ‘Lady of the Island’, ‘Right Between the Eyes’, ‘Sleep Song’ and ‘Marrakesh Express’ were all presented to The Hollies during studio sessions but were reportedly deemed too “weird” to be considered for a Hollies record. It was when Crosby got a taste of Nash’s sunkissed melodies that his luck changed:
“I was starting to doubt myself as a writer,” Nash said in 2008. “I thought ‘Well, fuck, I guess they’re not that great.’ That’s when Crosby came along and said, ‘No, no, no, no, wait a second. Let’s get real here. These are really fine songs. Don’t be put off, just keep writing.’ And in a way, he saved my life.”
What followed was the dawn of a new chapter not only for the artists but for music as a whole. Rock music was steered to a new song-centric, contemplative place and thrust forward the idea of leading a band’s sonic composition with three-part harmonies. While it opened the door for other acts to follow, no one quite did it like Crosby, Stills and Nash, for the blend of their voices had a built-in synergy that was simply irreplicable.
The three of them had been acutely aware of this ever since they shared a song for the very first time. After Crosby and Nash began developing the songs they realised The Hollies were missing out on, Stephen Stills was soon introduced. When the pair first harmonised on ‘You Don’t Have to Cry,’ sonic history was made.
“It was absolutely completely a unique sound,” Nash recalled. “It was one voice made up of three individual strains of voice. There was no doubt we knew what we had. We were in love with each other, we were in love with the music. We were in love with each other’s songs. We couldn’t wait to get out there, get out of our way, we’re coming forward. We were unstoppable then.”
