How folk rock’s biggest hits were made in Salford
Folk music is the kind of sound that we don’t associate with anywhere specific. Instead, the genre relies on the minds behind it being elusive – just look at Bob Dylan.
“[I’ve] been travellin’ the country, followin’ in Woody Guthrie’s footsteps.” These were Dylan’s words the first time he took to a stage in New York. After not being able to settle in his hometown of Minnesota, Bob Dylan travelled around America, living the life that only a folk artist could ever churn into something beautiful. He also toured with the carnival for a while, finding a community within a band of outcasts.
Playing with the carnival helped Dylan develop an understanding of some of the biggest folk songs out there. It allowed him to play for extended periods, but it also gave him a good idea of what life on the road is like and how you can appeal to crowds regardless of where in the world you find yourself.
“I was with the carnival for a long time every year. I was with the carnival summers and even part-ways into the winters,” he said. “I sung around. I didn’t sing for any money, but I learned a lot of songs in the carnival. That’s why I know all these songs they do now, and I’m only 20. I hear a song now – at least a folk song – I’ve heard a version of it or something like it before.”
Most folk artists would love to develop a knack for performing by touring from an early age, but the opportunities aren’t always there for people. That was the case with Graham Nash, who grew up in Salford and owes his early progression as an artist to the city on the outskirts of Manchester. Granted, he didn’t officially start his music career playing folk rock, but instead was making much more upbeat tunes with his band, The Hollies.
“I’m realising more and more as I get older just how good The Hollies were,” he said in an exclusive interview with Far Out. “They were a band, even though I was part of the band, we wanted to have as much fun on stage as possible, and we wanted our audience to feel the same thing. We wanted them to shake their ass and dance and sing. That’s fine with me. Even today, I love it when people sing my songs back to me.”
What originally drew Nash away from Salford and toward the style of American folk rock was him bumping into who would become his new band members, Stephen Stills and David Crosby. The three of them started singing a song together one day, and Nash knew that it was a sound he couldn’t walk away from. As such, he packed things up with The Hollies and moved to California.
“I was born and raised on the outskirts of Manchester, and I heard a magical sound when me and David and Stephen put our three voices together to try and make one voice,” said Nash. “And when I heard that I had to go back to England, leave The Hollies and instead go back to that magical sound that we had created.”
The three of them went on to make history as one of the most prolific folk rock bands in the world, putting together songs which are still referenced as classics to this day. Their creative output is commendable, and while this elusive sound doesn’t tend to have a home, Graham Nash’s songwriting style was originally crafted and perfected in Salford. It was this English city that allowed him to home in on his craft and find confidence as an artist. He likely wouldn’t have been bold enough to follow the sound of Crosby, Stills and Nash without Salford giving him a creative output in the first instance.
Additionally, the success he had already tasted in the UK meant that Nash was more willing to take a risk on something new. A lot of folk artists wander the world trying to find success and their muse, but Nash found it right on his front doorstep. Simply put, the world of folk rock would sound a lot different were it not for Crosby, Stills and Nash, and this band may not have ever formed were it not for Graham Nash’s connection with his hometown.
