Watch Steve Earle, David Byrne and more perform a CSNY classic
Steve Earle annually holds his John Henry’s Friends benefit at New York’s Town Hall, raising money for children diagnosed with autism. On Monday, this year’s edition of the benefit saw four musicians share the stage all night, as opposed to individual performances as usual. Earle performed with former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, Kurt Vile, and outlaw country musician Terry Allen.
This is not the first time both Vile and Allen have played together. In June 2022, they covered Townes Van Zandt’s 1978 song ‘Loretta’ at Santa Fe’s Railyard Park. Allen and David Byrne had also previously performed together at Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival in 2022.
At the John Henry’s Friends benefit earlier this week, the four musicians played with a backing band, delivering a mix of originals and covers. Some of those they played were Earle’s ‘Copperhead Road’, Vile’s ‘Bassackwards’, Talking Heads’ ‘(Nothing But) Flowers’ and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s ‘Teach Your Children’. The last piece is taken from the supergroup’s 1970 album Déjà Vu.
CSNY founding member David Crosby passed away in January this year, aged 81. Recently, his bandmate Graham Nash claimed that he would “never release” the apologetic voicemail he received from Crosby before his death. He said: “We did make some fabulous music. I’ve been listening to it a lot since David passed. Oh, yeah. And holy shit, we were good.”
Watch Earle, Allen, Byrne, and Vile perform ‘Teach Your Children’ below.
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