Crosby & Nash

Last updated

Crosby & Nash
David Crosby and Graham Nash on tour.jpg
Crosby and Nash singing while touring in 2006 with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Background information
OriginLos Angeles, California
GenresRock, folk rock
Years active1970–2015
Labels Atlantic, ABC, Arista, Sanctuary
Past members David Crosby
Graham Nash
Website crosbynash.com

Crosby & Nash were a musical duo that maintained a separate career in addition to the solo endeavors of David Crosby and Graham Nash, and separate from the larger aggregate of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Crosby and Nash performed and recorded regularly during the 1970s, issuing five albums including three of original studio material. After the more or less permanent reformation of Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1976, the duo continued to play sporadic concerts from the 1980s through the second decade of the 21st century, issuing another studio album in 2004 and going on an extended concert tour in 2011.

Contents

History

After the success of Déjà Vu and the subsequent break-up of the quartet in the summer of 1970, all four members of CSNY released solo albums. Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name and Nash's Songs for Beginners both appeared in 1971 and were both certified gold records by the RIAA. [1] [2] Building upon the momentum of a BBC-produced September 11, 1970, acoustic special shot in Manchester, the two good friends toured acoustically in the autumn of 1971 to favorable reviews; one night from this tour would be released 27 years later as Another Stoney Evening .

In 1972 the two decided to record an album, resulting in Graham Nash David Crosby , which reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200, demonstrating that the two were still a viable draw without the more successful Stills and Young. Further work together later in 1972 was precluded by Crosby's participation in the Byrds' reunion album recording sessions. In 1973, the pair began to tour regularly, also joining Neil Young for the tour that would result in his Time Fades Away album. Crosby continued to collaborate with electronic music pioneer and Grateful Dead associate Ned Lagin on Seastones (1975) and other unreleased ventures, while Nash recorded a second solo album, Wild Tales (1974). During this time, singularly and together they contributed backing vocals to various albums by associates in the California rock scene, including Stephen Stills (1970), Young's Harvest (1972), Jackson Browne's Late for the Sky (1974), and Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark (1974).

Crosby and Nash in concert in 1974 Crosby & Nash.JPG
Crosby and Nash in concert in 1974

In 1974 both joined the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reunion tour and an attempt at the recording of a new album in Hawaii, sessions for which had continued in fits and starts after commencing in 1973. After failing to complete an album, Crosby and Nash signed a contract with ABC Records. Due to contractual obligations to their old label, the cassette and 8-track tape versions of their ABC LPs were issued by Atlantic. Recording activity yielded Wind on the Water (1975; No. 6) and Whistling Down the Wire (1976; No. 26), both of which received RIAA gold certifications. Notably, Wind on the Water was the highest-charting album released by members of the quartet between 1973 and 1977.

Stephen Stills and Neil Young invited the duo to a recording session for their Long May You Run project in the spring of 1976, leading to a brief CSNY reunion. However, Crosby and Nash were forced to leave the recording sessions because they had time constraints for completing Whistling Down the Wire, prompting Stills and Young to wipe their vocals and release the album under the imprimatur of the Stills-Young Band. Crosby & Nash vowed not to work with either Stills or Young again, that oath lasting not even a year as they reconvened with Stills for the second Crosby Stills & Nash album in 1977. Young kept alternate copies of the tracks and released the version of "Long May You Run" with Crosby and Nash's vocals on his 1977 album Decade.

ABC released four albums by Crosby & Nash prior to its being bought by the MCA conglomerate in 1979. In addition to the two aforementioned studio albums, the concert document Crosby-Nash Live appeared in 1977, and a compilation ( The Best of Crosby & Nash ) in 1978. All four albums featured their backing band the Mighty Jitters, consisting of Craig Doerge (keyboards), Tim Drummond (bass; beginning in 1975), Danny Kortchmar (lead guitar and occasional bass), Russ Kunkel (drums), and multi-instrumentalist David Lindley (slide guitar, pedal steel guitar, viola, violin). During the recording of Wind on the Water, session bassist Leland Sklar alternated with Drummond, and the line-up of Doerge, Kortchmar, Kunkel, and Sklar recorded throughout the epoch as the Section after providing the backup for much of the first Crosby & Nash album on Atlantic. Depending upon availability of the various members, the twosome would either tour as an electric-based aggregation (exclusively with the Mighty Jitters after 1973) or in a semi-acoustic format with Doerge and Lindley. The pair's initial fall 1973 electric tour backing band omitted Kortchmar and included Jefferson Starship drummer John Barbata in lieu of Kunkel; after falling ill with influenza, Lindley was replaced for the remaining dates by future Eagles guitarist Don Felder.

When CSN reunited on a more-or-less permanent basis in 1977, Doerge followed the group to Miami for the CSN sessions and ensuing tours through 1978, also co-writing the song "Shadow Captain" with Crosby. Doerge would continue to collaborate regularly with Crosby & Nash in various permutations until the early 1990s, co-producing Nash's Innocent Eyes (1986) and Crosby's Oh Yes I Can (1989).

Following aborted CSN sessions in 1978, Crosby & Nash attempted to record a new album for Capitol Records a year later, but the project was dampened by Crosby's increased dependence upon freebase cocaine. Material from the sessions eventually appeared on Nash's Earth & Sky without any songs from Crosby. Crosby's problems during the 1980s with drugs, and his prison time, largely precluded any activity solely with Nash, although the pair appeared on the CSN and CSNY albums of that decade and resumed touring intermittently as a duo after Crosby's release. The 1990 CSN album Live It Up started as a Crosby & Nash record, but like its predecessor Daylight Again which was initially sessions for a Stills & Nash effort, Atlantic Records was reluctant to release a project that did not include the full trio.

In 2004 Crosby & Nash released their first original studio record since 1976 with the double-album Crosby & Nash on Sanctuary Records, with backing mostly by touring members of Crosby's band CPR. A single CD version was released in 2006 when CSNY began their Freedom of Speech '06 Tour. On the Graham Nash box set Reflections , released in February 2009, a recording of the track "In Your Name" from October 21, 2007, by the same band used for the Crosby & Nash album, including Crosby on backing vocals.[ citation needed ]

Nash stated in March 2016 that he would likely never work with Crosby again due to strained relations between the two; [3] Crosby died in January 2023.

Other work

In addition to their album work, Crosby & Nash were the harmony vocalists of choice for a number of prominent singer-songwriters and album-oriented rock performers in the 1970s. Their most recognizable session work includes "Love the One You're With" and "Sit Yourself Down" on Stephen Stills' 1970 Stephen Stills, "Are You Ready for the Country?" on Neil Young's 1972 Harvest album, and the hit singles "Free Man in Paris" by Joni Mitchell in 1974, "Mexico" by James Taylor in 1975, and "The Pretender" by Jackson Browne in 1976. They also appeared on albums by Dave Mason, J.D. Souther, Elton John, Art Garfunkel, Gary Wright, Carole King, John Mayer, and David Gilmour, as recently as on Gilmour's Rattle That Lock (2015).

Discography

See also discographies for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and individually for David Crosby and Graham Nash.

Studio albums

TitleAlbum detailsPeak chart positions Certifications
US
[4] 		AUS
[5] 		GER
[6] 		ITA
[7] 		NED
[8] 		NOR
[9] 		SWE
[10] [11] 		UK
[12] 		CAN
[13]
418——41114136
6———————28
26——1712———17
142—983035——78—
"—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Other releases

TitleAlbum detailsPeak chart positionsInformation
US
[4]
52
Live
150
Compilation
—
Live
—
Compilation
  • Released: July 18, 2006
  • Label: Sanctuary Records
—
Sampler
Crosby-Nash: In Concert
—
Live DVD
"—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Singles

YearSingleUS
BB

[15]

CA

[16]

Album
1972"Immigration Man"3623Graham Nash David Crosby
"Southbound Train"99–
1975"Love Work Out"––Wind on the Water
"Carry Me"5265
"Take the Money and Run"103*–
"To The Last Whale" [17] ––
1976"Out of the Darkness"89–Whistling Down the Wire
"Spotlight"109–
2004"Lay Me Down"––Crosby & Nash
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart. US charts are Billboard unless otherwise noted. * Cashbox Singles Chart. [15]

"Lay Me Down" reached number 8 on the Triple A Songs chart.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young</span> American and British folk rock supergroup

Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) was a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young as a fourth member, they were called Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY). They are noted for their intricate vocal harmonies and lasting influence on American music and culture, as well as their political activism and often tumultuous interpersonal relationships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Stills</span> American musician (born 1945)

Stephen Arthur Stills is an American musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Manassas. As both a solo act and member of three successful bands, Stills has combined record sales of over 35 million albums. He was ranked number 28 in Rolling Stone's 2003 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and number 47 in the 2011 list. Stills became the first person to be inducted twice on the same night into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. According to Neil Young, "Stephen is a genius."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Crosby</span> American singer and guitarist (1941–2023)

David Van Cortlandt Crosby was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He first found fame as a member of the Byrds, with whom he helped pioneer the genres of folk rock and psychedelia in the mid-1960s, and later as part of the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash, who helped popularize the California sound of the 1970s. In addition to his music, Crosby was known for his outspoken personality, politics, and personal troubles; he was sometimes depicted as emblematic of the counterculture of the 1960s.

<i>Long May You Run</i> 1976 studio album by The Stills–Young Band

Long May You Run is a studio album credited to the Stills–Young Band, a collaboration between Stephen Stills and Neil Young, released in 1976 on Reprise Records. It peaked at #26 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold in the United States by the RIAA. The album is the sole studio release by Stills and Young as a duo.

<i>CSN</i> (album) 1977 studio album by Crosby, Stills & Nash

CSN is the fifth album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, released on Atlantic Records on June 17, 1977. It is the group's second studio release in the trio configuration. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart; two singles taken from the album, Nash's "Just a Song Before I Go" and Stills' "Fair Game" charted on the Billboard Hot 100. It is currently the trio configuration's best selling record, outselling 1969's Crosby, Stills & Nash by 200,000 copies. It has been certified quadruple platinum by RIAA.

<i>Daylight Again</i> 1982 studio album by Crosby, Stills & Nash

Daylight Again is the seventh album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, and their third studio album in the trio configuration. It peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, the final time the band made the top ten before the passing of David Crosby in 2023. Three singles were released from the album, all making the Billboard Hot 100: "Wasted on the Way" peaked at No. 9, "Southern Cross" at No. 18, and "Too Much Love to Hide" at No. 69. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA with sales of 1,850,000.

<i>Oh Yes I Can</i> 1989 studio album by David Crosby

Oh Yes I Can is the second solo studio album by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young member David Crosby. It was released on January 23, 1989, 18 years on from his previous solo release, If I Could Only Remember My Name.

Russell Kunkel is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician with many popular artists, including Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, Harry Chapin, Rita Coolidge, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Cass Elliot, Dan Fogelberg, Glenn Frey, Art Garfunkel, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Carole King, Lyle Lovett, Reba McEntire, Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Seger, Carly Simon, Stephen Stills, James Taylor, Joe Walsh, Steve Winwood, Neil Young, and Warren Zevon. He was the studio and touring drummer for Crosby & Nash in the 1970s, and has played on all four of their studio albums.

<i>Looking Forward</i> 1999 studio album by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Looking Forward is the third and final studio album by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and their fifth, overall. It is the fourteenth and final album when combined with releases by the trio of Crosby, Stills & Nash. It was released on Reprise Records in 1999 and peaked at number 26 on the Billboard 200, with total sales nearing 400,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manassas (band)</span> American rock band

Manassas was an American rock supergroup formed by Stephen Stills in 1971. It was used primarily for Stills' music, the band releasing two studio albums before disbanding in October 1973. They released a 1972 self titled debut and a second album titled Down the Road in 1973.

<i>Graham Nash David Crosby</i> 1972 studio album by Crosby & Nash

Graham Nash David Crosby is the first album by the partnership of David Crosby and Graham Nash, released on Atlantic Records in 1972, catalog SD 7220. It peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and a single taken from the album, "Immigration Man", peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 17 and 24, 1972. It was certified gold by the RIAA, and it was dedicated to Joni Mitchell, as "to Miss Mitchell".

<i>Replay</i> (Crosby, Stills & Nash album) 1980 compilation album by Crosby, Stills & Nash

Replay is the sixth album by Crosby, Stills & Nash and their second retrospective, appearing in 1980 on the Atlantic Records label. It contains no material with Neil Young, but does include CSN solo projects. It peaked at No. 122 on the Billboard 200, their first album not to chart in the top ten.

<i>Live It Up</i> (Crosby, Stills & Nash album) 1990 studio album by Crosby, Stills and Nash

Live It Up is the tenth album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, their fourth studio album in the trio configuration, released on Atlantic Records in 1990. It peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard 200 with current sales of 300,000. It is the first of their studio albums not to gain either a gold or platinum certification by the RIAA. It was issued in all formats at the time and was later released for streaming.

<i>CSN</i> (box set) 1991 box set by Crosby, Stills & Nash

CSN is the eleventh album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, issued on Atlantic Records in 1991. A box set on four compact discs, it features material spanning 1968 through 1990 from their catalogue of recordings as a group in addition to selections from Crosby & Nash, Manassas, and their individual solo albums. It peaked at No. 109 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. The set is "dedicated to the loving memory of Cass Elliot, without whom most of this music may not have been made." A two-disc distillation of the box was released for other markets later in the year.

<i>Wind on the Water</i> 1975 studio album by Crosby & Nash

Wind on the Water is the second album by Crosby & Nash, released on ABC Records in 1975. Cassette and 8-track tape versions of the album were distributed by Atlantic Records, to which Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were signed. It peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 album chart and was certified gold by the RIAA. Three singles were released from the album, "Carry Me", "Take the Money and Run", and "Love Work Out", of which only the first charted, peaking at No. 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

<i>Whistling Down the Wire</i> 1976 studio album by Crosby & Nash

Whistling Down the Wire is the third album by Crosby & Nash, released on ABC Records in 1976, the second of the duo's three-album deal with ABC Records. Cassette and 8-track tape versions of the album were distributed by Atlantic Records, to which Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were signed. It peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard 200 album chart and was certified gold by the RIAA. Two singles were released from the album, "Out of the Darkness" and "Spotlight," of which only the first charted on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #89.

<i>Carry On</i> (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album) 1991 compilation album by Crosby, Stills & Nash

Carry On is the twelfth album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, issued on Atlantic Records in 1991, generally for the European and Australian markets. It is a two-disc sampler of their four-disc box set, CSN, released two months previously in the United States and the United Kingdom. It features material spanning 1968 through 1990 from their catalogue of recordings as a group in addition to selections from Crosby & Nash, Manassas, and their individual solo albums. It was reissued on 30 June 1998 on the WEA International record label. This compilation should not be confused with the Stephen Stills box set of the same name released in 2013.

Craig Doerge is an American keyboard player, session musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known for his keyboard work with Crosby Stills and Nash, James Taylor, and Jackson Browne.

The Section was a US instrumental rock/jazz fusion band formed in the early 1970s by guitarist Danny Kortchmar, keyboardist Craig Doerge, bassist Leland Sklar, and drummer Russ Kunkel. Other musicians associated with the group include multi-instrumentalist David Lindley and guitarist Waddy Wachtel. They are best known for both studio and stage work in support of some of the best selling singer-songwriters and solo singers of that decade. Their frequent appearances on the records of artists signed to Asylum Records made them the label's de facto house band. Their close association with the singer-songwriter and soft rock genres of the 1970s also led to their alternate moniker of "The Mellow Mafia".

<i>CSNY 1974</i> 2014 live album by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

CSNY 1974 is the nineteenth album by Crosby, Stills, & Nash, their seventh in the CSNY quartet configuration, and their fifth live album, the third as a foursome. Issued on Rhino Records in 2014, it consists of concert material recorded in 1974 on the band's tour during the summer of that year. It was issued in several formats: a standard compact disc box set consisting of three audio discs and a standard DVD; as one pure audio Blu-ray disc and a Blu-ray DVD; and a more expensively packaged limited deluxe edition consisting of the material on six vinyl records along with the Blu-ray discs and a coffee table book. Three single disc samplers were also issued: one of the acoustic material exclusively available at Starbucks in the United States and Canada; a second at normal retail outlets; and a third included as a covermount disc to the 250th anniversary issue of the UK music magazine Mojo issued as "an exclusive audio-visual sampler of the new CSNY 1974 box set." Each of the non-sampler sets also contained a 188-page booklet, and all formats were released the same day, with the Mojo sampler arriving with the September 2014 publication of that edition. The three-disc and DVD package peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200, while the Starbucks sampler peaked at No. 37 and the selections sampler at No. 81.

References

  1. ↑ RIAA database retrieved 11 September 2018.
  2. ↑ RIAA database retrieved 11 September 2018.
  3. ↑ Kielty, Martin (March 6, 2016). Crosby, Stills And Nash are over says Graham Nash. TeamRock. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Neil Young – Chart history (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Go-Set Australian charts – 22 July 1972". www.poparchives.com.au. Archived from the original on October 7, 2009. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Suche – Offizielle Deutsche Charts". www.offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Hit Parade Italia – ALBUM 1976". www.hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Dutch Albums". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Norwegian Albums". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Swedish Albums". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  11. ↑ "HITSALLERTIJDEN". www.hitsallertijden.nl. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  12. ↑ "UK Albums". officialcharts.com. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  13. ↑ Canada, Library and Archives (July 17, 2013). "Results: RPM Weekly". www.bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  14. 1 2 3 RIAA Gold and Platinum Archived June 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine .
  15. 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (2015). The Comparison Book Billboard/Cash Box/Record World 1954–1982. Sheridan Books. p. 125. ISBN   978-0-89820-213-7.
  16. ↑ Canada, Library and Archives (July 17, 2013). "Results: RPM Weekly". www.bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  17. ↑ Discogs online music database retrieved 24 March 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.