It’s been 10 years or so since Graham Nash went by 815 Palm Avenue, the West Hollywood address of a rundown house where Crosby, Stills & Nash shot the cover photo for their 1969 self-titled debut album.
“It’s still gone,” Nash says in his crisp British accent, followed by a laugh. The CSN house was torn-down soon after that cover photo was taken. Thankfully, Nash is still standing. As is his music, which is about as immortal as anything in classic-rock. Nash-penned rubies include “Our House,” “Teach Your Children,” “Just a Song Before I Go” and “Marrakesh Express " – recorded by his folk-rock supergroups Crosby, Stills & Nash (also featuring Byrds and Buffalo Springfield expats David Crosby and Stephen Stills) and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (after Stills’ Buffalo Springfield homey Neil Young supersized CSN).
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Nash’s exquisite, expressive vocals are essential to those compositions. With his previous group The Hollies, Nash cowrote/sang “Carrie Anne,” the summery ode to ‘60s “it girl” Marianne Faithfull. His 1971 solo album “Songs For Beginners,” with assists from the likes of Jerry Garcia and Neil Young, is required listening for singer/songwriter enthusiasts.
Nash has led eventful life away from his music too. He’s an accomplished photographer. He had a famous relationship with another apex songsmith, Joni Mitchell. And for Christ sake, Nash was in a band with David Crosby for decades and lived to tell, as detailed in the 2013 memoir “Wild Tales.” Recently, I caught up with Nash for a quick phone interview. He was in New Jersey, about to head to the first gig of his latest tour, the self-descriptive “An Intimate Evening of Songs & Stories with Graham Nash.” Edited experts from our conversation are below.
Graham, the “Intimate Evening of Songs & Stories” tour was originally scheduled for 2020, before the pandemic hit. In the two years since, how have your plans for the shows changed and how’ve they remained the same?
Well, you know, there are basic songs that I realized that fans of mine want to hear. They want to hear “Our House” and they want to hear “Teach Your Children,” etcetera. But I think, there are like 24 songs in the show. And there’s new stuff in there, some stuff you’ve never heard before, and I’m really looking forward to playing.
That’s thrilling there’s new stuff in the set too, along with the classics. You’re a relentlessly creative guy, and there’s no shortage of inspiration in the world for songwriters these days. What sort of subjects are you writing songs and lyrics about these days, Graham?
Everything from falling in love to hating stuff. I’m in love with my new wife, and I hate Trump. [Laughs] And everything in between.
You’ve done some raucous material in your career too, but you’re known for acoustic and folk tinged songs. So to flip that, what’s the heaviest loudest band you’re into, whether it’s Jimi Hendrix or Led Zeppelin or whoever?
I very often stood in the middle of Stephen Stills and Neil Young playing guitar together, against each other and for each other, you know. And that gets pretty f---ing loud.
There’ve been some archival releases from your various projects in recent years – the “Over The Years” (solo) compilation, the “Déjà Vu” (CSNY) boxset. Are there others coming up soon?
There are two things. One of them, me and Crosby have sung with some really great people, you know, like Carole King and James Taylor and Jackson Browne and Joni and stuff. Paul Simon. And there’s a great record of me and David singing the backgrounds on all these great songs. And also, our friend Joel Bernstein, who is our archivist and Neil’s archivist and Joni’s archivist, is working on CSNY from 1969. Stuff that has never been released.
Not long ago I was in a record store and a younger person in their 20s was talking about loving the debut Crosby, Stills and Nash album. Why do you think that album is ageless? Young people seem to keep finding it.
I think basically because the music is good. The Hollies and The Birds and Buffalo Springfield were pretty good harmony bands, but CSN and CSNY is totally different. And we’re four strong writers and four strong singers and I think that carries on.
I love your song “Pre-Road Downs” on that first CSN record. A great “road song,” if you will.
There’s only one other person singing with us on that entire record, and it happens to be on that track.
And who’s that?
Cass Elliott (from The Mamas & the Papas).
You’ve been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. Once with CSN and later with The Hollies. Which meant more to you?
With The Hollies. I kind of knew that CSN would eventually get in – we were incredibly popular, with some really fine albums. But it was 25 years and The Hollies still had not been inducted. And then when we were, I was most happy about that, particularly for my friend (and Hollies bandmate) Alan Clarke, whom I’m making a record with right now.
Do you have a guitar or a piano that you’ve held on to the longest, that you’ve pulled the most songs out of?
My original Epiphone, I sprayed it black and I wrote “Teach Your Children” and “Marrakesh Express” and “Simple Man” and stuff on there. Unfortunately, I can’t find it - it’s missing, somewhere. It’s quite upsetting really, but that’s the oldest guitar I have.
Your upcoming show here in Huntsville, Alabama is only about an hour away from Muscle Shoals. Back in the ‘60s, how much were you listening to and aware of the R&B and soul coming about of Muscle Shoals?
Sure, yeah, we learned how to play all that. That was one of the things that was amazing to us. The Hollies we would get records that were brought back by merchants at sea - someone’s cousin or uncle is in the navy and going to America and bringing records back. And we’d be playing and singing those ‘60s songs, just really great stuff and we loved it. And what we couldn’t understand is how we could sing it and sell it back to you. That was amazing.
I was looking at some pictures from your photography book, “A Life In Focus.” These really intimate and stirring images of these musically powerful people, like Crosby and like Joni. Do you still travel with a camera when on tour?
Absolutely.
What kind of photos do you shot when on the road?
I can tell you what I don’t shoot. I don’t shoot sunsets. I don’t shoot landscapes. I don’t shoot pictures that match my couch, and I’m not shooting pictures of kittens with balls of wool. I’m looking at completely surreal moments that happened in front of me that I have to have the courage to press the trigger.
Last question: Crosby, Stills and Nash and CSNY have been on and off several times, but both those bands have a long history together. Whereas a lot of other major supergroups, like Blind Faith in the ‘60s or even certain bands more recently, had pretty short runs. Why were your supergroups able to have longer runs together?
I think we really care about the music. It’s got to be important to us. We have to be saying something that’s important to say and to share. And that’s what we do. It’s quite simple, really.
“An Intimate Evening of Songs & Stories with Graham Nash” comes to Huntsville’s Mars Music Hall, address 700 Monroe St. at the Von Braun Center, 8 p.m. March 19. Tickets are $52 to $72 (plus fees) via ticketmaster.com. More info at grahamnash.com.