'Painful and delightful': Graham Nash mourns the music 'lost' in feud with David Crosby

Update: Graham Nash spoke to The Arizona Republic about his strained relationship with David Crosby in October 2022. Crosby died on Jan. 19, 2023. He was 81.

It's been 60 years since Graham Nash formed a British Beat group called the Hollies with his schoolfriend Allan Clarke, paving the way to his first of two inductions to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

His second time, it was alongside David Crosby of the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield's Stephen Stills as Crosby, Stills & Nash, a supergroup that on occasion has included Neil Young.

He and Clarke just made a record. He and Crosby still aren't speaking.

The Arizona Republic caught up with Nash in advance of his upcoming concert in Phoenix, where he's playing songs by both those groups as well as highlights of his solo years.

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Graham Nash is working on new music with Allan Clarke of the Hollies

How does it feel to be back from the shutdown?

I'm a lucky man. I realize that my lockdown situation is not the same as most people's. I've never been a partygoer. Never really attended football games where 80,000 people are watching a guy throw a ball around. I like to stay in my apartment and write. And I was able to do that, fortunately.

Do you have plans for those new songs?

I've got a brand new solo record, a lot of it done remotely. It'll be out in five months.

What can you tell me about it?

Simple songs. Very personal. The opening line of the entire album is "I used to think that I could never love again." That'll give you an indication of how personal it is. I've also been recording with my friend Allan Clarke from The Hollies.

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What do you think of those Hollies' records?

Somebody recently sent me a CD of the Hollies on the BBC in the early '60s. And my goodness, we were a pretty good band, considering there was only three of us playing an instrument. There was only a drummer, a bass player and Tony Hicks on guitar. I played rhythm, but I didn't plug in. How incredible to have success like that. And we were very happy. We were five kids from the north of England that were supposed to be what your dad and your grandfather did. You had to go down the mine to dig coal or go into the mill to make cloth. And fortunately, my passion for music was recognized by my mother and father as being a positive thing in my life, not a negative thing. I'll always be incredibly grateful to them for their support.

It must have been a thrill to see those early records taking off.

I heard us on the radio for the first time. Are you kidding me?! We're on the radio! We must have made it! And we did. And we made it time and time and time again. Then I left to make more music with David and Stephen. And then Neil, of course.

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Your latest album is a live recording from a tour that put the focus on your first two solo albums. Did it take you back to that time in your life to play those songs?

Very much so. I needed to make sure I sang those songs with the same passion as when I wrote them.

You were coming off "Deja Vu" when you recorded "Songs for Beginners." I'd imagine that was an exciting time. 

"Deja Vu" is a great record. And this new release with all the extra tracks is very interesting. That version of "Our House" with me and Joni (Mitchell) singing, you would never normally hear that. But I realized it was so indicative of the time, I felt it needed to be on there.

Were you planning a solo record when you wrote those songs?

I never write for anybody. I just write for myself. And I had a bunch of songs that didn't make it on the first Crosby, Stills & Nash record and didn't make it on "Deja Vu." So why not? I had to get them out of my head to make room for other stuff.

Does that first solo album feel like a snapshot of what was going on around you at the time?

Absolutely. As an artist, we have to reflect the times in which we live. We have to talk about what's going on personally, what's going on around us, what's going on politically, what's going on with the rest of the world. It's our duty.

I'd assume you take exception to people who say musicians should shut up and play their guitars.

I'm a human being. You shut the (expletive) up.

Is it depressing that a song like "Military Madness" is as relevant as ever?

I feel two ways. I feel great that my music seems to have lasted all these decades. And I'm pissed off that we haven't learned from history, and it doesn't look as if we ever will.

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Crosby, Stills & Nash was such a different type of project than the Hollies. How did that transition feel?

It was very easy to do for one reason. I had heard what me and David and Stephen sounded like. Please understand. The Springfield, the Byrds and the Hollies were pretty good decent harmony bands. But when David and Stephen and I made our three voices sound like one voice, we had never heard anything like that. And of course, between the three of us, we'd heard a lot of music in our lives. So we knew from the very beginning that we had something special. And not only that, we had the voices to do it, we had the musicianship to do it and we had the songs to do it.

What was it like to have Woodstock as one of your earliest performances?

I'd already been in a band of six or seven years where fans were tearing our clothes off. Maybe David and Stephen hadn't. But I must tell you, singing "Guinnevere" with one acoustic guitar and two voices to 500,000 people and trying to make sure that the people in the very last row could hear what we were doing was an amazing experience.

The current state of Crosby, Stills & Nash

Do you think there's any hope of setting aside ...? 

(Interrupting) No. We have to love each other to make the music that we make. And we don't right now. I mean, I talk to Stephen. I talk to Neil. But I haven't spoken to David in over two years.

Does it sadden you?

Of course, it saddens me. But it saddens me most for the music that we may have lost.

I can't imagine what it's like to be at this impasse. It's got to be painful.

Yep. Painful and delightful.

Painful and delightful?

Yeah. Because now I don't have to ask anybody what the (expletive) I need to do.

I was gonna ask what the best part of touring solo is, but I think you just answered that.

Yep. I can do what I want every single night and it feels great. And the audience and their response has been fantastic.

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Postponed: Graham Nash

When: New date to be announced.

Where: Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix.

Admssion: $36-$86.

Details: celebritytheatre.com

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Graham Nash on mourning music 'lost' in David Crosby feud