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Crosby & Nash | |
|---|---|
 Crosby and Nash singing while touring in 2006 withCrosby, Stills, Nash & Young | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California |
| Genres | Rock,folk rock |
| Years active | 1970–2015 |
| Labels | Atlantic,ABC,Arista,Sanctuary |
| Past members | David Crosby Graham Nash |
| Website | crosbynash |
Crosby & Nash were a musical duo that maintained a separate career in addition to the solo endeavors ofDavid Crosby andGraham Nash, and separate from the larger aggregate ofCrosby, 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.
After the success ofDéjà Vu and the subsequent break-up of the quartet in the summer of 1970, all four members of CSNY released solo albums. Crosby'sIf I Could Only Remember My Name and Nash'sSongs for Beginners both appeared in 1971 and were both certifiedgold records by theRIAA.[1][2] Building upon the momentum of aBBC-produced September 11, 1970, acoustic special shot inManchester, 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 asAnother Stoney Evening.
In 1972 the two decided to record an album, resulting inGraham Nash David Crosby, which reached No. 4 on theBillboard 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 inthe Byrds'reunion album recording sessions. In 1973, the pair began to tour regularly, also joiningNeil Young for the tour that would result in hisTime Fades Away album. Crosby continued to collaborate withelectronic music pioneer andGrateful Dead associateNed Lagin onSeastones (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, includingStephen Stills (1970), Young'sHarvest (1972),Jackson Browne'sLate for the Sky (1974), andJoni Mitchell'sCourt and Spark (1974).
In 1974 both joined theCrosby, 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 withABC Records. Due to contractual obligations to their old label, thecassette and8-track tape versions of their ABC LPs were issued by Atlantic. Recording activity yieldedWind on the Water (1975; No. 6) andWhistling 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 theirLong 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 completingWhistling 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 thesecond 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 albumDecade.
ABC released four albums by Crosby & Nash prior to its being bought by theMCA conglomerate in 1979. In addition to the two aforementioned studio albums, the concert documentCrosby-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 ofCraig Doerge (keyboards),Tim Drummond (bass; beginning in 1975),Danny Kortchmar (lead guitar and occasional bass),Russ Kunkel (drums), and multi-instrumentalistDavid Lindley (slide guitar, pedal steel guitar, viola, violin). During the recording ofWind on the Water, session bassistLeland Sklar alternated with Drummond, and the line-up of Doerge, Kortchmar, Kunkel, and Sklar recorded throughout the epoch asthe 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 includedJefferson Starship drummerJohn Barbata in lieu of Kunkel; after falling ill withinfluenza, Lindley was replaced for the remaining dates by futureEagles guitaristDon Felder.
When CSN reunited on a more-or-less permanent basis in 1977, Doerge followed the group to Miami for theCSN 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'sInnocent Eyes (1986) and Crosby'sOh Yes I Can (1989).
Following aborted CSN sessions in 1978, Crosby & Nash attempted to record a new album forCapitol Records a year later, but the project was dampened by Crosby's increased dependence uponfreebase cocaine. Material from the sessions eventually appeared on Nash'sEarth & 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 albumLive It Up started as a Crosby & Nash record, but like its predecessorDaylight 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-albumCrosby & Nash onSanctuary Records, with backing mostly by touring members of Crosby's bandCPR. A single CD version was released in 2006 when CSNY began their Freedom of Speech '06 Tour. On the Graham Nash box setReflections, released in February 2009, a recording of the track "In Your Name" from October 21, 2007, by the same band used for theCrosby & 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.
In addition to their album work, Crosby & Nash were the harmony vocalists of choice for a number of prominent singer-songwriters andalbum-oriented rock performers in the 1970s. Their most recognizable session work includes "Love the One You're With" and "Sit Yourself Down" onStephen Stills' 1970Stephen Stills, "Are You Ready for the Country?" onNeil Young's 1972Harvest album, and the hit singles "Free Man in Paris" byJoni Mitchell in 1974, "Mexico" byJames Taylor in 1975, and "The Pretender" byJackson Browne in 1976. They also appeared on albums byDave Mason,JD Souther,Elton John,Art Garfunkel,Gary Wright,Carole King,John Mayer, andDavid Gilmour, as recently as on Gilmour'sRattle That Lock (2015).
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [4] | AUS [5] | GER [6] | ITA [7] | NED [8] | NOR [9] | SWE [10][11] | UK [12] | CAN [13] | |||
| 4 | 18 | — | — | 4 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 6 | ||
| 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 28 | ||
| 26 | — | — | 17 | 12 | — | — | — | 17 | ||
| 142 | — | 98 | 30 | 35 | — | — | 78 | — | ||
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||||||||||
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| US [4] | |||
| 52 | Live | |
| 150 | Compilation | |
| — | Live | |
| — | Compilation | |
| — | Sampler | |
Crosby-Nash: In Concert |
| — | Live DVD |
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||
| Year | Single | US BB | CA | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | "Immigration Man" | 36 | 23 | Graham Nash David Crosby |
| "Southbound Train" | 99 | – | ||
| 1975 | "Love Work Out" | – | – | Wind on the Water |
| "Carry Me" | 52 | 65 | ||
| "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 areBillboard unless otherwise noted. *Cashbox Singles Chart.[15] "Lay Me Down" reached number 8 on the Triple A Songs chart. | ||||
| International | |
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| Artists | |
