‘It got a little messy': Stephen Stills and Graham Nash on CSNY's early days

Los Angeles Times

06-02-2025

On Sept. 20, 1969, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young played the fourth of four concerts over two nights at the Fillmore East in New York City. A month earlier, the quartet had played the now-legendary Woodstock festival — its set began at approximately 3 a.m. — which itself was just the band's second gig following its live debut the previous evening at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre.
Superstardom was on the horizon for this rock supergroup that combined former members of the Byrds (Crosby), the Hollies (Nash) and Buffalo Springfield (Stills and Young). 'Déjà Vu,' the first album by CSNY following a 1969 LP credited to Crosby, Stills & Nash, would top the Billboard 200 in May 1970 on its way to a Grammy nomination for album of the year and eventual sales of more than 7 million copies. That night at the Fillmore, though, the band was still figuring itself out.
A new concert album captures the moment: 'Live at Fillmore East, 1969' documents the two sets CSNY played on Sept. 20 — one acoustic, one electric — comprising 17 songs, including 'Suite: Judy Blue Eyes' and 'Helplessly Hoping,' both from 'Crosby, Stills & Nash,' and '4 + 20' and 'Our House,' both of which would end up on 'Déjà Vu'; there's also a ripping 16-minute version of 'Down by the River,' from Young's 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere,' which had come out that May.
Weeks before Nash, 83, and Stills, 80, performed together at last month's FireAid benefit concert, the two gathered on a Zoom call — Nash from 'yet another hotel room' before a tour stop in St. Louis, Stills from 'my extremely messy office-slash-bedroom' in Los Angeles — to discuss the live album, Joni Mitchell's return to the stage and their memories of Crosby, who died in 2023.
Stephen, you famously said onstage at Woodstock that you guys were 'scared s—' because the festival was only the band's second time before an audience. I wondered whether that was still the case a month later at the Fillmore.
Stills: Scared s— was gone by, I'd say, bar 16 of the first song at Woodstock.
Nash: We did pretty good there. I've not actually seen the entire 'Woodstock' movie — I've seen [John] Sebastian and Richie Havens — but we did pretty well. When we started the suite, it sounded fabulous to me.
Wait, you've never seen all of 'Woodstock'? That seems insane.
Nash: You know, Woodstock has taken on this incredible myth in the years since, and I understand why — it was an incredible gathering. But it's gotten larger and larger and larger, the myth of it all.
Stills: Quite frankly, Coachella is just as big now, so it's like: So what? It was just the first time all the hippies of the world got together.
You'd argue that the myth is now out of proportion with the event itself.
Nash: We're still talking about it.
Stills: See?
Do you remember playing the specific Fillmore show documented on this new live album?
Stills: I have no specific memory of the show, but hearing the tape took me right back. We were a brand-new band just learning to play together electric. We were playing insufferably loud, which made it all the more surprising how good the singing was.
Was insufferable the goal for the electric set?
Stills: It was the trend — everyone played incredibly loud back then. The Hollies didn't.
Nash: That's true.
Stills: But big stacks of Marshalls were all the rage. I tortured my bandmates enough with those.
Nash: When we made ['Crosby, Stills & Nash'], we kind of realized that it was coming out at a time of Led Zeppelin and Hendrix and stuff. We thought that the acoustic-y feel to our first record would sneak its way through. And it did.
Stephen, you said the music takes you right back. Does hearing it make you think about the relationships in the band? The culture at the time?
Stills: This record reminds me of where we were maturity-wise. Graham was the seasoned bro, and David and I had had a stab at it. The Byrds had more more success — everybody had more success than the Buffalo Springfield — but we were as yet unformed. As for the culture, it's like suddenly we were the spokesmen for it, which led to some disastrous things. A reporter sticks his microphone in your face and says, 'So how are you going to change the world?' It got a little messy. But we lived.
In 2014, you guys released 'CSNY 1974,' which documented a tour of stadiums the band played that summer. Looking back, which were better shows: the stadium gigs or those at theaters like the Fillmore?
Nash: I prefer more intimate settings — when you can see their eyes and you can see that they're appreciating it.
Stills: The question is answered by the quality of the singing, and the quality of the singing in this concert is what made it for me, because we had our blend. By the time of that stadium tour, we were all moved to separate mics and there was lots of oversinging and overexcitement because you're selling so big.
Right before the Fillmore, you did seven nights at the Greek Theatre in L.A. Nobody does that anymore.
Nash: Nobody has Joni Mitchell opening for them either.
Stills: Those Greek shows are really what made us coalesce.
That vocal blend is showcased on the 'Fillmore' record in a cover of the Beatles' 'Blackbird.'
Nash: That was Stephen's idea. We had heard the Beatles do 'Blackbird,' of course, and Stephen in his brilliant record-making said, 'You know, I think we can really sing this in some good three-part harmony.'
Stills: The thing that set it off is I figured it out on guitar. [Paul] McCartney saw me play it later and said, 'Why so complicated? It's a [different] tuning.' But I figured it out.
Harmonically, yours veers pretty far from the Beatles' original.
Nash: That was a part of the magic that we had discovered when we first started singing together. The Hollies and the Byrds and the Buffalo Springfield were very decent harmony bands. But when David and Stephen and I made our voices into one, we knew we'd struck magic.
Stills: I give a lot of the credit for those voicings to David Crosby. He was the master of coming up with the really far-out parts. I referred to him as the glue.
Have you heard Beyoncé's version of 'Blackbird' from her 'Cowboy Carter' album?
Stills: All I've heard on that Beyoncé album is the treatment she gave my song. She actually gave me a writer's credit [in her 'Ameriican Requiem'] for using 'For What It's Worth.' I'm like, Where is it? [laughs] It's a completely different song, but I was very flattered.
She's known for being very thorough in her album credits.
Stills: Actually, that's endemic to the whole rap world — much to my benefit. Mailbox money, baby.
After opening those Greek shows, Mitchell went with you to New York. She's said to have been in the audience at the Fillmore.
Nash: Joan was there, absolutely. I think it was the first time we played 'Our House' live. I remember how incredibly joyous we felt about life. Yes, Richard Nixon was crazy. Yes, the Vietnam War was still going on. But for me, particularly coming from England, it was kind of the difference between black-and-white movies and Technicolor movies.
'Our House,' of course, was inspired by your and Joni's romantic relationship. Did the two of you talk about the song after the show?
Nash: Nope [laughs].
What's it been like for you to watch this comeback journey she's been on?
Nash: First of all, she's alive. We nearly lost her — I mean, we really nearly lost Joni Mitchell. So to see her come back to life and to see her still performing is amazing. Her range has shortened somewhat, but her phrasing is incredible right now — jazz-like and deliberate. I'm so pleased that she's thriving.
How do the two of you think about the ways your voices have changed with age?
Nash: I'm amazed that I can still sing like this.
Stills: Tony Bennett once told me — I said, 'What's the secret of longevity?' and he said, 'Never be afraid to lower the key or use a teleprompter.' I've taken that to heart.
Do you think CSNY might have played together again had Crosby not died?
Nash: It really would've depended on the songs. I would say it's unlikely, but when Stephen comes to me with a song that breaks my heart, I want a piece of it — I want to add to it and help him say it.
Stills: I don't think we realized how badly we would miss David.
Nash: Don't forget what Stephen said: David Crosby was the heartbeat and the glue of the four of us.
Did his death come as a shock?
Nash: Well, the truth is that even Crosby thought he was going to die decades earlier. It's not funny, but it is. David expected to go years and years ago, and the fact that he made it to being over 80 years old was astonishing.
The four of you have made music in any number of combinations. Does the idea of Stills, Nash & Young appeal, or would that just bring too much attention to David's absence?
Nash: Feeling his absence is probably why we would never do it.