The supergroup.
If you played rock in the 1960’s, odds are you were part of a group. Solo artists stuck primarily to adult-oriented pop, country, or folk. By the end of the decade these groups started to show signs of fracturing, but artists weren’t quite ready for solo careers — first of all, the pressure is all on you, and secondly, this is still the 60’s, man, and united we stand. Smile on your brother! Get together! Share the land!
This attitude would soon change in the 1970s, but that’s how it was when David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash found themselves harmonizing at a casual get together in Laurel Canyon, the rustic and rural mountainside artistic community in the heart of Los Angeles. The Byrds had kicked out Crosby, Buffalo Springfield collapsed on Stills, and Nash left The Hollies due to his dissatisfaction with their musical direction. Once the three of them discovered their magical harmonic blend, little question remained that they would join forces. In a way, they were the hippie ideal — look what we can accomplish when we work together.
Working together produced a massive hit album. But Stills wanted another guitar player to duel with like he had in Buffalo Springfield, and luckily his former bandmate, one Neil Young, was available and game to try. Crosby and Nash had concerns — why mess with success? Also, Neil was known to be mercurial, to say the very least. But the magic still worked with four of them, and Neil was the least of their problems.
Drugs and ego killed the band in late 1970 (for the first, though certainly not the last, time) but they continued coming back in various configurations of two, three, or sometimes four over the ensuing decades, unable to resist their love for each other and for the music.
They are one person, they are two alone, they are three together, they are for each other. Here’s the least you need to know:
Crosby, Stills & Nash (1969) Say, can I have some of your purple berries? A perfect album for 1969. AM and FM radio hits. Traditional and progressive. Relaxed folk pop mixed in with hard rock. With harmonies to blow your mind. Talkin’ ’bout very free and easy.
Déjà Vu (1970) Like the debut, but with Neil Young added on guitar. Cozy intimacy next to generational anthems. A very, very, very fine album.
It’s not on either recommended album, but you should also know the single “Ohio.” Recorded and released within weeks of the National Guard shootings on campus at Kent State, “Ohio” was an emotional response to the senseless deaths, an angry cry against the establishment:
1 2 3 o' clock 4 o' clock Rock 
Such great music. My introduction to CSN(& sometimes Y) was a mix tape that my girlfriend recorded from her parents’ vinyls.
Forgot how much I love “Wooden Ships”!
Absolutely! That’s the first song they wrote together. Well, Stills and Crosby together. I really do love the line about “purple berries.” I’ve always found it amusing for some reason.
And it has a nice lilt to it.
Good taste on that mix tape! I’m pretty sure “Suite Judy Blue Eyes” was my first experience but I heard it on the radio and for years had no idea what the title was or who sang it.
It is wonderful to hear these songs again. Such memories! Thank you!
You’re welcome! You should never go too long without hearing them!
Gorgeous harmonies, stunning lyrics; of course it wouldn’t last! CSN&Y are the very fabric of our lives. They touched our hearts, raged in our minds and fueled our hungry, devastated souls. They will forever be the group for the downtrodden, the underdog, the disenfranchised, the misunderstood and for those who simply have had quite enough of the man. And Y will always be in that group.
Excellent post, Houston. Thank you for brilliant music on a Sunday morning.
That’s a poetic and passionate description! And quite right. I’ve always loved the opening of the Woodstock movie using their song “Long Time Gone.” They really just define that time period so well.