Graham Nash recently released his ‘most personal record,’ ‘Now,’ in mid-May. As part of his promotional journey, he sat down for a chat with Guitar World. While discussing his new album, the conversation shifted toward his views on David Crosby’s talent.
The interviewer raised a point about Crosby, asking Nash directly if he rated him as a rhythm player. The former CSNY member straight-up admitted the late guitarist’s effect on the band’s style and said:
“I’ll tell you this. I’ve spent two or three years of my life doing the boxsets for CSNY, and if it hadn’t been for Crosby’s rhythm guitar on almost every track, the groove wouldn’t be there.“
The discussion then took a different turn as the interviewer referred to Crosby’s practice habits as follows:
“David told us he would get an acoustic down from the wall each night and just play for hours and hours. Can you relate to that?”
In response, the singer stressed his previous claim by explaining:
“I can. He may have overstated the ‘hours and hours’ bit. Crosby never spent hours and hours on anything. But he was an incredible rhythm guitar player, as I said.”
Nash’s admiration for his late bandmate has been no secret. Following Crosby’s passing earlier this year, he expressed his thoughts on the late musician’s legacy in various interviews, including a chat with AARP magazine, where he said:
“He really was, in many ways, the heartbeat of this band. I mean, he was incredibly talented and unique as a musician. That’s what he brought… I have never heard anybody with the same brilliant sense of music and harmony that David had.”
The singer also paid tribute to the guitarist with a heartfelt video message at Stephen Stills’ Light Up The Blues charity gig in April. Among a bunch of awesome performances, the crowd got to enjoy a video from 2013 featuring Nash and Crosby rocking out to ‘Guinnevere.’
