This past April, Stephen Stills and his wife Kristen organized the sixth iteration of their Light Up the Blues concert to benefit Autism Speaks, and David Crosby‘s son, James Raymond, attended the show to pay tribute to his father. Here’s what Stills had to say to Spin about the performance that left everyone in tears:
“The highlight for me was ‘Wooden Ships.’ I thought we just killed that. And having [David Crosby’s son] James Raymond there … nobody knows this, but he sounds just like Crosby when he sings. And so when we rehearsed it … I don’t grieve over the top, but there wasn’t a dry eye in the rehearsal room. I couldn’t get through the song. Unbelievable. And then, on the night, it came off really good. Christopher [Stills] was just, of course, himself. Tigger. That’s his nickname. Tigger.”
Crosby passed away at the start of this year after complications with his health followed by a sudden bout with COVID-19. Stills shared how he’s been holding up with the passing of his late friend; he said:
“It’s really sad. A lot of my life is tied up with that guy. He filled in a lot of blanks for me at the beginning. I was really shy, and David will talk to anybody all day. Croz was just a very special human being. He could make you feel just great about everything, and then 10 minutes later say two more words and make you feel [shrinks two fingers together] that big. So, he had this power.”
With Crosby passing and Raymond attending the Light Up the Blues benefit concert, Stills had to mention to Rolling Stone the similarity between Raymond and his father’s voice before the show. He added:
“His singing voice sounds so much like David that it’s scary. There are going to be some neat surprises. I’ve always had so much fun playing those songs, David’s songs. We’ve got James, and now we can get the chords, which was always a carefully kept mystery.”
You can read the Spin interview here.
