WASHINGTON 鈥� Most musicians would kill听to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just once. But David Crosby has had the honor twice: once for his work with The Byrds and again for his work with听Crosby, Stills and Nash.
If you’ve never seen the legend听perform live 鈥� or can’t wait to see him again 鈥� this week brings the perfect chance as Crosby returns to 听at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in听Alexandria, Virginia.
“They have a great听audience,” Crosby told 草莓传媒. “It’s not really just a club. I normally don’t play clubs because they’re serving and people tend to be more rowdy. …听But I do really like The Birchmere. It’s always been really good to me. Every time I’ve gone there, there was a really good audience.”
What can we expect to hear Tuesday night?
“I have two new records worth of stuff that you haven’t heard,” Crosby said. “You’ll get to hear stuff from both of them, and a ton of other stuff from The Byrds on up through CSN, CSNY, you know, all of that. I have so much material, man, I can’t even believe it. … And there’s cards you can fill out with questions at my shows. You can ask me anything, and I might even answer it in front of the audience.”
What do you even ask a musician this accomplished and a counterculture icon of this magnitude?
Born in Los Angeles in 1941, Crosby grew up听surrounded by a creative family on the doorstep of Hollywood.听In fact, his father was none other than Oscar-winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby.
That’s right, his dad filmed听Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr kissing in the waves in “From Here to Eternity” (1953), won a Golden Globe for filming听Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly in “High Noon” (1952) and won an Oscar for shooting F.W. Murnau’s “Tabu: A Story of the South Seas” (1931), not to mention听John Sturges’ “Old Man and the Sea” (1958) and Roger Corman’s “House of Usher” (1960).
“It’s fun to be a little kid and get to go on movie sets with my dad,” Crosby said, nostalgically. “I was watching him make a movie before I could spell ‘movie.’ So that part is always fascinating.”
There was even a time Young David听wanted听to follow in his father’s filmmaking footsteps.
“I wanted to be an actor,” Crosby said. “But the truth was, as soon as I started singing, that was what I wanted to do. It was just so natural to me and was so much exactly what I loved doing.”
After briefly studying drama at听Santa Barbara City College, Crosby听dropped out to听pursue his music career, eventually moving to New York City to hone his craft in the Greenwich Village folk听scene.
“I went on the road as a folky and I wound up in Greenwich Village, ’cause that’s where that happens,” Crosby said. “When I first heard Bob [Dylan] I said, ‘What’s all this about? I can sing better than that!’ But then I started to listen to the words and I realized that’s what’s going on here. Those听were very heady times. I loved being a folky, but then I ran into Roger McGuinn and wound up doing The Byrds.”
This brought Crosby back to his native Los Angeles,听where he formed The听Byrds听with founding members听Roger McGuinn (lead guitar, vocals), David Crosby (rhythm guitar, vocals), Michael Clarke听(drums), Chris Hillman (bass guitar, vocals) and Gene Clark (tambourine, vocals).
“Gene had heard The Beatles and he was trying to write like that.听He didn’t know any rules, so he was succeeding,” Crosby said. “He and Roger were singing these songs at听The Troubadour in the bar and I just sat down next to them and started singing harmony. ‘Hmmm hmmmm.’ That worked out OK.”
Their debut album听“Mr. Tambourine Man” (1965) reached No. 6听on the U.S. albums chart听off the strength of its title听track, which became a No. 1 single as a highly successful Dylan cover.
“As soon as he heard us playing his music electric, you could hear the gears working in his head,” Crosby recalled. “He immediately went out and got himself a band and stopped being a folky.”
While听Dylan hatched his “Electric Dylan” stunt at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, Crosby was busy writing听Byrds songs like “Lady Friend,” “Why”听and “Eight Miles High.” But it was Dylan who scrawled lyrics on a napkin for McGuinn’s “Ballad of Easy Rider,” which was featured on the听film soundtrack for “Easy Rider” (1969) along with The Byrds’ transcendent, free-spirited tune听“Wasn’t Born to Follow.”
But of all the great music that defined the ’60s, The Byrds’听most lasting legacy remains the No. 1 hit听“Turn, Turn, Turn” (1965),听offering cyclical words of wisdom: “A time to be born, a time to die, a听time to plant, a time to reap, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to laugh, a time to weep.”
鈥淚 love that one,鈥� Crosby said. 鈥淭he verses are actually out of Ecclesiastes听in听The Bible, and Pete Seeger is the one who put it to music and made it into a song. … Roger McGuinn brought it to us and said, ‘Hey, I wanna do this.’ …听I always really liked it. I thought it was a really good sentiment.”
Crosby says the lyrics still apply to today’s global affairs.
鈥溾�楢 time for peace, I swear it鈥檚 not too late,’鈥� Crosby said, quoting the song. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have peace, as usual, and we would like to. 鈥� We need peace. We need to not be sending our kids off to war.”
This anti-war message made Crosby a听kindred spirit to Stephen Stills, who wrote听“For What It’s Worth” for Buffalo Springfield.听Stills was听destined to unite with Crosby and听Graham Nash of听The Hollies to form a folk-rock supergroup听at the urging of听Cass Elliot of The Mamas & The Papas.
鈥淚f it wasn鈥檛 for Cass Elliot, none of this would have been happening,鈥� Nash told 草莓传媒.听鈥淚 have a feeling she knew what the three of us would sound like singing together before we did. She knew I was unhappy with The Hollies, she knew that Springfield had broken up, she knew that Crosby & Stills were trying to get some duo action together, and I think Cass really knew what we would sound like.”
So, the trio came together for their first performance听organically in Joni Mitchell鈥檚 living room.
“After Byrds and Springfield, Stephen and I started singing together and we tried it with Nash one night at Joni Mitchell’s house,” Crosby said. “It worked听fantastically well.”
Joining up with occasional fourth member Neil Young, CSNY (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) fittingly covered听Mitchell鈥檚 鈥淲oodstock,鈥� which played under the end credits of the 1970 documentary.
Along with 鈥淲oodstock,鈥� the group rattled off numerous other hits, including 鈥淲asted on the Way,鈥� 鈥淪uite: Judy Blue Eyes,鈥� 鈥淥hio,鈥� 鈥淥ur House鈥� and 鈥淛ust a Song Before I Go.”听Arguably their biggest hit was the cross-generational ballad 鈥淭each Your Children,鈥� written by Nash back when he was a member of The Hollies, but not recorded and released until the CSNY album 鈥淒茅j脿 Vu鈥�听in听1970.
鈥淚鈥檝e tried to analyze the success of that song, and I just come down to the fact that throughout the world as I travel, I realize that people want the same thing,” Nash told 草莓传媒. “They want a better future for their children, and with that human desire for a better world for their kids, I think 鈥楾each Your Children鈥� kind of taps into that, and I think that鈥檚 why it鈥檚 so popular.”
As for Crosby,听he wrote tunes听for both incarnations, including CSN’s听“Guinnevere,”听“Wooden Ships,” “Shadow Captain”听and “In My Dreams,” as well as CSNY’s听“Almost Cut My Hair” and “D茅j脿 Vu.”
Crosby admits his songwriting approach has evolved听over the decades.
“The truth is it’s changed听along with the years,” Crosby said. “The last few years, I’ve been writing … a lot with other people. I’ve been writing with Michael League from Snarky Puppy; he and I wrote most of this next record that’s coming out called ‘Lighthouse.’ I’ve been writing with my son James Raymond; he and I wrote most of the last record I did, ‘Croz.’ He and I have another record out called “Home Free” that we’ve just now written the final songs for. … They’re absolutely f***ing terrific.”
Working with his son, it seems Crosby has听taken his own “Teach Your Children” advice,听coming full circle to his听youth听when he would tag along to Hollywood studio sets with his听filmmaker father.
“I’m doing music for films as often as I possibly can,” Crosby said. “My son James and I just did a song for a new film that’s coming out called ‘Little Pink House.’ It’s a great, great story. It’s coming out and I’ve got my Oscar acceptance speech all practiced. I’m ready. ‘I’d like to thank all the little people.'”
While his life has come full circle in many ways, his vision听remains听fixed on the horizon.
“I don’t look back,” Crosby said. “I think about what I gotta do today, what I want to accomplish tomorrow, what I’d like to do next week, next month, this year. My focus is almost entirely forward.”
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