CSNY Facts

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Wikipedia

Folk rock is arguably one of the most forgotten rock subgenres. While some artists such as Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel have made long-lasting legacies, there is a group out there that has hit the ground running with a successful debut album and tour and is renowned for its vocal harmonies.

So for your reading pleasure, here are some interesting facts.

They are a soupergroup.

By definition, a "supergroup" is a band in which at least one of the members was a former member of another band (disbanded or otherwise). In the case of CSNY, each member belonged to one of three different groups. David Crosby was a member of the Byrds where he was let go in 1967, Stephen Stills and later Neil Young were bandmates in Buffalo Springfield, and Graham Nash was a member of the Holies.

They did not go for a formal name.

Unlike most bands such as the ones listed above, CSNY elected to only use their last names as an identity (a la Simon & Garfunkel). Reason being, to allow the band to continue if one of the members decided to leave. It was a good idea as young was not present full-time.

Stephen Stills was nicknamed "man of many hands."

On their 1969 self-titled debut, Stills handled nearly all the instrumentation aside from guitar and bass assistance from Crosby and Nash, as well as side drummer Dallas Taylor. This left them with inadequate manpower to go on tour. As such, Young joined as did Motown bassist Greg Reeves.

Steve Winwood (almost) joined.

The band's original idea was to recruit a keyboard player. Stills contacted Winwood about the proposal, but unbeknownst to Stills, Winwood was of course working with Eric Clapton in Blind Faith. After some shopping around, Atlantic's Elliot Randall suggested Stills' old friend Neil Young. The contract was even revised to allow Young to simultainiously work in Crazy Horse, his own band.

Their Woodstock performance was only their second show.

Two nights before Woodstock, CSNY played at  Chicago's Auditorium Theatre. That night the band told the crowd they are going to Woodstock, but they didn't know where it was. On their Woodstock show, Stills confessed to the crowd that they were nervous.

Woodstock is NOT an original song.

Canadian artist Joni Mitchell recorded the song originally in 1969. CSNY recorded late in the year and it made the cut on their second LP, Deja Vu (1970).

They worked with Jerry Garcia.

Jerry Garcia, of Grateful Dead fame, contributed the pedal steel guitar on Teach Your Children Well given it a country rock sound. In return for the single's success, the band taught Grateful Dead to harmonize their vocals for their next album.

Some of their songs are political

This began in 1971 with the release of the Young-penned Ohio, after the band got word of the Kent State Shootings. Two years before, one of their first songs, Wooden Ships, was politically themed - being written at the peak of the Vietnam War. It was written alongside Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kantner on Crosby's boat "The Mayan." Both bands recorded their versions of the song and even performed their respective versions at Woodstock, but due its greater popularity, only CSN's performance made the cut for the movie and soundtrack album.

Their last album was released over 20 years ago.

For a wrap, let me just say that while CSN(Y) had been regularly touring in the 21st century, their eigth and final album to date is 1999's Looking Forward.


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