Graham Nash revealed that the reason for David Crosby reconnecting with him just prior to his death earlier this year was to apologize. Crosby, who was 81, died in his sleep last January 19th while battling another bout with Covid.
Crosby, who had been estranged from Nash and Neil Young for several years, had emailed Nash asking if they could talk on the phone, with Nash remembering Crosby wanting to make amends for, quote, “all the stupid things I said about you and, particularly, Neil.”
Nash told The New York Times, “David was a very interesting couple of people: He was generous, funny and the most unbelievably great musician. On the other hand, he could make an entire room feel bad with two words. I wanted to remember the good music we made and the great times we had, let that satisfy you. But he’s gone.”
Nash, who's also now 81, will release his latest solo set, titled Now, on May 19th, spoke about facing his own mortality: “I tried to be the best husband, the best friend, the best musician, but I’ll never make it. I’m still healthy, but so was David. I could drop dead in the middle of this conversation.”
He went on to say, “I really believed, in my mid-70s, 'I’m coming to the end of my life. It’s all finished.' In many ways, (my wife) Amy (Grantham) saved my life. I wanted to wear my heart on my sleeve, as I try and always do.”
Graham Nash finally devoting all of his time to solo projects coincided with the collapse of Crosby, Stills, & Nash — a situation Nash told us was actually far more liberating than heartbreaking: “It's phenomenally freeing. 'Cause, y'know, when you're in a band with David (Crosby), and Stephen (Stills), and Neil (Young), y'know, a lot of decisions have to be made and somebody likes something and somebody doesn't like something, and you wanna know, 'Can I sing this song? I've got a brand new song I wanna sing — do you mind?' I don't have to ask any of those questions. I'm concentrating on me. I concentrated on Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young for 45, 50 years — and now it's different.”
Graham Nash performs tonight (May 11th) in Beverly, Massachusetts at the Cabot Theater.
