Ray Davies and Graham Nash both cited the Everly
Brothers as a big musical influence. Graham and a friend stalked them when he
was younger and did get to meet them. A thrill of his life was singing with the
Brothers later on in his career.
I find it interesting that the last three autobiographies
I’ve read all reference the Everlys which I thought about while reading them . A day after
finishing Ray’s book Americana as well as Linda Rondstadt’s Simple Dreams
(Linda recorded the Everly’s When Will I Be Loved), I heard that Phil Everly
had died.A death will allow for a
string of tributes and I had no idea of the impact this duo had on music.Looking back, they were pioneers of
blending pop and country.They got
so much out of their voices.They
were great songwriters.They had stories
to tell and everyone was listening.
Music is the presiding factor in Graham Nash’s life.He opens his book, Wild Tales with this
line:It always comes down to the
music.It is his driving force.
It’s the reason he kept agreeing to Crosby, Still, Nash and Young
regroupings.From the moment he
met David Crosby, he knew they had a connection and it was through their
music.He became good friends with
him, which is probably why Crosby’s descent into drug addiction is the hardest
part of the book to read.
I was never a CSN fan, but appreciated their talent.Me being a sucker for musician memoirs,
I had to read Wild Tales.I can’t
say it’s one of my favorites, but it was a nice read.
Tips from Graham Nash:
On Managing Money:
“When it was over, the entire tour made close to $12
million, but David, Stephen, Neil and I only got $300,000 each.That Left $10.8 million unaccounted
for, by my arithmetic.”
(Summer 1974 Tour CSNY.There was crazy excessive spending on that tour and of
course, lots and lots of drugs.)
On Dating:
The first date with his not-yet-wife Susan:“I spent most of that night trying to
figure out how to make myself more attractive to this woman. Aha! Now I knew
what to do.I’ll get up in a tree,
I thought.(Don’t even try to
attempt to follow this reasoning.) So fifteen minutes before she was supposed
to show up, I climbed into a tree outside our bungalow at the Chateau.And, believe it or not,
this stunt actually worked.
(She told him she had been to a self-exploration conference,
which prompted him to think of hiding in a tree.)
On the drama of being in a band:
I know what you’re thinking; didn’t we learn a thing or two
about four superegos trying to coexist in one studio?Why in heaven’s name were we gonna do that again?But it’s the music.It’s always the music.It’s like a drug, irresistible.And we’re both smart enough-and-dumb
enough-to recognize that.
What I didn’t know about Graham is that in 1990 he started Nash Editions, which is a fine arts digital print making company.
