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| photo by Anna Webber |
For his fans, the past four years have been a non-stop source of musical wonderment; bountiful blessings in the form of a series of stunningly brilliant solo albums coupled with a near-constant touring schedule. As for the artist himself, he has never been more musically active, never been more content with life than the present. An old soul aglow with the energy of a 19-year-old, David Crosby is, at 76, not giving in an inch.
Crosby remains in full-throttle creative mode. Fresh from
completing a new album with his Lighthouse
band that includes Snarky Puppy
leader/bassist Michael
League, singer-songwriter Becca
Stevens, and singer-songwriter Michelle
Willis, he is back on the road with his Sky
Trails band that also features Willis, James Raymond on keyboards and vocals,
guitarist Jeff Pevar, bassist Mai Leisz, and drummer Steve
DiStanislao. The tour visits Long Island on June 9, at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts
Center.
The musical icon—co-founder of The
Byrds, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and Crosby,
Stills, Nash and Young—remains as outspoken as ever, as his legion of Twitter
followers will attest to.
Roy Abrams: Mr. Crosby! How are you today, sir?
David Crosby: I’m probably the happiest guy you’re gonna talk to
all week!
RA: That seems to be your status quo for the past few years!
DC: [chuckles]
RA: Let’s talk about the album you’re currently working on with
the Lighthouse band. I know that Michelle
Willis was posting some pretty neat videos of the collaborative songwriting
process.
DC: Yeah, it’s been that. We wrote almost the whole record
together. I’ve never done that before, really, with four people … kind of an
amazing experience – a fully contributive, fully cooperative space. I’ve made
music in competitive bands where we make good music – CSN, CSNY, definitely
competitive bands – but this is a wonderful, elevating experience. I am kind of
freaked out and thrilled by it. We played it for the heads of the record
company last night and they loved it. I played it for my wife, and she cried,
and that’s always a good sign. I don’t think anybody else is doing this stuff,
man. It’s a vocal band, it’s folk instruments; mostly acoustic instruments, and
pretty dense vocals … a lot of counterpoint, a lot of harmony, a lot of big
stacks of vocals. I hope people are gonna like it, I definitely know I love it.
RA: I cannot wait! Where is the album being recorded?
DC: It’s being recorded at Flux
Studios down in Alphabet City in New York. It’s a place run by a man named Fabrice Dupont. He’s a very famous mix
engineer, he’s also a very famous recording engineer, and he’s really good.
RA: He mixed the Lighthouse record,
which was amazingly good.
DC: He did a great job on that; this is probably four times as
good, because we cut it in his space with him. His ability to get sounds is
really kind of stellar. I know Michael League, who’s the producer, is just
freakin’ thrilled with it.
RA: I wanted to get some
updated insights into the people you’re recording with, given the collaborative
nature in which you’re working with Michael, Becca, and Michelle. What are some
of the things you’re learning about them, or even from them, in terms of their
own unique sensibilities?
DC: Well, you know what I’ve learned? It’s a very reassuring
thing. They’re much younger than me; they’re half my age, but they are exactly
like me. They are people who have given their life to it; it’s their life. They
have the same thing I do: they have family, but that’s the only other thing.
There’s family and there’s music. These are people who, at their 30-year-old
level, have already done the 10,000 hours. And, they are incredibly talented
and incredibly able. The thing is, they’re still in love with it; they don’t
have this long, grinding history, you know, that I’ve had with the other
guys. They are still really in love with
music, and they are still thrilled that we get a chance to make it. The result
has been a record that … I don’t even
have words to describe it, man. It’s not
like anything that anybody else is doing. (We got) really good songs and they
got worked on by some of the best vocalists that I’ve ever heard.
RA: I was watching your expression on that video
Michelle posted of you, her, and Michael; the vocal jamming with the
handclapping, and the phrase that came to mind was “youth eternal.” Given your
experiences during the past few years, has your perspective on aging changed at
all?
DC: Yeah, you know, as you get older, you can look at it two ways.
You can get very frightened by it all, sort of retreat into your own shell, and
try to hide from your place in your life. Or, you can say, this is what the
real world is, I have a limited amount of time; I’m gonna use every freakin’
second to do the only thing I can do that makes a contribution: to make this
music, and make the absolute best music (that) I possibly can. It’s a weird
situation, because we’re not getting paid for it. I’m putting the egg money
that we need to pay the rent with into this thing, and I’m not gonna get it
back. That Lighthouse record you
like? I haven’t made a nickel.
RA: Really?!
DC: Not one cent.
RA: I don’t know what to say. For the people who buy the record on
CD, none of that comes back to you?
DC: Well, it didn’t. The record company that we had it out on
cheated us and so I haven’t gotten anything. I think I’m gonna get paid this
time, because I’m with a better record company. But the main point is, the
streaming killed us, because nobody buys anything anymore, they just stream it.
But the process of making the records is still a complete joy, and it is our art,
and it is what we leave behind, and it is so much fun for me, man. Yes, it’s
bragging, but I would have never even believed that I could make four records
in four years, and have them be really good, and they are, and I did.
RA: Yes, you did!
DC: [chuckles] Yaaay!
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| photo by Anna Webber |
RA: The last time we saw each other, I bumped into you and Jan at
the Mercury Lounge
for Becca’s show back in January. I don’t know if I even have any words for
that, because you weren’t there to sing, you were there to show support. In
your early days as an artist, were there older mentors in your life who
attended your shows and offered the kind of support that you give to so many
others?
DC: Hmmm, no, not that came to my shows or anything. There are
people that I followed, and that I learned a lot from: Odetta, Travis
Edmonson, Johnny White, Pete
Seeger, Woody Guthrie. I never
met Woody myself, but all those other people I met, and I learned a lot from
them. Joan Baez … that’s where I
come from, that folk music thing, and I couldn’t have asked for a better intro
to music because it was very genuine stuff, and then, you know, after I struck
myself, then I met a whole bunch of people.
RA: I hesitate to go where I’m about to go, because everything you’re doing these days is about forward momentum and you’re so focused on all things new, but there are increasing calls for CSNY to reunite and provide a voice for these troubled times. How appealing is the idea to you personally?
DC: Well, not very appealing if it’s CSN, because that was a
pretty unfriendly party. But if you add Neil to it, then
there’s a challenge there, because he’s always gonna push the envelope; he’s
always gonna try and push the thing out toward the edge, and I like that, I do
like that! He doesn’t like me right now, but I do like his music and I do love
how he approaches his music. I would say, never say never. I don’t think it’s
gonna happen; I don’t think that Graham
is gonna outgrow his anger at me, or Neil. They’re both very angry at me; well,
I can’t do anything about that. I don’t have any bad feelings about them, or Stephen. I’m fine with them; I wish
them no ill at all. I would do it if Neil wanted to do it and I’ll tell you
why. I get probably about five messages a day saying, “Would you guys please
make up and do your job? The country needs you very badly right now.” They say
that over and over again, and they say things like, “You were singing the ‘Let’s Impeach the President’
song of Neil’s, but too soon! The only thing that was off was your timing! Now
we have a president who lies all the time. Every word that comes out of his
mouth is a lie. Now, the song is entirely appropriate and you assholes should
be out here singing it!” [chuckles] And I can’t disagree. I think that we
should be out there singing “For What It’s Worth” …
you know, young people speaking their mind …. I think we need to be saying
that, and I think we should be singing “Ohio.” And I think we should be singing “Long Time Gone” and “Almost Cut My Hair” and
“Chicago.” You know,
those songs, they’re fight songs, man, they’re marching songs. They give people
the kind of juice that it used to give people to sing “We Shall Overcome” when
they were doing the civil rights marches. The music really helps you to gut up
to face the situation that you’re facing in the street. As far as that goes,
yes, I think we should be doing it, and I would love it if Neil wanted to.
RA: The Carnegie Hall concert
that you did with Snarky Puppy a little while back had a lot of that spark,
that magic to which you just referred.
What are your reflections of that show? You seemed to be floating on
that stage that night.
DC: Well, I loved it. In the first place, I love Snarky Puppy, and
I love Michael League—he is one of my really good friends now—and he is an
incredible producer and an incredible musician. So, I love working with him, I
loved playing with him. I loved that the show had people from all over the
world; from England, from Africa, from America, from Canada. It was really
international, and really good that way. I really liked that about it. That’s
the thing that Michael, who put the show together, is always trying to do; he
loves world music. It’s true of Chris
Thile, too; he does the same thing. I really admire that in both of them.
RA: What are your thoughts on the Musicambia
benefit that just took place in NYC?
DC: It’s a wonderful thing. (It was started by) this guy, Nate
Schramm. He’s the one who married Becca, and he’s the violist in one of the
best string quartets on the East Coast, the Attacca Quartet. He was in Venezuela
and he saw something really fascinating. He said that the government was
terrible, but they did a wonderful thing: they had music education programs in
the prisons. He said that really sparked his mind, because it was very
definitely making a difference. So, he started that up here. That’s what
Musicambia does; they take music education into prisons. They’re very brave
about it, and they do it very well. These are schooled musicians, not like me; I’m
illiterate. They really know what they’re doing and they can teach it. I was in
a prison; I know what it’s like. I know how much a difference it makes if you
do something that gives you some sense of self-worth. At that point, your
self-worth is really on the bottom of the floor. And knowing what it’s like to
be able to create art in there, and to be able to do something beautiful in the
middle of what’s a devastatingly bad situation … if you have music, music’s a
lifting force, man. It makes it all better. I completely support this idea, so
that’s why I did that.
RA: I recently read that Cameron Crowe is producing a documentary
on you. How did that come to pass?
DC: Cameron’s been my friend since he was 16 years old. [laughs]
He knows me really well. He has an incredible gift as an interviewer; he always
did. He gets stuff out of me that nobody else can. So we have these interviews
that are remarkable; they are, above all, honest. They are not self-serving.
They are not, “Oh, then I discovered California, and right after that I
invented electricity.” It’s probably going to be the most honest documentary on
anybody that you’ve ever seen.
RA: That’s cool. Is there a
tentative release date?
DC: My guess, since BMG is
paying for it, that they want to release this record and that documentary at
the same time so they get cross-talk in the same field.
RA: That’s great! I also hear you’re working on another book.
DC: Well, I’m trying to! The guy who I’m trying to write it with
called while we were talking, just now. I have to call him back as soon as I
get off with you. Yes, we’re trying to get a deal to write a book about current
politics and what I feel about the United States of America. I’m a kind of
corny believer, strongly believing in democracy and the United States. I don’t
think we have it right now, but I do love it. I like the idea very much, and I’m
trying to defend it any way I can.
RA: I’m assuming that you’ve seen Emma
Gonzalez’s various speeches?
DC: I have seen some of her stuff, and (David) Hogg’s
too. I am really happy about those guys.
RA: What are your thoughts
on the emerging youth movement?
DC: They’re pissed, man.
Look at it! We’re handing them a really seriously damaged world, we’re handing
them a broken democracy, we’re handing them an America with the scab torn off
of the racism so it’s blatant, and then the president pours gasoline on the
fire and says, “Racism cool, yeah! We wanna be right-wing, racist assholes … real
good!” He’s encouraging the worst part. That’s the world we’re handing them! Of
course they’re gonna stand up and take a stand. I’m so proud of them, I’m so
happy about them, and I want to encourage them any way I can, but I really
don’t think they need us; I think they to be them; they don’t need any grownups telling them what to do.
RA: Their organizational skills, their use of social media to
rally the troops is nothing short of mind boggling.
DC: If they can get the kids out to vote, we’re gonna take the
Congress back, and then we can start repairing all the damage … that would be
really good. In terms of global warming, I don’t think we have the time to
waste. We have to get it back on track.
RA: Are you familiar with The Ocean Cleanup project which was
started by a Dutch teenager named Boyan Slat?
DC: Yeah. I think that that’s gonna continue. When I see that, I
feel encouraged. When I see the orange-headed disaster in the White House, I
feel very discouraged. Listen, I’ve got to call another person, and it’s kind
of a drag, because you’re really fun to talk to!
RA: Same here, David. Thank you so much for your time.
DC: It’s my pleasure, man.
© 2018 by Roy Abrams
