Supergroup songwriter Graham Nash is bringing his first ever greatest hits tour to Cardiff. He tells John-Paul Davies how he chose which songs to include from a 50-year career as a solo artist and member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Over The Years…, your retrospective collection from 2018, is a beautiful collection of songs. How did you choose the material from such a huge back catalogue?
I realised that there had never been a greatest hits album of my music. Yes, we’d had the greatest hits of The Hollies and CSNY [Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young] but none of my music, particularly. So, because I’ve been a solo artist for the last three years, I figured out the 15 most popular songs that my audience love, and so I wanted to put them out. I realised, of course, that a lot of people had bought those songs in various formats from vinyl to CDs to Blu-Ray etc – and so I wanted to know how I could make it more interesting.
I went into my archives, which I’d kept for the last 50 years, and found 15 demos and put those on there. And that is what people are finding very, very interesting: to see the genesis of some of the songs that they love.
The demos are brilliant quality. Is it always just you on the demos?
All me. Just two-track, a simple tape recorder. That’s pretty much how they sounded. Listen to the demo of Marrakesh Express, that’s the one I showed The Hollies! And somewhere in the bowels of Abbey Road is The Hollies’ attempt at Marrakesh Express which is, quite frankly, pretty lifeless because that song needs the energy of a train behind it. It’s a song about a train journey from Casablanca down to Marrakesh. And The Hollies version had no life in it whatsoever. It was at that time that I began to realise – ‘man, they’re driving me crazy these guys!’
There are some songs that are included as demos but not as finished recordings. Did you prefer the original raw sound?
I like the intimacy of the very first time. When you create a new song, that’s exciting! I mean, who knows where it came from, where it’s been hiding? And I still feel that sense of excitement in those demos. I still don’t know where songs come from. I know that I see something that I have to talk about, speak my mind about. But that creative process – I’m still not sure where that comes from. I just feel incredibly lucky to have been doing that for the last 50 years.
On this tour you’re joined by some longterm collaborators. How does it compare performing the songs you’ve sung for decades with CSN to sharing the stage with Shane Fontayne and Todd Caldwell?
Do you know who Marc Cohn is? He did that great song Walking In Memphis. Well, Crosby had sung on a couple of his albums and he was doing a show at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles and he asked me and David to come down and sing. So we went down there and this guy, Shane Fontayne, he was playing lead guitar with Marc and doing great. Now, at that exact moment, Crosby and I were going to Europe on a tour and our lead guitar player, Dean Parks, was one of the first people that people called for a session. And if you leave Los Angeles for a month you lose your place in line. So he couldn’t go with us. Shane Fontayne learned 33 songs in a week and played them brilliantly. And Todd Caldwell has been the B3 organ player in the Crosby, Stills & Nash band for 10 years.
It feels free to me. I’ve always loved being a member of a band. But holy shit, you know, it’s hard to get your stuff across when you’re in a band with me and David and Stephen and Neil. And we’re all strong writers and we all write and we all want every one of our songs on the record but there’s only room for 12!
So what do you do with all the stuff that you write that you’re not recording? And I’m having a good time singing these songs because Shane and Todd can sing beautifully and some of this three-part harmony that we’re doing is sweet. The songs that I do from CSN are interesting. I do Ohio, I do 4 + 20 which is a brilliant Stephen Stills song. And I can do what I want to do. Not what anybody’s telling me to do. And it’s a great feeling. You know, the truth is, John-Paul, I’m 77 years old now and I’m just having the best time.
You’re playing some fantastic venues and festivals on this UK leg of the tour. Your fans are as dedicated as ever. Are there European or North American dates coming up?
It feels amazing. One of my proudest moments was when we sang Our House at Wembley Stadium, 1974, and were received, so beautifully by 80-90,000 people. It was a homecoming for me that I truly enjoyed. So I come back, take a month off and then do a tour of North America. But what I’m rehearsing now is very interesting. I’ve got my show down for Europe, I know the 40 songs that I’m going to make the setlist from. But in the end of September, I’m doing four shows here in the United States where I come out and I do all of Songs For Beginners from start to finish, take a break, and then do all of Wild Tales from start to finish, with a full band. And the truth is, if it’s successful commercially – because, you know, when you’re taking eight musicians and all that equipment and road crew etc, it can be quite expensive – then I will take that show on the road.
You’ve received some incredible accolades over the years. Most recently a lifetime achievement award from the UK Americana Music Association. Does it feel like the right time to be looking back on a 50-year career?
That was a nice show. And, you know, I didn’t know who was going to present me with the award. I didn’t know until Alan Clarke walked out on stage. We started The Hollies in December of 1962 and I left in December of 1968. So six years exactly. A lot of music in those six years!
But I don’t look back too much. I’m much more interested in the song I’m writing now and what I’m going to do when I come to Europe. But being in the Songwriters Hall Of Fame twice, that’s insane to me. To be in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame twice. I mean, I’m this kid from the north of England, for God’s sake. What the fuck is going on?
I think, if I look back at all, that I made people smile and I made people think. It’s so awful to think that I wrote Immigration Man 50 years ago and it’s still going on today. I wrote Military Madness 50 years ago and it’s still going on worse today.
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Sat 20 July. Tickets: £32-£150. Info: 029 2063 6464 / www.wmc.org.uk