On Saturday night around 8pm in the vicinity of the Louisville Palace, you might hear some of the most soaring and highly complex of vocal harmonies. That would be sounds filtering out from An Evening with Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Proclaiming some groups as “super” has been a reviewer and record company cliche for some time, but it fits here. David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash have all been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Twice.
Each member of the trio came from other superstar bands. Crosby was a vocalist and guitarist with The Byrds. Stills played guitar and sang with Buffalo Springfield. Nash was part of the British Invasion as a guitarist and vocalist with the Hollies. They also handled songwriting chores for each of their respective groups.
But it hasn’t always been sweetness and light for the folk rock legends. Crosby was kicked out of the Byrds and when Buffalo Springfield broke up over personal squabbles, Stills found himself looking for somewhere else to play. Meanwhile Nash wanted more creative freedom than the Hollies would give him so he quit that band.
Stills and Crosby came together to record “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” about Stills’s girlfriend Judy Collins and during those sessions discussed forming a trio, eventually adding Nash to the group when he put a high vocal overlay to add to what the duo had already put together.
So what happens when you join such strong personalities? You get memorable classics like “Woodstock,” “Teach Your Children,” “Just A Song Before I Go” and many others. The trio was also occasionally joined by Neil Young, though he will not be part of Saturday’s entertainment.
During the evening, you can no doubt expect solo songs as each member has a strong musical presence on his own. Those solo careers seem to have come from the differences of opinion that broke them at various times during the 1970s. By the end of the decade, they decided to remain together.
There may also be political activism as part of the show. Long time fans know they opposed the Vietnam War. They wrote “Ohio” in response to the deaths at Kent State University and they remain current as evidenced by a recent recording called “Almost Gone (The Ballad of Bradley Manning.”
The Louisville Palace doesn’t list an opening act so CSN will get straight down to business from the opening curtain.
Photo: Karin Hildebrand Lau / Shutterstock.com
