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David Crosby

It’s a good time to be David Crosby. The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee is experiencing an unprecedented surge not only in prolificacy, but in creativity.

Sky Trails, his third album of original material in four years, takes the fearless folk rock legend in a new musical direction as the set tilts toward a full band sound with deep, soulful grooves. “It’s a natural thing for me,” says Crosby, who joyously embraced the challenge of the shifting song structures. “I’ve always felt more comfortable there. There’s complexity, intricacy and subtleties in the music. I like that stuff.”

The album opens with the intoxicating “She’s Got To Be Somewhere,” –Crosby and a nine-piece band premiered the track via the Tonight Show earlier this year - which sounds like a lost Steely Dan cut complete with sturdy horns, bending guitar notes and lilting melodies. “We didn’t consciously do that,” Crosby says. “We just naturally go to a place where Donald [Fagen] goes. I loved Steely Dan right from the first notes I heard.”

“We” is Crosby and the Sky Trails musicians, the core of whom are saxophonist Steve Tavaglione, bassist Mai Agan, drummer Steve DiStanislao, and Crosby’s son, multi-instrumentalist James Raymond, who also produced the album.

Sky Trails follows last year’s critically acclaimed Lighthouse – which received praise from outlets including Rolling Stone, Stereogum and NPR Music - which was preceded by 2014’s Croz, Crosby’s first solo album in 20 years. Though Crosby wrote many of the songs for Sky Trails as he was working on Lighthouse, the two are distinctly different projects. “Lighthouse was conspicuously and deliberately acoustic,” Crosby says. “Sky Trails was intended to be a full band record from the start.”

Crosby found himself reinvigorated by the stellar musicians with which he’s surrounded himself. “All the people in the Sky Trails band are much younger than me, so I have to paddle faster to keep up,” he says with a laugh.

His delight in working with his son, whom Crosby met when Raymond was 30 after being given up for adoption, is palpable. “The relationship that’s developed with my son is absolutely uncanny and wonderful,” he says.

Crosby co-wrote four of the album’s 10 songs with Raymond. “He’s probably the person I write best with,” Crosby says. “We often write over the internet. I’ll send him a scrap of words and then we’ll expand on it or I’ll send him a complete set of words and he’ll say, ‘please let me see what I can come up with’ and he’ll send me back a demo of what he thinks the music should be.”

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Album Review

Stephen Stills: Live At Berkeley 1971

Read "Live At Berkeley 1971" reviewed by Doug Collette


Given the length and breadth of Stephen Stills' discography--as a solo artist, leader of the Manassas band, and in various collaborations--it's altogether surprising he hasn't done more archival work. But Live At Berkeley 1971 rectifies the neglect, at least to some degree, and might augur well for future releases. This sixty-six minutes (on CD or two LPs), recorded over two nights, may not be the definitive recording of its time anymore than the contractual obligation that was/is Stephen ...

24
Catching Up With

David Crosby: A Revitalized Creativity

Read "David Crosby: A Revitalized Creativity" reviewed by Mike Jacobs


David Crosby has had--and is still having--quite a long and storied career. While many musicians obviously have had those too, music doesn't always come out on top for many at this late stage of the game. It has though for Mr. Crosby--quite conspicuously. All About Jazz had a conversation with the seemingly unstoppable music icon about his influences, jazz fandom and new found inspiration at this part of his journey. All About Jazz: In the past ...

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Interview

Interview: David Crosby

Interview: David Crosby

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

A month ago, I spent nearly two hours with David Crosby in New York at the duplex of his friend. The apartment was on a perilously high floor of the Time Warner condo apartments in New York and had a majestic view of Central Park. David was in town to appear with bandmates Stephen Stills and Graham Nash at a Jazz at Lincoln Center concert celebrating Crosby, Stills & Nash's (CSN) music. My conversation with David appears in today's Wall ...

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Music Industry

David Crosby's Reason for 1985 Golden Bear Show Cancellation Beats Them All

David Crosby's Reason for 1985 Golden Bear Show Cancellation Beats Them All

Source: Michael Ricci

When a concert venue cancels a show these days, nine times out of 10 the reason given is scheduling conflicts, a catch-all phrase that can mean “We couldnt sell enough tickets" to “The star attraction got a better gig."

Cancellation explanations dont get much better than the one issued by the Golden Bear back in 1985 when David Crosby bowed out of a booking at the Huntington Beach club whose legacy is being saluted this weekend with shows Friday and ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Live At Berkeley 1971

Omnivore Recordings
2023

buy

Lighthouse

GroundUP Music
2016

buy

Croz

Blue Castle Records
2014

buy

If I Could Only...

Atlantic Records
2011

buy

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