David Crosby Biography

David Crosby... a member of the Byrds? I thought he was in CSN... On first listen, the music of the Byrds might seem to have little in common with that of Crosby Stills and Nash, David Crosby's musical home for more than 25 years. But listen closer.

In many ways, Crosby’s career in CSN has eclipsed his formative rock years spent in the Byrds. He’s risen to greater fame and stayed in the public eye as a member of Crosby Stills and Nash. But before lending his name, as well as distinctive song writing, soaring harmonies and unique public persona, to the mix that became the ‘60s first super-group, the icons of the Woodstock generation, spokesgroup for a generation and all the other tags that have been attached to Crosby Stills and Nash, David Crosby was first a founding member of the Byrds.

Crosby, the eldest of the original Byrds, had been performing for about five years, first with his brother as a folk duo and later as a member of the Les Baxter’s Balladeers (he’s singing with the group on the rare album "Jack Linkletter Presents a Folk Festival").

Around November 1963 or so, before he, Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn formed the Byrds, he recorded at least three solo demo recordings with Jim Dickson, of which two ("Willie Gene" and "Come Back Baby") were later released on the very rare "Early L.A. Vol. 4," and they are early artefacts that evidence his love of jazz and blues.

It was his association with Dickson that in many ways was crucial to the Byrds getting their shot at stardom—Dickson gave the band extensive free after-hours studio time that allowed them to hone their sound before ever doing any serious recording. Dickson also became the band’s first manager.

Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark were harmonising together at Los Angeles’ Troubador folk club in early 1964 when David Crosby walked up and, uninvited, began improvising a third harmony part.

As McGuinn recalls, "When David Crosby walked in and began singing a wonderful high harmony part, it was magical." Legend has it that the next words out of Crosby’s mouth were "Can I join -our- band." He did join, and thus were the Byrds born.

Taking flight

By mid-1964, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Gene Clark who briefly had called themselves the "Jet Set"—had recruited bongo player Michael Clarke and mandolin-player-turned-bassist Chris Hillman to round out the band. They began practising in earnest, using the Beatles as the road map but soon developing their own sound rooted in the members’ folk-music background. By the time the band entered Columbia Studios in early ‘65 to record their album, McGuinn had already settled on a distinctive jingle-jangle sound complemented by harmonies orchestrated by David Crosby.

If Roger McGuinn is responsible for the early, chiming 12-string signature sound of the Byrds, then David Crosby gave the Byrds its voice—his impeccable sense of harmony—and his occasional dissonance—was integral to the Byrds early success. Similarly, Gene Clark, in many ways the emotional centre of the band, set the song-writing standard that the others eventually were able to rise to upon Clark’s departure from the band at the end of ‘65.

Crosby’s contribution, however, went much further than his ability to weave vocal lines around Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark (and later Chris Hillman).

Through his affiliation with Dickson prior to the Byrds, he had discovered early the exotic sounds of Ravi Shankar (who had recorded at Dickson’s studio) and Indian music. Never one to keep quiet his enthusiasm, Crosby was an early proponent of the sitar master, introducing his music to both Roger McGuinn and George Harrison. On early cross-country tours with the original Byrds quintet, Crosby played John Coltrane’s "Africa Brass" and other jazz recordings endlessly, "programming Coltrane into McGuinn’s brain," as he has commented. Of course, McGuinn knew brilliant music when he heard it, and he would became probably as big a fan of Shankar and Coltrane as Crosby. Both influences would show up on the first post-Clark album, 5-D, which introduced so-called Raga Rock as well as some of the first strains of psychedelic rock and roll to the world.

Creative heights

Never a band to stand still, by the next album, "Younger than Yesterday," most of the Indian influences had disappeared as McGuinn, Crosby et al. pursued new interests. Even the jazz influence was less evident. At Chris Hillman’s instigation, the band was beginning its first explorations of country music. Crosby was exploring his interest in non-traditional chord structures and song writing,

specialising in the oblique. And Roger McGuinn experimented with the sounds of the post-war generation, helping introduce noise, distorted vocals and mechanical, metallic sounds to popular music. The band was dealing with new ways, new visions to express "Thoughts and Words." No album better reflected the split personality of the Byrds as a band than "Younger than Yesterday" it is a song-writing and musical testament of a band with three distinct personalities, egos and visions. While brilliant, the follow-up "Notorious Byrd Brothers," shows the band in transition; the next album "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" was primarily the vision of Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, and all future Byrds albums would reflect the vision of Roger McGuinn (though with input from other members, of course).

"Younger than Yesterday" is also a document from a band with too much potential, too much talent. No band on Earth could provide a suitable creative outlet to satisfy the needs of David Crosby, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. Band politics would dictate that Crosby would lose the battle over musical direction of the Byrds, and he was fired from the band in mid-October 1967.

Several events led up to his departure, all well documented—including his displeasure at the band choosing cover material over his own songs, specifically "Goin’ Back" (by Carole King and Gerry Goffin) vs. his own "Triad." McGuinn, Michael Clarke and Chris Hillman also were reportedly infuriated over his decision to perform at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967 with the Byrds and then again the next day with the Buffalo Springfield, subbing for Neil Young after one of his many resignations from that band, which was possibly the greatest threat to the Byrds’ supremacy on the Los Angeles music scene. (Incidentally, most of the Byrds’ set at Monterey was finally released as part of Rhino’s Monterey box set.)

Crosby was a member of the Byrds for about 3-1/2 years, and he appears on their classic first five albums. Two years after leaving the Byrds, he, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash formed Crosby Stills & Nash, a creative partnership that continues today.

Plotting new paths

In early 1968, Crosby was beginning to restart his career. When he exited the Byrds, Crosby took with him most of his backlog of songs. In March 1968 he entered Hollywood Recorders in Los Angeles, where the Byrds had made many of their classic recordings, and recorded about a half dozen songs and half-songs, including "Wooden Ships" (with scatted vocals), "Laughing," "Games," "Tamalpais High," "The Wall Song," and the still unreleased "Kids and Dogs." As Steve Silberman, an author and Crosby acquaintance, has noted about this early solo Crosby session, "It’s the great lost psychedelic bridge between the Byrds and Joni Mitchell" (whose first solo album Crosby produced and with whom he had been living for a month before the Hollywood Recorders session).

Three months later, Crosby and Stephen Stills would enter the studio together to record some demo tracks, including "Guinnevere" (available in edited form on the Crosby Stills and Nash box set) and "Long Time Gone."

Less than nine months after leaving the Byrds, Crosby already had written the songs that would comprise his entire contribution to the first CSN album (released in ‘69) along with about a half dozen or more that he would include on his first solo album and the first Crosby-Nash duo album. That’s not counting tracks like "It Happens Each Day," "Lady Friend," "Psychodrama City" and "Triad" that the Byrds recorded but omitted from their albums.

Imagine where the Byrds would have gone, as far as musical direction as well as chart/commercial attention, if the Byrds had worked out their differences and "Long Time Gone," "Laughing," and all the other Crosby classics had appeared on Byrds albums. There probably never would have been a "Sweetheart of the Rodeo"—at least not by the Byrds.

New musical foils

Of course, that’s not what happened. Instead, Crosby and Stephen Stills solidified their working relationship by recruiting the Hollies’ Graham Nash in late 1968. By December the trio were beginning to record their masterpiece, "Crosby Stills and Nash." Crosby found a new, more authoritative voice, as well as a more receptive audience for his political and social concerns.

By all accounts, it’s been a tremendously successful musical marriage. The band (with Neil Young) debuted just as the Woodstock nation was defining its identity in upstate New York, and for many people over the years, CSN has reflected that generation’s ups and downs— fighting amongst itself, breaking up, regrouping, searching for religious and social truths, experimenting with new values and new drugs, struggling to remain true to the past while living in the present, facing drug addiction, alcohol dependency, middle age and eventually death.

As the ‘70s unfurled, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young—as individuals—were enjoying greater popularity, fame and public acceptance than any had achieved as members of previous bands. David Crosby, in particular, was entering his most prolific period as a recording artist and songwriter, leaving his career in the Byrds firmly in the past. Rarely has he looked back.

Between 1969 and 1972, about the same amount of time as Crosby spent in the Byrds, Crosby recorded two albums with CSN (and Y), a solo album ("If I Could Only Remember My Name," a Crosby-Nash duo album ("Graham Nash - David Crosby"), produced an album for Joni Mitchell, recorded extensively with his San Francisco friends (including Jerry Garcia and the Jefferson Airplane’s Paul Kantner), and toured with Stills, Nash and Young.

Byrds revisited

It came as a shock, then, in late 1972 when rumours began circulating that the original five members of the Byrds were back in the studio, working on a reunion album. For the most part, it was almost as if the Byrds didn’t exist after 1967 for David Crosby. He is not known to have ever played a Byrds tune in concert during these years, although on at least one occasion he, Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart and Phil Lesh rehearsed "Eight Miles High" (in radically rearranged fashion) for a series of shows the quartet put on around San Francisco in December 1970. It’s possible the song was played at one of these shows. In fact, it was not until 1994 that Crosby began revisiting his Byrds roots in concert, introducing "Eight Miles High" to shocked fans attending Crosby-Nash shows; two years later "Turn Turn Turn" was added to CSN’s set list.

The reunion rumours, however, proved true. In November 1972, Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn, Michael Clarke, Chris Hillman and Crosby began rehearsing for one of the most-hyped reunion albums ever. The resulting album, produced by Crosby, was a disappointment to some, who complained it sounded more like a CSN album than the first couple of Byrds classics. In fact, though, time has proven kind to the album, which has many strong points, including Crosby’s poignant cover of Joni Mitchell’s "For Free." Gene Clark’s rendition of "See The Sky About the Rain" bests the Neil Young original, and Hillman’s "Things Will Be Better" begins the second side on a positive, hopeful note.

Plans for a tour and follow-up album never materialised, and shortly after the album was released in 1973, Crosby was in Hawaii, recording with cohorts Stills, Nash and Young, attempting a second CSNY album. By 1974 Crosby was committed to a mammoth CSNY world tour, which saw the band’s popularity had grown over the years, despite their having no new recordings since the turn of the decade.

The mid-‘70s were full of grand plans that never seemed to come to fruition. The projected ‘73 / 74 CSNY album fell apart, a 1975 / 76 CSNY album ended up being partially erased and instead released as a Stills-Young album. During the ‘70s, Nash and Crosby continued their working relationship with the brilliant "Wind on the Water" in ‘75, followed by "Whistling Down the Wire." In 1977, Crosby, Stills & Nash released its first album in eight years, "C S N," the last studio album of the decade to feature Crosby. Near misses continued, however, as Crosby Stills, Nash and Young regrouped early the next year for a projected CSNY album. First, Young got frustrated and left. He was followed a bit later by Stills. Finally, even the Crosby-Nash sessions fell apart as Crosby became more interested in staying high than creating music.

In the Wide Ruin

The ‘80s weren’t much better. In fact, the first two-thirds were in all likelihood a nightmare for David Crosby.

He recorded a solo album ("Might as Well Have a Good Time") that for the most part remains unreleased, though some songs would end up on the next CSN album and some would eventually surface on later solo albums. And it should be noted that Stills wasn’t doing much better during this time, as he recorded an album in ‘79 / ‘80 (featuring an early version of "Southern Cross") that was also nixed by his record company. Out of desperation, Stills and Nash regrouped and recorded a duo album, but they found their record company unreceptive.

In fact, Atlantic demanded that Crosby be brought into the project so that the album could be released as a CSN album. Crosby added a few vocals to the existing Stills-Nash tracks, donated two songs ("Delta" and "Might As Well Have a Good Time"), and voila, the band had another hit album.

But soon "all the drugs and alcohol began to take their toll," a McGuinn phrase that applied equally to Crosby. David Crosby by 1985 was looking pretty rough. Here he’s seen in court shortly after turning himself over to FBI authorities after spending some time as a fugitive.

Crosby during the early ‘80s was dogged by a series of weapons and drug charges that finally resulted in his being sent to prison from December 1985 to August 1986. Surely, the nadir of his career.

Deja Vu

He emerged from Texas state prison apparently a changed, drug-free man. Crosby mended his relationship with peers Graham Nash, Stephen Stills and Neil Young, recording a CSNY album, solo album, CSN live video and most of a CSN album in the remaining years before the ‘80s closed. He also apparently revived a long dormant relationship with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman.

Crosby had only rarely joined his fellow Byrd mates on stage. One of the few times was a McGuinn Clark & Hillman show on Feb. 2, 1978, at the Boardinghouse in San Francisco. Crosby stayed on stage for almost the entire show, which was broadcast by a San Francisco radio station. Several years later, Roger McGuinn performed a series of shows where he opened for Crosby’s solo band. On a couple of the 1984 dates McGuinn joined Crosby for a couple of tunes during Crosby’s set.

In January 1989, Crosby, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman did indeed stage three shows during which they billed themselves as the Byrds. The impetus was a decision by former Byrd Michael Clarke to begin touring with a couple of latter-day Byrds and no-name musicians, billing the band as the Byrds. McGuinn filed a federal lawsuit to stop Michael Clarke, and the 1989 shows were part of the effort to stop Clarke—an effort that failed.

Nonetheless, fans were treated to a rare treat: The shows began with Chris Hillman’s Desert Rose Band performing a short set, followed by a solo set by Roger McGuinn, then a third set featuring just David Crosby. Finally, all three (with backing from some of the Desert Rose Band members) performed about 45 minutes to an hour of classic Byrds hits, including some rarely performed gems like "It Won’t Be Wrong" and Crosby’s "Everybody’s Been Burned."

The magic continued a year later when the trio gathered for a Roy Orbison tribute show, during which they were joined on stage by none other than Bob Dylan. Two of the songs performed that night were later released on the Byrds box set. In fact, a couple of months later, in August, the trio gathered in Nashville to record four songs specifically for the box set. The Byrds renaissance peaked in January 1991 when the original quintet was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As part of the festivities that night, Crosby, McGuinn, Hillman, Gene Clark and Michael Clarke performed a number of songs together—the first time all five had performed in public together since the mid-1960s. An incredible couple of years concluded just a few months later when Roger McGuinn’s first solo album in more than a decade was released. "Back from Rio" included three songs (actually, two-and-a-half) with Crosby and Hillman joining McGuinn on vocals on "Suddenly Blue," "Without Your Love" and the criminally too short "Back from Rio interlude." Since that time, there have been no new Crosby-McGuinn-Hillman projects. McGuinn and Crosby did, however, participate in a joint interview in late July/early August 1995 that was conducted for a "Forrest Gump" CD-ROM. The soundtrack to the movie had included the Byrds’ version of "Turn Turn Turn." "Roger and I finally saw each other at Paramount Studios in L.A. the other day," Crosby commented in an E-mail note. "We were there to tape an interview for the CD-ROM of Forrest Gump which (as I’m sure you know) used our music. "It was great seeing Roger—he was friendly and nice and fun to talk to, as always," Crosby said. The most recent Byrds-related Crosby event took place on Sept. 6, 1996, when Chris Hillman joined CSN briefly on stage during a show at the Santa Barbara County Bowl. Crosby is also a guest on Hillman’s 1998 album, "Like a Hurricane." The core Byrds trio have indicated that they remain in contact via fax and E-mail.

Back to the Garden

Crosby’s personal renaissance continues into the ‘90s, and his Byrds activities in many ways are just a small footnote to his reviving career. He continues to tour seemingly constantly with Nash and Stills (or with just Nash). In 1993, Crosby released a beautiful solo album "Thousand Roads," featuring two of his strongest songs in at least a decade, "Thousand Roads" and "Yvette in English" (written with Joni Mitchell). A live solo album recorded that year (but not released until early 1995) includes many rare Crosby works performed live, as well as two new songs—yet more evidence that Crosby’s song-writing skills remain intact.

Two years ago, Crosby Stills and Nash released their first new album in three years, their best, most cohesive work in two decades, "After the Storm." In August the band made a triumphant return to Woodstock for the 25^th anniversary concert that was broadcast live by satellite to millions. The band transcended the generation gap and spoke perhaps as much for the twenty somethings as for the 40- and 50-somethings.

A few months later Crosby beat fate yet again, undergoing an emergency liver transplant on Nov. 20, 1994. Less than six months later, David’s wife, Jan Crosby, gave birth to 7-pound Django Dance Crosby. (Crosby also has a son and daughter from earlier relationships.) In October, Crosby returned to the stage for the first time since his transplant, looking healthy and performing a strong show with Stills and Nash in Tampa, Florida. 1996 saw Crosby in fine form, engaging in a major CSN tour.

Several Crosby-related albums were released in 1996, as well. The King Biscuit Flower Hour has released an April 1989 Crosby solo (with band) show that was aired several times by the syndicated radio program—and the CD includes songs never aired. Crosby’s Byrds work is also being reissued on re-mastered CDs, which contain additional Crosby-related material.

Finally, earlier in 1996, Crosby Stills & Nash were voted into the Rock Hall of Fame—making Crosby part of an elite group of double inductees. The band was officially inducted into the hall of fame in January 1997.

Also in January, Crosby embarked on a small-scale West Coast tour with Jeff Pevar and James Raymond, Crosby’s long-lost son who had been given up for adoption when Crosby was a teen-ager. The trio recorded an amazing debut album, released in mid-1998, and have embarked on a wide-ranging world tour.

A live album from a 1997 CPR show in San Luis Obispo, California, is being sold only at their concerts and through the CPR web site.

I'd like to acknowledge several sources which were very helpful: David Crosby's insightful biography, "Long Time Gone"; Goldmine's David Crosby issue of July 7, 1995; Roger McGuinn's FAQ (frequently asked questions -- and answers) on the Byrds; McGuinn's and Crosby's Internet postings to alt.music.byrds and Byrdmaniax mailing list, as well as personal E-mail messages from both McGuinn and Crosby; Hans Veldhuizen's CSN home page; Johnny Rogan's Byrds biography, "Timeless Flight"; Rogan's "Crosby Stills Nash and Young: The Visual Documentary"; and David Gans' Grateful Dead Hour #41 featuring David Crosby from circa 1989, as well as Gans' Grateful Dead Hour #344 which featured interviews with and music from Crosby (aired in April 1995). There's also an "authorized" CSN biography from the early 80s or late 70s that was a tremendous resource from which I made many notes years ago. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy and can't remember the title or author!

VISIT RICHARD'S WEB SITE DEDICATED TO THE BYRDS