Photo courtesy of Sacks & Co
ON TOUR THROUGHOUT 2022
Two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and founding member of both the Hollies and Crosby, Stills & Nash, Graham Nash’s new album Graham Nash: Live is out now via Proper Records. The record features Nash performing his first two critically acclaimed solo albums, Songs For Beginners and Wild Tales, in their entirety, recorded on tour in the Northeastern U.S. in September, 2019. Purchase/stream the album at https://grahamnash.lnk.to/live.
Graham Nash: Live is already garnering early critical acclaim, with Consequence of Sound hailing it as “a beautiful set” while Stereogum raves that Nash’s “crystalline voice has driven his own songs and elevated the songs of other musicians.” American Songwriter adds that “many, if not all of his songs, are just as significant and worthy today as they were when they’d been written some 50 years ago.”
Nash’s career as a solo artist took flight in 1971, with these two seminal albums showcasing the depths of his abilities as a singer and songwriter. His solo debut Songs For Beginners includes the hits “Simple Man,” “Chicago/We Can Change the World” and “Military Madness,” and Wild Tales, released in 1974, features “Prison Song,” “Oh! Camil” and “You’ll Never Be the Same.” While the songs on these albums are largely autobiographical—dissecting Nash’s relationship and subsequent breakup with Joni Mitchell, recalling his 3,000-mile sea voyage with David Crosby from Florida to San Francisco by way of the Panama Canal, and remembering his parents—they also show the depth and breadth of Nash’s songwriting and storytelling, chronicling society’s frayed edges during the Vietnam era, championing the defense of free speech, calling for prison reform as well as political reform and more.
“I’ve been trying to figure out why Songs For Beginners and Wild Tales [were] so popular and I think it’s that intimacy and that immediacy of my emotions,” explains Nash. He goes on to note, “We’re supposed to learn from history and it doesn’t appear as if we’re learning much. Songs like ‘Military Madness’…is that not relevant today? The hope that we can change the world, isn’t that still relevant today? I’m very flattered that my music seems to have lasted this long, but I’m also a little upset that we have to keep singing a song like ‘Military Madness’ right up to the present. Enough already!”
In addition to his two Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions (with Crosby, Stills & Nash and the Hollies), he was inducted twice into the Songwriters Hall of Fame as well—as a solo artist and with CSN—and he is also a Grammy Award winner. Towering above virtually everything that Graham Nash has accomplished in his multifaceted career stands the litany of songs that he has written and introduced to the soundtrack of the past half-century. His remarkable body of work, beginning with his contributions to the Hollies catalogue, continues all the way to This Path Tonight (2016), his most recent solo album.
His passionate voice has long been heard in support of peace and social and environmental justice. The No Nukes/Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) concerts he organized with Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt in 1979 remain seminal benefit events. In September 2013, Nash released his long-awaited autobiography Wild Tales, which landed him on the New York Times Best Sellers list. In recognition of his contributions as a musician and philanthropist, Nash was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. While continually building his musical legacy, Nash is also an internationally renowned photographer and visual artist whose work has been shown in galleries and museums worldwide, and his photography has drawn honours including the New York Institute of Technology’s Arts & Technology Medal, an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, and the Hollywood Film Festival’s inaugural Hollywood Visionary Cyber Award. Most recently Nash released A Life In Focus: The Photography Of Graham Nash (via Insight Editions), in which he reflects on more than fifty years of an extraordinary life in an extensive collection of personal photographs and artistic stills.
GRAHAM NASH: LIVE TRACK LIST
1. Military Madness
2. Better Days
3. Wounded Bird
4. I Used To Be A King
5. Be Yourself
6. Simple Man
7. Man In The Mirror
8. There’s Only One
9. Sleep Song
10. Chicago/We Can Change The World
11. Wild Tales
12. Hey You (Looking At The Moon)
13. Prison Song
14. You’ll Never Be The Same
15. And So It Goes
16. Grave Concern
17. Oh! Camil
18. I Miss You
19. On The Line
20. Another Sleep Song
