Graham Nash doubted Neil Young joining Crosby, Stills & Nash

At this point, Neil Young had only released one solo album, his 1968 self-titled debut. His first record with Crazy Horse, Everyone knows this is nowherewas also in the can. But from Nash’s perspective, Young was mostly the peculiar guy from Buffalo Springfield.

“One of my favorite songs is ‘Expecting To Fly’ from Buffalo Springfield againlike (Young) did with Jack Nitzsche,” Nash said. “So I knew who Neil was and I loved this damn song. I was a big fan of Buffalo Springfield. How could you not?”

Nevertheless, despite the support of Young’s former bandmate Stills, Nash wasn’t sure if Neil would make sense of what was needed, which was basically an extra complementary musician for the CSN road show.

“We talked to Stevie Winwood,” Nash recalled. “We talked to Van Dyke Parks. We needed someone who could just keep Stephen on his game and competitive and on fire. And I think basically Stephen and (producer) Ahmet (Ertegun) came up with the idea—or maybe was it Ahmet to Stephen – about getting Neil on board.”

Neil Young was happy enough to join the team, but he first had to pass the test of a man-to-man meeting with Graham Nash. As the lone Brit in the band, it would then be up to Nash to decide whether CSN would become a tri-nation ensemble by adding a Canadian.

“So at a coffee shop on Bleecker Street in New York, I went and had breakfast with Neil,” Nash said. “After that breakfast, I would have made him the president of Canada. He was incredibly funny. He had an incredibly dry sense of humor … at the end of that breakfast I went down to the village gate where we were rehearsing and I said “OK”.

Any lingering doubts Nash may have had about Young were quickly dispelled when the first Crosby, Still, Nash & Young album, 1970s Deja Vuwas another huge success, topping the US charts and scoring three top ten singles. Famously, things didn’t exactly go on pleasantly after that, as growing internal rivalries (and occasionally a seething hatred) among the members of CSNY—along with Neil Young’s simultaneous explosion as a solo artist—created a rough footing and various fallouts and reunions. Overall, though, Nash would always remain happy that Young had entered the marquee.

“It was a different band when Neil joined,” Nash explained. “Not many people understand that. They think it’s just an extra vote. But it isn’t. It is an additional attitude. Neil brings a sharper edge. I would say a darker feeling, but I don’t mean that in a negative way. He brings this edge to us that we don’t have. And of course you have to take into account his ability to play lead guitar against and with Stephen… Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young is a completely different band than CS&N.”

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