With their self-titled debut album, Crosby, Stills & Nash brought together the seemingly disparate elements of southern roots rock, the psychedelic folk of Laurel Canyon, California, and the blue-eyed soul of northern England to make something extraordinary. It was a new kind of folk rock that was at once breezy and emotive, ethereal and earthy—a true blending of talents to form an entirely original, musically coherent whole.
Nevertheless, the disproportionate role of the group’s youngest member but biggest musical talent, Stephen Stills, was beyond question. Stills accounted for half the album’s songwriting and lead vocal credits and the majority of its instrumentation. More egotistical musicians would have used the additional leverage this role afforded them to take control of their group and wield their influence over its other members.
Yet Stills did the opposite. He felt the band’s over-reliance on him as a multi-instrumentalist was to its detriment and limited what he, Crosby and Nash could do with their songs in live performance. And, he suggested that the three of them recruit an extra musician, at least as a touring member and an extra pair of hands in the studio.
His first thought was to approach the young singer, guitarist and keyboard player Steve Winwood, previously of the Spencer Davis Group and Eric Clapton’s supergroup Blind Faith. “It had been our ambition from the start to convince him to join Crosby, Stills & Nash,” Stills revealed in his commentary on a retrospective box set of the band’s debut record. He’d always been a fan of Winwood’s soulful vocals and fought his corner particularly hard when it came time for Crosby, Stills and Nash to go out on the road. “I wanted an organ player who could sing the blues,” he explained.
But Winwood couldn’t be coaxed out of his hermetic existence in England’s Black Country and into the lifestyle of folk rock’s biggest live attraction. “Everytime I trudged across the moors to see him, he was always occupied,” Stills recalled. In the end, he gave up. It was left to Ahmet Ertegun, the impresario of the band’s record label Atlantic, to suggest an alternative.
So, where did Young come in?
Looking at the situation from the outside, Ertegun naturally assumed that a multi-instrumentalist Stills had worked with before would be the natural solution. Surely, no one in the world was better suited to what the group needed than Stills’ former Buffalo Springfield bandmate Neil Young. To the record executive’s surprise, Stills was firmly against the move.
The two singer-songwriters had actually developed a rivalry during their two years playing together. Buffalo Springfield wasn’t big enough for the both of them, and they inevitably went their separate ways in 1968. David Crosby later admitted that the two headstrong creatives would often clash during CSNY recording sessions, which explained Stills’ initial reticence.
Nash was the second member of the group to go against Young joining. “We kept people out,” he later told Reverb. The Englishman wasn’t comfortable letting an outsider into the band, even if it was someone Stills and Crosby both knew well. Nevertheless, with 39 live dates already booked for the second half of the year, something had to give.
Stills and Nash decided to put their reservations to one side and try Young out as part of their live band. Nash was the last to buckle after meeting Young over breakfast and getting along with him famously. “Let’s give it a shot,” he told Stills and Crosby. The trio would test out their prospective fourth member at two live shows in Chicago.
Young joined Crosby, Stills & Nash on stage for the first time on August 16th, 1969, at the Auditorium Theatre. Following Joni Mitchell’s undercard set, the group played for a solid three and a half hours, serving up a thrilling mix of debut album tracks, new material, and songs Young was bringing to the party from elsewhere.
“It felt great to finally put it all together,” Nash reflected. “And to hear the crowd’s reaction, which was beyond delirious.”
It was settled, then. CSN was now CSNY. They played a little festival called Woodstock two days later before heading straight into the studio to record their most celebrated work, their sophomore album, Déjà Vu. Young contributed two songs of his own, including the moving serenade ‘Helpless’. He wasn’t just along for the ride; he was there to stay.