Graham Nash Revisits His Early Solo Albums

On Friday night, I saw Graham Nash perform at The Town Hall in New York City. This performance comes less than seven weeks after I saw his former CSN/CSNY bandmate and former friend David Crosby perform an outdoor show at Damrosch Park in Lincoln Center.

While Crosby performed some new material, Nash performed songs at least 45 years old. However, many of these old songs had never been performed live before his current tour. Nash devoted most of the evening performing his first two solo albums - Songs for Beginners (1971) and Wild Tales (1974). The impetus for this is Nash's new wife Amy Grantham who urged him to perform these songs on tour.

Several songs on Songs for Beginners have been part of Nash's CSN repertoire for years - "Military Madness", "I Used To Be a King", "Simple Man" & "Chicago". But the rest of the album was unknown to me & I'd never heard any of the tracks on "Wild Tales". So, for all intents and purposes, I  was listening to new material.

Or as Nash put it, "They're actually worth a shit."

While Crosby is outspoken on Twitter, he kept politics to a minimum during last month's show with the exception of "Ohio". Nash was far more overtly political than his estranged bandmate. He dedicated "There's Only One" to Swedish child climate activist Greta Thunberg who made waves at the UN General Assembly this week. Nash dedicated "Prisoner Song" to Ramsey Orta, the man who videotaped the 2014 choking death of Eric Garner at the hands of the NYPD. Orta is now doing time on gun and drug charges, but it is believed he was targeted by the NYPD because of the videotape and has been targeted for harassment while incarcerated. I must admit I knew nothing of Orta until Nash mentioned hm. It gives the Garner case a whole sinister dimension. Nash also performed "Oh Camil! The Winter Soldier" which was written in honor of Vietnam Veterans Against The War founding member Scott Camil.

If that wasn't enough, Nash also performed "Grave Concern" which he recorded during the Watergate hearings in honor of Frank Wills, the security guard who discovered and reported the break in at the Watergate Hotel. Nash said, "His single act brought down the President of the United States." When the song was recorded it was overdubbed with President Nixon saying, "I'm not a crook." Nash updated the background with some of President Trump's words (i.e. "I alone can fix.")  "I'll say one thing about the Trump Administration," said Nash, "This is an incredibly great country and we deserve better." While I wish there we would elect a new President it is no guarantee things will get better.

There were lighter moments such as when he talked about writing "Another Sleep Song" at Barbra Streisand's house while she was eating a TV dinner. There was also much laughter when he told his familiar tale of taking LSD and going to Stonehenge & Winchester Cathedral only to end upon the grave of a soldier who died on his birthday in 1799.

But no evening with Graham Nash would be complete without his signature songs "Our House" and "Teach Your Children". After a night exploring the obscure  it was good to end the evening with something familiar.