David Crosby, R.I.P.

David Crosby, co-founder of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash (Crosby, Still, Nash and Young) passed away today at the age of 81.

No cause of death was released although Crosby had a long history of heart troubles plus a liver transplant. Nevertheless, he remained busy up until the very end having released five solo albums between 2014 and 2021. Just last month, Crosby mused about returning to the road. Crosby was active on Twitter up until yesterday.

I would be remiss to mention that my only interaction with Crosby was on Twitter. In September 2016, Crosby performed in my hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario. I asked him what he remembered about Thunder Bay. To my delight, he replied, "The long drive."

I also had the opportunity to see him in concert thrice. On two occasions I saw him with Crosby, Stills and Nash in Boston - once at an outdoor concert at The Fleet Pavilion in July 2001 and again at the Wang Theatre in May 2015 (which I reviewed for The American Spectator). Not long after that Crosby had a falling out with the rest of the group and they would never tour again. In August 2019, I saw Crosby play in New York City with my Dad at an outdoor concert in Lincoln Square. When he hit the stage, Crosby said, "Boy, it does not suck to be here."

I have been listening to Crosby's music for as long as I can remember. While with The Byrds, Crosby co-wrote "Eight Miles High" (though it was mostly Gene Clark's song), "Why" and "Renaissance Fair" with Roger McGuinn while writing "Everybody's Been Burned", "Lady Friend" and "Triad" on his own. During his CSN (CSNY) days, Crosby wrote "Guinnevere" "Wooden Ships" (with Stephen Stills and Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane), "Long Time Gone", "Almost Cut My Hair" and "Deja Vu".

But perhaps my favorite work of Crosby was his first solo album If I Could Only Remember My Name was released in 1971. I liked it so much that I wrote a retrospective review of it on the 50th anniversary of its release. It was not well received at the time of its release and Crosby would not release another solo album for nearly 20 years. From what I hear, If I Could Only Remember My Name gets better with every passing year because music is love. R.I.P.