Graham Nash talks exclusively to The National about his upcoming Glasgow show, his latest album Now and the legacy he wants to leave behind.
There are few in music history that have achieved the legacy that Graham Nash has over his long and illustrious career. The music legend has been twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as co-founder of both The Hollies and Crosby, Stills and Nash, sold tens of millions of records and was a central figure of the 1960s/70s rock scene that defined a generation.
After 60 years, Nash is still going strong and recently released his seventh solo studio album Now, which tackles love, politics and everything in between.
Nash has always been a singer-songwriter concerned with politics and Now is no different with songs like Stars + Stripes and Golden Idols referencing Trump and the Capitol riots in 2021.
There is also a focus on the environmental crisis, which Nash describes as “the biggest problem ever facing humanity".
He added: “Millions of people stand a chance of dying because of climate change. Look at what's happening in Europe, look at what's happening in Canada and California with the wildfires and the earthquakes and the hurricanes.
“It will get worse and it will get faster and I truly believe that we have passed the tipping point of salvation. I think it’s too late now.”
Whether it is through love songs or political messages, there is a directness and profound sense of urgency to Now. This could be because as Nash gets older he is becoming more aware of his own mortality, especially following the death of friend and bandmate David Crosby (below) earlier this year.
"I think about dying"
“Every day I think about dying,” said Nash. “We just lost my best friend David [Crosby], he was 81 and I’m 81. I know that I’m coming towards the end of my life. I certainly hope that I’m around for at least another 20 years but chances are that soon I will pass. I think about that every day.”
Nash looks to keep living in the moment, pushing forward as an artist and continuing to express how he feels through music. However, he also has one eye on his legacy when making new music and considers how his art will be viewed when he passes.
“I’m getting old enough to realise that I have made music that will without question last longer than my physical body. I’m a writer and I wanted to affect people and I think I may have got that done.
“When I get asked what would be my epitaph on my grave, I would only like it to say ‘Graham Nash - I tried my very best.’”
Playing in Scotland
In support of his latest album, Nash brings his Sixty Years of Songs and Stories Tour across the UK, including a date at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall on September 21st.
At this stage in his career, Nash gets equal excitement from performing new songs and classics like Our House and Teach Your Children, which he has been performing for over 50 years.
“They need to feel it the way I wrote it and I will sing Our House with the same passion I had when I wrote it,” said Nash. “I want to be there personally making music for them, I’m not going to phone it in and I’m not going to do it half-assed, I’m going to do it the best way that I can.”
Graham Nash was raised in Manchester and achieved early fame with The Hollies, before unexpectedly quitting the band and moving to California to start a supergroup with David Crosby and Stephen Stills. Nash has lived in the States ever since but still gets a feeling of homecoming when he performs in the UK.
“[When I come back] I feel very warm inside. When CSNY played the last show of their 1974 stadium tour at Wembley Stadium and I got to do Our House by myself and I had 90,000 people singing and clapping, there was a homecoming feeling.
“I was so glad in that moment to be home. England is my home, I’m English. I know that I’ve lived in America for almost 60 years but I’ll never stop being English.”
Throughout his long and illustrious career, Graham Nash has performed on the biggest stages of them all from the aforementioned Wembley Stadium to Woodstock and Live Aid.
However, it is the more intimate venues that the singer-songwriter enjoys performing in the most and he enjoys the personal connection with the crowd which can’t be replicated in the bigger stages.
Nash has been performing in Scotland ever since the early 60s, when he was part of The Hollies, and has vivid memories of his first show at Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow.
He said: “It was completely full and it was so bloody hot. Everybody was sweating, the audience more than us. People were fainting and girls were fainting and carried over people’s heads to the back to try and help them.”
The music icon finished by sharing his love for Scotland, he said: “I love Scotland the most, It’s beautiful. The people are fantastic.
"I’m not saying this to blow smoke up anybody’s ass, I’m telling you that Scotland is a uniquely beautiful place as well as the people.”
Graham Nash will perform at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow on 21st September.
