He brings a darker edge and a more realistic edge to our musicIt did fit, though.

Graham Nash, Music Radar There was a time when an invitation to a Joni Mitchell or Mama Cass party could be an invitation to make musical history.

Graham Nash, David Crosby and Stephen Stills knew each other from the scene but it was a party hosted by Mitchell where the three heard their voices harmonise together for the first time and a new band was born out of the ashes of The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and The Hollies.

However, unlike other super-groups like Cream and Blind Faith, Crosby, Stills and Nash warily used their last names so that the act could not continue if one were to leave.

They quickly recorded their first eponymously titled album which was a major hit but also presented a problem.

Multi-instrumentalist Stills had played most of the non-guitar parts in the recording and they now needed to perform these songs live, so Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun suggested Stills former Buffalo band mate Neil Young participate in their tour.

At first Nash didnt want Young to join the band (as he told Music Radar ), but then realised that not only could the band use more of a rock edge, but also that Stephen needed somebody to spark off of and play the guitar, because thats who Stephen was.

Listen: Crosby Stills Nash Young Deja Vu Musical Lead-Up Playlist The band with the addition of Young debuted live at Chicagos Auditorium Theater with Joni Mitchell as the opening act.

Two days later they performed their second gig at the now legendary Woodstock festival.

Joni, who was also in a relationship with Nash, sadly missed the Woodstock event, as their collective managers Elliott Roberts and David Geffen were not sure if she would be able to extricate herself from the 800,000 amassed throng to make her appearance on The Dick Cavett Show the following night.

Instead, she viewed the happening at Yasgurs farm from her hotel room in New York City and wrote a song dedicated to the gathering.

Her own pensive recording of Woodstock was released on her Ladies of the Canyon album in March of 1970.

That same month, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young released their celebratory cover on their Dj Vu LP.

The mood of their second album (or their first as the new CSNY incarnation) was much different than their debut as Graham Nash told Music Radar.

David was in love with Christine Hinton, Stephen was in love with Judy Collins, I was in love with Joni Mitchell.

By Dj Vu, Joni and I had split up, Stephen and Judy had split up, and Christine had just been killed.

Listen: Neil Young Harvest Musical Lead-Up Playlist Crosby was especially going through a tough time as recording commenced just days after his girlfriend Christine was killed in a car accident.

He told Rolling Stone in a 1970 interview, I was not at my best as a functioning person.

I would sometimes come in to the studio and wind up crying being completely unable to deal with it all.

The band members may have been harmony singers but inter-band relationships were not exactly harmonious, possibly due to the fact that all four artists were singer-songwriter-guitarists.

Most of the 800 hours of recording time saw the musicians recording their own parts separately, and some of the songs do not feature Young at all.

As he bitterly recalled in the Red Beard radio interview, They were pretty much into the Crosby Stills and Nash trip at that point so we just did a couple of my songs and added them on.

The band members would critique each others contributions and there was friction.

Dj Vu Crosby Stills Nash Young Rar