Acclaimed musician Stephen Stills shared memories of his late CSN (and later CSNY) bandmate David Crosby, who sadly died at age 81 last month, as part of a new interview with Rolling Stone. Stills also told Rolling Stone’s Andy Greene he gets together with Neil Young for private jam sessions each week.
“When you’re young, if you’re not fighting, someone doesn’t care enough about the music,” Stills explained to Greene. “When you get middle-aged, you should be able to do it without fighting. Later on, you turn into a curmudgeon, especially if you’re as clever as David was. But it’s a cyclical thing, these relationships. And this was a lifetime relationship. That’s hard to let anybody else inside of.”
The pair last saw each other in August of 2021 at the funeral of CSN keyboardist Mike Finnigan. “It was time to reconnect with the old Croz,” Stills explained. “Then he just went out the back door.” Stephen Stills noted to Greene that he was on good terms with David Crosby over the past few years and had plans to connect in person. Unfortunately, those plans never came to fruition after Croz passed away.
“I’m shocked [that David died] but not surprised,” Stills added. “I love the guy. He was a big force in my life and a towering musician. He was all excited about his new band. [My son] Christopher was in his band, and they were going to get back on the road a little. He just went to take a nap and didn’t come back. When you think about it, it beats the hell out of being in a hospital with people beating on your chest or something.”
Stephen Stills recruited his former Buffalo Springfield and CSNY bandmate Neil Young to co-headline the Austism Speaks Light Up The Blues 6 benefit concert at Los Angeles’ The Greek Theatre on April 22. While the show will mark the first time in years the pair have shared the stage publicly, they have reconvened privately for jam sessions.
“We’re proving the adage that Rust Never Sleeps,” Stills told Greene of sessions that take place every Wednesday. “We hang out in the studio. We play old songs. We play other people’s songs. We just play together, the two of us. We go back and rediscover old Buffalo Springfield songs and then just play them on the natch. We then listen to the records and go, ‘Oh God, we missed that by a mile.’ But we do it every week. Shakey and I have always gotten along great.”
In addition to the upcoming Autism Speaks benefit concert, Stills also performs occasionally with a band assembled by Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay that also includes bassist Mike Mills (R.E.M.), drummer Kenny Aronoff and guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd. As for an actual tour? “The idea of touring absolutely appalls me,” Stills said. “I can’t imagine being on the bus for 14 hours. You can’t take drugs anymore. It’s no longer fun.”
