By Mattie Murnane
Graham Nash- from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (CSNY) fame- has announced the arrival of a new album, Now, to be released on May 19th this year. In a statement about the project, Nash claimed, “my new album, Now, is the most personal one I have ever made”.
The first piece unveiled from the album so far is the single, “Right Now”. It starts with a classic Graham Nash drum fill intro (reminiscent of “Grave Concern”), dropping you into an empowering folk rock ballad of the kind Nash has been creating on his own since Songs for Beginners.
Back in 2017, my brother introduced me to Graham Nash when he started playing his song “Better Days” repeatedly on our home’s piano after his first break up. Graham’s distinct voice, intimate lyrics, and sentimental acoustic rhythms have since continued to affect me in a profound and emotional way, similar to his CSNY day’s. Especially songs like, “I miss you”, “On the Line ”, and “You’ll Never be the Same”, that he wrote about his time with Joni Mitchell.
While “Right Now”is enjoyable in its lyrics and composition, I would not recommend listening to the song as your first introduction to Graham Nash’s solo work. If you are looking for that kind of recommendation, start in order with Songs for Beginners. But as for “Right Now”, he is right, it is personal. Yet, Graham’s work has always been incredibly personal. He has set a high bar and my conclusion is that whether he considers this song his most honest or not, the listener needs to get to know young Nash first in order to feel the depth of the emotions in his current work.
This release comes at a grave time in Nash’s life. David Crosby, his musical partner and friend, passed away January 18th 2023. I don’t want to say much more about David Crosby’s passing because his surviving friends and work speak so genuinely themselves.
“His death is like an earthquake: You know that you’re in an earthquake, but subsequently, other smaller earthquakes happen afterwards. His death has been like that. It was only two or three days after he passed that I realized that he was actually gone.”
-Graham Nash
Rest in peace David Crosby.
The new album comes out on May 19th 2023.