Crosby, Stills and Nash

By Jerry Fink

Thursday, June 19, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Graham Nash still burns with the same passion he had in the ’60s.

It’s been 40 years since Nash left the Hollies, the British group responsible for such hits as “Bus Stop,” to add the magical third harmony part behind David Crosby and Stephen Stills.

Nash provided more than high harmonies for Crosby, Stills, Nash and (sometimes Neil) Young. His steadying influence often is cited in helping keep the supergroup together. He also wrote some of the band’s most memorable hits, including “Teach Your Children,” “Our House” and “Marrakesh Express.”

Like the other members of the group, he was embroiled in the political and social activism of the times, which also was reflected in his songs, such as “Military Madness,” “Chicago” and “Immigration Man.”

That passion remains in Crosby, Stills and Nash.

“Our fans will be surprised,” Nash says. “They will see a passion they may thought had disappeared in most bands — but not in this one.”

Nash, who lives in Hawaii, is out touring with CSN (shorthand for Crosby, Stills and Nash everywhere outside the reach of College of Southern Nevada) this summer. The band performs at Red Rock on Friday.

He took time out during a tour stop in Seattle to talk about the group and drop hints about some old recordings he’s digging out of the archives.

1. Still saving the world

“I can’t tell you how many benefits we have played,” says Nash, whose last show with the Hollies was a save-the-children benefit at the London Palladium in 1968.

Nash says CSN’s social conscience is intact. For the past 10 years, the group has added an extra dollar to its ticket prices, which it divides among favorite charities.

The quartet (with Young) performed together on the Freedom of Speech tour in 2006 and will reunite Sept. 27 in Oakland, Calif., for a benefit for the Seva Foundation, which aims to end world poverty and was co-founded by their pal Wavy Gravy.

“I think it comes from me seeing and me expressing my opinion of what’s fair,” says Nash, who grew up in Manchester, England. “I’ve had an incredibly lucky life. But even when I was a kid, when I was absolutely penniless, I still knew what was fair and what was not fair. I still tried to help.

“I just don’t like the world not being fair, and seeing people less fortunate than me, and I’ve always tried to do something about it, if I can.”

2. Close harmony

The band members appear to have checked their infamously huge egos and mellowed with age.

“We’re singing some of the acoustic stuff around one mike, which may be a small thing to you but to us it’s an enormous step,” Nash says. “It means that we like each other. We can stand next to each other. We can get the blend in the way we used to do originally.

“It’s different this tour. I think the older we’re getting the more compassionate we’re getting and the more understanding of our weaknesses we are getting, and the more supportive of our strengths we’re getting. I think we’re getting smarter.”

3. Growing old gracefully

Band members also appear to have put addictions and health problems behind them. The group is healthier, Nash says. “Steve lost 25 pounds. Dave lost 55. We’re trying to grow up.”

4. No lost time

Nash isn’t growing old gracefully. “I rarely sleep,” he says. “I’m not a great sleeper. My brain just continues to move. I find it very difficult to sleep at night and calm my mind down. I have so many ideas. With all due respect, I’m 66. How much longer have I got? Ten, 20, 30 years? I’ve got (stuff) to do, man.”

5. Digging into the vaults

When Nash isn’t touring, he’s busy compiling box sets for the group and its members. He says he has 13 projects under way, among them:

• An acoustic show Nash and Crosby performed in 1993. “That’s phenomenal music.”

• A box set of his own recordings from 1964 to the present. In addition to his solo work and hits for CSNY, Nash wrote such tunes as “King Midas in Disguise” for the Hollies.

• A box set of CSN demos. “When I was putting together a box set for CSN that came out 10 years ago, I found 54 of our demos.”

• And a box set for Stills. “He has an enormous history of recording,” Nash says. “In the ’70s, he was a recording fool. He just found a bloody album he made with (Jimi) Hendrix.

“ ‘Oh yeah, I forgot that.’ We’ve got to listen to that ... I want to listen to every track he ever recorded in case he recorded with Al Jolson.”