David Crosby R.I.P.

Upon learning about David Crosby's death, I started listening to Crosby's 1971 record, "If I Could Only Remember My Name".  I owned an 8 Track tape of that and listened to it in my 1970 Mustang.  Once I got rid of that car, I had nothing to play 8 tracks on, so until this morning, had not not listened to the album in years.  What an excellent album.  I can make out the voices and guitar playing of Joni Mitchell, Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia, and Jorma Kaukonen. 

The music that Crosby played was a big part in establishing my musical interests.  He was playing Americana music in the early 70's.   I think that it was fantastic that Crosby kept putting out new music later in life.  I was thrilled to see him perform on Chris Thile's "Live From Here" a few years ago playing duet performances with Chris Thile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_8n_0jDFlo

Local radio station, KCRW, was saying that he was recording new music with a live band. So likely to see some new music in the future. I guess that means the music was not put together on a computer, like a lot of artists these days.

I was listening to the song Guinevere this morning on the radio and the line about "peacocks wandering aimlessly" made me think the song was written somewhere near Pasadena, CA. There are peacocks walking aimlessly all over some of the residential neighborhoods.

The news of Crosby's death has prompted me to put my bought-soon-after-it-came-out LP of Mr. Tambourine Man on the turntable. Plastic inner sleeve. Pressing weighs a ton. It's probably the first time I've played it when I've had a high-end system. It's certainly the first time I've put it on the 'table this century.

In any event, son-of-a-gun is that album gorgeous. The guitars jingle-jangle majestically. The vocals angelically ring out. The rhythm section plays with purpose. What can I say? A religious experience.

He was a  part of musical history in an amazing time and at this point trying to quantify his talent is silly...he was good at everything he did, and went at it hard until his end...well done David!

So sad.  R.I.P. brother.  Your music put a smile on many faces.  Thank you for sharing your talents with the world.