It’s a good time to be David Crosby. The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee is experiencing an unprecedented surge not only in prolificacy, but in creativity.
Sky Trails, his third album of original material in four years, takes the fearless folk rock legend in a new musical direction as the set tilts toward a full band sound with deep, soulful grooves. “It’s a natural thing for me,” says Crosby, who joyously embraced the challenge of the shifting song structures. “I’ve always felt more comfortable there. There’s complexity, intricacy and subtleties in the music. I like that stuff.”
But, being 76 years old and on the road isn’t easy.
“There’s about three hours of joy, and then around 21 hours of hard stuff. When I get to sing, I’m the happiest guy you ever met. I love it. But the rest of the time, when you can’t get more than three hours of sleep in a row and you’re eating at some crappy restaurant and you don’t get home cooking, then it’s hard. It beats the crap out of me. I’m an old guy and I don’t have the kind of stamina I used to, and so it’s daunting. In the first place, I love performing, and in the second place, it’s the only way we make any money now. We don’t make any money off records, so the only way we make a living is to go out and play live. And it’s hard. At my age, it’s really hard. But it’s also the only thing I’ve got.”
