Graham Nash takes 'This Path' to New Jersey concerts
Graham Nash’s new album is the sound of a man at a crossroads.
Released in April of 2016, “This Path Tonight” reflects a tumultuous time in Nash’s life — one which saw the end of a nearly 40-year marriage, the start of a new romance and a move from Hawaii to New York City.
The resulting collection of songs, Nash’s first solo set of new material in 14 years, recalls his solo debut, the classic protest music and break-up ballad hybrid LP “Songs for Beginners” (1971).
“I wanted to echo that (first) album,” Nash explained on the Asbury Park Press’ “Fan Theory” podcast. “I’ve been trying to figure out for almost 45 years what the attraction of that album was, and I think it’s the simplicity and the directness. You know, I’m a human being, I wake up every morning, thank God, and get on with my day, and I don’t think that I’ve changed much in all these years.”
Nearly half a century has passed, but Nash — a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member with both Crosby, Stills and Nash and The Hollies as well as an activist, photographer and author — still is working with the same spirit, the same heart and the same voice.
“The feelings that I try and express are the feelings that most people I know have,” said Nash, 75. “You know, we’re all in between being completely pissed off with the Trump administration and falling in love with somebody, and everywhere in between.
“I get up and I start breathing and I get on with my day: checking out the news, checking out my friends, seeing what’s going on in the world. And when I feel something very deeply, that’s when I start to write.”
Nash will support “This Path Tonight” with a number of area tour dates. He’ll be at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair on Friday, July 14, followed by the Ocean City Music Pier on Monday, July 24; the Philadelphia Folk Festival on Saturday, Aug. 19, at the Old Pool Farm in Upper Salford Township, Pennsylvania, and the Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University in West Long Branch on Saturday, Sept. 23.
“They’ve always been great music fans, I’ll tell you that,” Nash said of New Jersey audiences. “And what we’re doing now is I’m basically solo but with my friend, (‘This Path Tonight’ producer Shane Fontayne) on guitar with me.
“And it’s been going remarkably well for the last couple of years, stripping everything down to the way that songs were written and then playing them for people with no giant dancers and smoke bombs and people lip-syncing. It’s really an intimate show, and people are loving it.”
It’s not surprising that local fans will be seeing and hearing plenty from Nash, given his recent cross-country move. Discussing his decision to relocate, he said that he “just traded jungles.”
“I lived in the jungle in Hawaii for over 40 years, and now I’m in a different kind of jungle (in New York City),” Nash explained. “It’s very exciting, I went to Hawaii for peace and calm and found too much of it. And I need galleries, I need swap meets, I need different languages before my coffee, I need art, I need action. I need it in my life right now, and that’s what’s going on.”