Music legend Nash sounds as great today as in the 60s

I'VE never seen the Hollies, or Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, but I can now say I've had rock superstar Graham Nash personally serenade me, albeit on a Zoom call from the USA.

- By WILLIAM TELFORD

Graham with The Hollies on Doddy's Music Box, in March 1967

(STUBBS)

It's a beautiful day in New York, he tells me, not that you'd know it - Nash hasn't got his camera turned on - but he's chatting and singing to me, sitting at my desk in Plymouth as he talks up his forthcoming gig in Torquay.

Yes, the man who wrote Marrakesh Express and Our House is bringing his 'More Evenings of Songs and Stories' tour to the Princess Theatre on Sunday, October 12. It should be great.

Nash's songs need no introduction, they are part of the catalogue of rock music's greatest tunes, from Hollies' pop classics such as Stop Stop Stop and On a Carousel to Pre-Road Downs and Lady of the Island, from the first Crosby, Stills and Nash album back in 1969.

And if his chat with me is anything to go by, Nash will be an engaging, charming and slightly eccentric host. In a 20-minute interview he managed to cover American surrealism, ancient Mercia, Alfred the Great, a trip to Sussex, his wife Amy Grantham's paintings and what he thinks of US President Donald J Trump (he's not a fan).

He also spoke with real pathos about his great pal and musical colleague David Crosby, who died in 2023 at the age of 81. "I miss David. A great loss to me personally," he said.

Nash also occasionally broke into an a cappella song too, which was weird, but delightful nonetheless and actually made my day. Fans who attend his tour, which starts this weekend with gigs in Gateshead and York, are in for a treat.

Speaking from his Manhattan home ahead of jetting to the UK, Nash, who has lost none of his Mancunian accent despite living stateside for more than half a century, talked about his extensive back catalogue and how he would be playing a "rainbow" of songs in Torquay.