Your Music Book Store: Talking with ‘CSNY’ author David Browne
For his latest book, “Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: The Wild, Definitive Saga of Rock’s Greatest Supergroup,” David Browne interviewed 120 people. Now the table is turned: He gets interviewed about his own book by Pauseandplay.com.
Pause & Play: Overall, what surprised you the most about CSNY?
Browne: “I suppose that they kept coming back together after breaking up so often. You’d think they had enough of each other – and then, inevitably, they’d pop up at each other’s shows or visit one another in a studio, and boom! Some of it , perhaps, was economics-driven, but I was reminded that there were times when they may have actually missed each other and that magic they could make at their best moments. It’s easy to forget that after 50 sometimes tense years between them.”
P&P: What makes supergroups work and makes them fail?
Browne: “What makes them work is that moment when disparate talents find common ground and create something none of them could have done before. There are plenty of CSNY examples of that: ‘Country Girl,’ ‘Long Time Gone,’ ‘Ohio.’ But makes them fail is that they don’t launch in the way most bands do – getting together in a garage or a bar and playing together. They’re thrown into a room together and told, ‘Be a band!’ That wasn’t the case with CSNY, but they also had moments like that, especially later in their careers when they would convene after a long lay-off.”
P&P: For you, what is the quintessential CSNY song?
Browne: “This may sound strange, since they didn’t write it, but ‘Woodstock.’ It’s the first vivid memory I have of hearing their music (on the AM radio in the family car), and the combination of Stills’ tough vocal, Neil’s wild guitar solo and those harmonies on the chorus (even the way the song starts with each man coming in separately on his instrument) captures that alchemy they could make together.”
P&P: Will we ever see the likes of this kind of band again?
Browne: “We’ll see supergroups in the future, in hip hop and indie (like BoyGenius, who even modeled the cover of their EP after ‘Crosby, Stills & Nash’). Whether they’ll be as massive as CSNY, now that we’re in an era of niche music, is another question.”
Here’s our weekly rundown of upcoming new music book releases …
Read on.
KURT COBAIN
“Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain” (Paperback; Free Preview; Hachette Books) 
KURT COBAIN
“Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain” (Hardcover; author: Danny Goldberg, president and owner of Gold Village Entertainment, an artist management company; Digital Book; Ecco)
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG
“Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: The Wild, Definitive Saga of Rock’s Greatest Supergroup” (Hardcover; author: David Browne; Digital Book; Free Preview; Da Capo Press) 
FLEETWOOD MAC
“The Chain: 50 Years of Fleetwood Mac” (Hardcover; author: Pete Chrisp; eBay; On Tour; Merch; Danann Books)
ELTON JOHN
“Elton John: The Biography” (Paperback; author: David Buckley; Free Preview; Andre Deutsch)
JIMMY PAGE
“Jimmy Page: The Definitive Biography” (Hardcover; author: Chris Salewicz; Da Capo Press)
TRACEY THORN (of Everything But the Girl)
“Another Planet: A Teenager in Suburbia” (Hardcover; Digital Book; Canongate Books)
ROGER MIRET
“My Riot: Agnostic Front, Grit, Guts & Glory” (Paperback; co-author: Jon Wiederhorn; Digital Book; Post Hill Press)
ROBERT CHRISTGAU
“Book Reports: A Music Critic on His First Love, Which Was Reading” (Paperback; Duke University Press)
COCTEAU TWINS
“Stars and Topsoil: Unearthing the Cocteau Twins” (Paperback; author: Nicola Meighan; Jawbone Press)
KEITH ELLIOT GREENBERG
“Where You Goin’ with That Gun in Your Hand?: The True Crime Blotter of Rock ‘n’ Roll” (Paperback; Backbeat Books)
THE JAM
“The Dead Straight Guide to The Jam” (Paperback; authors: drummer Rick Buckler, Ian Snowball; Red Planet)
QUEEN
“The Dead Straight Guide to Queen” (Paperback; author: Phil Chapman; On Tour; Merch; Red Planet)
PHIL SWERN
“Sounds of the Sixties: The Ultimate Sixties Music Companion” (Paperback; Red Planet)
JAMES ARTHUR
“Back to the Boy” (Paperback; Digital Book; Free Preview; Hodder)
JEFF BUCKLEY
“Grace: Based on the Jeff Buckley Story” (Hardcover; author: Tiffanie DeBartolo; graphic-novel illustrators: Pascal Dizin, Lisa Reist; Paperback; Merch; First Second / MacMillan)
JAY DeMARCUS (of Rascal Flatts)
“Shotgun Angels: My Story of Broken Roads and Unshakeable Hope” (Hardcover; contributor: Timothy D. Willard; Digital Book; On Tour; Merch; Zondervan)
NOLAN GASSER
“Why You Like It: The Science and Culture of Musical Taste” (Hardcover; Digital Book; Flatiron Books)
PAUL STANLEY
“Backstage Pass” (Hardcover; Digital Book; eBay; On Tour; Merch; HarperOne)
SONNY JAMES
“Willful Shadows: The Account of Sonny James and the Southern Gentlemen” (Hardcover; author: Gary Robble; Paperback; Clovercroft Publishing)
BARON WOLMAN
“My Generation: The Classic Rock Photos of Baron Wolman” (Paperback; Omnibus Press)
ANI DiFRANCO
“No Walls and the Recurring Dream: A Memoir” (Hardcover; Digital Book; eBay; Viking)
ADAM DOLGINS
“The Big Book of Rock & Roll Names: How Arcade Fire, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Vampire Weekend, and 532 Other Bands Got Their Names” (Paperback; Digital Book; Abrams)
MIKE EVANS & PAUL KINGSBURY
“Woodstock: Three Days that Rocked the World (50th Anniversary Edition)” (Hardcover; Merch; Sterling)
VIVIEN GOLDMAN (formerly of The Flying Lizards)
“Revenge of the She-Punks: A Feminist Music History from Poly Styrene to Pussy Riot” (Paperback; Digital Book; University of Texas Press)
TALIB KWELI
“Vibrate Higher: A Rap Story” (Hardcover; Digital Book; MCD)
MOBY
“Then It Fell Apart” (Hardcover; Read here; Faber & Faber)
RANDY TRAVIS
“Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life” (Hardcover; co-author: Ken Abraham; Digital Book; Thomas Nelson)
PAUL SIMON
“Paul Simon: The Life” (Paperback; author: Robert Hilburn; Free Preview; eBay; Simon & Schuster)
JOHN DOE
“More Fun in the New World: The Unmaking and Legacy of L.A. Punk” (Hardcover; co-author: Tom DeSavia; Digital Book; Da Capo Press)
ROBERT JOHNSON
“Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson” (Hardcover; authors: Bruce Conforth, Gayle Dean Wardlow; Digital Book; eBay; Merch; Chicago Review Press)
R. KELLY
“Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly” (Hardcover; author: Jim DeRogatis, the former Chicago Sun-Times rock critic has been chasing this story of alleged sex abuse since 2000 when he got an anonymous tip about Kelly; Digital Book; Abrams Press)
ELTON JOHN
“Elton John FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the Rocket Man” (Paperback; author: Donald Gibson; Backbeat Books)
LEIF GARRETT
“Idol Truth: A Memoir” (Hardcover; co-author: Chris Epting; Post Hill Press)
RUSH
“RUSH Coloring Book” (Paperback; illustrator: David Calcano; Merch; Fantoons)
BEN FOLDS
“A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons” (Hardcover; Digital Book; On Tour; Merch; Ballantine Books)
STEVE GORMAN (drummer for The Black Crowes)
“Hard to Handle: The Life and Death of the Black Crowes – A Memoir” (Hardcover; contributor: Steven Hyden; Digital Book; Merch; Da Capo Press)
ELTON JOHN
“Me” (Hardcover; his first autobiography; Digital Book; On Tour; Merch; Virgin EMI)
JONI MITCHELL
“Morning Glory on the Vine: Early Songs & Drawings” (Hardcover; handwritten lyrics and watercolor paintings, originally handcrafted as a holiday gift to her friends in 1971, now released to the public for the first time; Merch; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
RUSH
“RUSH: Wandering the Face of the Earth – The Official Touring History” (Hardcover; authors: Skip Daly, Eric Hansen; Merch; Insight Editions)
PRINCE
“I Wonder U: How Prince Went Beyond Race and Back” (Paperback; author: Adilifu Nama; Merch; Rutgers University Press)
ED WARD
“The History of Rock & Roll, Volume II: 1964–1977: The Beatles, the Stones, and the Rise of Classic Rock” (Hardcover; Digital Book; Flatiron Books)
RUSH
“RUSH: Song By Song” (Paperback; author: Alex Body; Merch; Fonthill Media)
About the Author
Gerry Galipault Gerry Galipault debuted Pause & Play online in October 1997. Since then, it has become the definitive place for CD-release dates — with a worldwide audience.
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Your Music Book Store (June 2 and Beyond) →
Your Vinyl Store (May 29-June 4 and Beyond) →
Updates / Additions: Ellie Goulding, Ray LaMontagne, etc. →
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