Legacy artists can sometimes become convinced that the past – and the sounds and lyrical themes that made them famous – should be left in the rearview mirror. Believing their best years, and best songs, are in front of them, such artists become subsumed in reinvention, trendy collaborations or mediocrity, which often renders them desperate or tepid. Think Joni Mitchell’s Dog Eat Dog or David Bowie’s Never Let Me Down for prime examples.
At first glance, Graham Nash’s Now hints at these trappings, its title suggesting a preoccupation with the present that may mean so long to the past. In fact, the record doesn’t stray too far from the magic of his wheelhouse. Fans of Crosby, Stills & Nash, and the singer’s first two ’70s solo works – Songs For Beginners and Wild Tales – will recognise this album’s touchstones: namely love, political outrage, seraphic vocal harmonies and a breezy blend of acoustic, electric and steel guitars.
With Now, Nash doesn’t shun his roots, but he does update his propensities for the modern day, singing of current political turmoil, environmental destruction and his love for wife Amy Grantham, 37 years his junior, whom he married in 2019. The artistic geography may be…
