NCN: Graham Nash Says New Solo Album Was Inspired by Major Changes in Personal Life
Graham Nash is known for writing songs that reflect his political, social and environmental concerns, but on his new solo album, This Path Tonight, the 73-year-old folk-rock legend focuses more on recent dramatic upheavals his personal life.
“I wanted this to be a study in me as a person rather than the causes that I embrace,” Nash tells Yahoo! Music. “I wanted people to know I’m a human being going through a million changes the same way they are, and I’m trying to get on with my life and have the best time I can before I pass.”
The biggest change for Nash, Yahoo! Music reports, is that he is going through a divorce of his wife of 38 years, Susan Sennett, and has begun a new romantic relationship with a woman named Amy Grantham.
“I fell in love with this wonderful person in New York City and my life has changed,” Nash tells the website. “People are going to have to understand that. On my next birthday I’ll be 74 years old, and I need to be happy with whatever life I have left. So this album is a complete reflection of my life changing and me having the courage to go on with it.”
Graham says hopes those that listen to This Path Tonight “come away enjoying the album as a journey,” adding that he thinks fans will be drawn to the introspective and personal nature of the songs.
“The art of a songwriter is to take something that happened to you and make it understandable by everybody that listens to it,” Nash maintains. “That’s one [aspect] of the art I really like to try to accomplish.”
Graham co-wrote the songs on This Path Tonight with Crosby , Stills & Nash touring guitarist Shane Fontayne during a one-month burst of creativity he said was fueled by his personal dramas.
“I had so many songs running around my head driving me crazy and I had to get them out,” he explains. “I was inspired by my personal life being so chaotic.”
The album’s title track currently I streaming at Mojo4music.com, and you can check out another song from the record, “Myself at Last,” at Blue Castle Records’ SoundCloud page.
This Path Tonight will be released on April 15, but fans will be able to hear Nash performing songs from the album live starting next week, when he heads out on a solo U.S. tour that kicks off Wednesday in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The trek winds down February 22 in New York City, but Graham also has a European outing lined in late May and early June.
In other news, Nash was presented with the National Association of Music Merchants’ “Music for Life” award on Thursday at the 2016 NAMM Show trade convention in Anaheim, California. The honor recognizes the singer/songwriter’s many career musical contributions.