"CS&N Trust Young's Instincts "
Lauch.com
January 28, 2000

- As the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
reunion tour rolls towards its third stop Saturday (Jan. 29)
in Salt Lake City, Utah, the rhythm section of bassist Donald
"Duck" Dunn and drummer Jim Keltner is getting more
acclimated to the music and to working with the superstar
quartet.

Dunn was part of the tour from the beginning, but Keltner was a late arrival, replacing longtime CS&N cohort Joe Vitale. Another CS&N hand, keyboardist Michael Finnigan, was dismissed at the same time because Neil Young felt their playing made the sound too busy and thick. The task of telling the old friends they were out fell to Graham Nash, who told LAUNCH it was not an easy thing to do.

"It was very tough to let Vitale and Michael Finnigan go; they've been part of our band for 20-odd years,"Nash said.

"And it was very tough; personally, it was very, very hard to make that call. But musically, I understand completely. And within a week, Neil had been proven right. We needed space. When you bring a Neil Young guitar into a band, you better be able to hear it...So it was a very tough call. I believe they took it with the spirit in which it was meant. It was not personal; it was purely musical. And once again, Neil's instincts were correct."