Raymond relishes rock roots ruff diamond
 
Ann Saul Dudurich
Tuesday, March 9, 2004
Pittsburghlive

James Raymond knows about the roots of rock 'n' roll. The 41-year-old musician discovered almost 10 years ago that his biological father is David Crosby, and he is the keyboardist, composer and vocalist for his dad's band, CPR.

The other member of the band is Jeff Pevar, a guitarist with the likes of James Taylor, Ray Charles, Rickie Lee and Joe Cocker.

The group is scheduled to perform tonight at the Palace Theatre, Greensburg, despite Crosby's arrest on marijuana and gun possession charges early Saturday in New York, according to Bryan Alsop of Jensen Communications, Crosby's publicist. Crosby was released on $3,500 bail. Mike Elko, of Elko Concerts, which is the promoter for the Palace show, also confirmed the show was still on as of Monday afternoon.

During CPR's recent stop in Plymouth, Mass., as part of the band's 27-concert tour, Raymond talked about the many musical influences in his life, CPR, and, of course, discovering his father was one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the '60s and '70s.

Early years: "I was drawn to music very early on. I started playing the piano when I was 7 years old. I just gravitated to the piano. My parents say whenever we visited somebody with a piano, they'd lose me. Eventually, they would find me at the keyboard, so they knew there was something there. And they encouraged me to pursue it. ... In high school, I played in marching band and jazz band. And then I got more into jazz ensembles in college. I also played in different neighborhood rock bands as well."

Musical influences: "Definitely the records of my mom's from the '50s and '60s. I also liked the Beatles. And as I started to play more, I really got into Elton John and Stevie Wonder."

Locating his birth parents: "I always knew I was adopted. From a very early age, I just knew. When I was about to get married in 1995, my adopted dad, John Raymond, said, 'This might be a good time to search for your biological parents.' Once I knew I had their blessing, that opened the door for me to search for my birth mom. ... I got a call from L.A. county saying, 'We found your birth mother. Come down and sign some papers and all the information is open.' So, I did. And they brought out this big book, and there was David Crosby's name. I was pretty stunned. At first, I thought, 'It's not the David Crosby. It's just another David Crosby.' But, it turned out to be the guy."

Hooking up with his legendary father: "I didn't try to contact David for a year or so. I wasn't comfortable just coming out of the woodwork. But, when I saw on the news he was going in for a liver transplant, I went through some musician friends to get word to him that I was out there. And I got a call back in a week or so, and we made plans to meet at UCLA. At that point, he was out of the woods. He had had his transplant and things were going well. So, we met in the cafeteria at UCLA Medical Center. It was a very emotional thing. It was a pretty wild time in my life because my wife was about to give birth to my daughter, which happened the day after I met David. So, when I met him, I got to tell him, 'By the way, you're going to be a grandfather.' We had a great talk, and became friends not long after that."

The initial meeting between father and son: "I think he was even more nervous than I was. He was afraid I was going to be this angry guy. 'Why weren't you there for me?' and all that stuff. My first priority was to assure him I had a great life and I was not angry at all."

Crosby's reaction to his music: "It was pretty nerve-wracking for me. I didn't want him to think I was terrible. But, I was pretty comfortable in the fact that I'd been making a living as a musician for 10 or 15 years at that point. So, I just showed him some stuff I was working on ... hoping he'd like it. And he did."

Crosby, Stills, Nash (and on occasion) Young: "I was a little young to catch them in their heyday. But I probably sang along to hundreds of their songs on the radio. I was glued to the radio when I was a kid. And, when I found out about David, I went back and had the Crosby listening party."

CPR: "A lot of the band's sound comes directly from David's style. His music is harmonically pretty deep. And he gets all these really lush, beautiful chords out of the guitar. I was always drawn to chords like that in my playing, too. That's probably where we sound a little like Steely Dan. But, there are a lot of other influences, too. I played and listened to jazz. That finds its way into some of our stuff. And the Beatles, too. And for me, lately, I've been listening to a lot of the new bands coming out. So I guess you could say we have folk, rock, jazz and pop tinges."

The band's 2004 tour: "We're doing a lot of brand new stuff. A few of the songs are from the new Crosby-Nash record coming out in August. We also took a couple of CSN songs, revamped and reworked them into brand new songs. We're also doing a couple of Byrds tunes, and a couple from David's solo record. A big span of stuff."

Performances in smaller venues such as the Palace Theatre: "I enjoy those very much. I like smaller, more intimate crowds best, actually."

Most remarkable accomplishment: "Making a record with David Crosby. That's a good one. I'm very proud of that. And being on stage with him. Sometimes during a concert, I'll look over and think to myself, 'Here I am on stage with David Crosby. How did that happen?'"