Stephen Stills swaps torment for family bliss 
By Dean Goodman
Reuters 
September 16, 2005

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - With his caustic demeanor and diverse musical influences, Stephen Stills helped elevate Crosby, Stills & Nash beyond a mere hippie folk trio. 

The man behind such tunes as "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "Love the One You're With" started working with David Crosby and Graham Nash more than 35 years ago, and they still bring their close harmonies to the world's stages.

At 60, Stills says he loses 10 years when he walks out to perform, but the touring is "awful."

"If it wasn't for the audience, it wouldn't be worth doing at all," he said during a recent interview at a radio studio. "You can be in a $2 million bus, but after three days it's a bus."

Welcome to the difficult world of Stephen Stills, who has been described as "a tormented artist" and "his own worst enemy" by Neil Young, his longtime friend, frequent collaborator and occasional rival.

But with his first solo album in 14 years to promote, Stills is on his best behavior and even apologizes for a cold that has exacerbated the deafness in his left ear.

"I wish I felt better because we could joust a little better, the verbal swordplay," he said with a genial cackle.

He also effortlessly disarms any potential antagonists by noting that his 10-month-old son, Oliver, just took his first step earlier that day. How could anyone be so heartless as to give the proud papa a hard time?

YOUNGER, WISER

Stills' album, "Man Alive!" (Pyramid Records/Universal), a typically eclectic effort that features collaborations with Young, Nash and jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, has been in the works for more than a decade. Songs destined for the album were often diverted to Crosby, Stills & Nash projects until Stills put his foot down. Far from having any lofty goals with the album, his aim was simply to "finish it," he joked.

The new, improved Stills is detailed on "Different Man," a traditional track with fresh lyrics in which he reveals, "I got young, though I'm older now/Fear and anger have no power over me." Young contributes guitar and harmony vocals.

Stills credits his third wife, Kristen, the mother of two of his seven children, with tempering his anger.

"I just don't have the energy for it anymore," he says. "You look at a picture of us back then, and I know that guy -- he's certainly more attractive -- but it's like I don't know that guy. We're larger and wiser people now."

He even gets misty-eyed and nostalgic on his other collaboration with Young, "'Round the Bend," which recalls their time together in Buffalo Springfield, the pioneering country-rock group they co-founded in 1966.

The partnership between Stills and Young is one of rock music's classic love-hate stories. Stills wrote Buffalo Springfield's biggest hit, the protest anthem "For What It's Worth," but his fight for control with Young tore the band apart by 1968.

BROTHERLY LOVE

Stills joined forces the next year with Crosby and Nash, refugees from the Byrds and the Hollies, respectively. They achieved instant success with their self-titled debut album, which has sold more than 4 million copies to date, and became one of the biggest touring acts of the 1970s.

Young recorded and toured with the lineup from time to time, though the collaborations were fraught with tension. He and Stills also tempted fate by working together, and their relationship hit a low point in 1976 when Young abandoned him midway through a tour. 

But the old men cannot bear a grudge: Stills and Young are like brothers these days, and Stills marvels at his partner's prolific nature. 

"He writes songs and has to pull over on the side of the road. I haven't been able to do that in years." 

Maybe Stills is being modest. "Man Alive!" kicks off with "Ain't It Always," a rocker that dates back to a session from the 1990s. Stills dusted off the track, wrote some new lyrics, played tennis for an hour, and then sang it in one take. 

Perhaps the biggest shock is not his songwriting prowess, but the fact that the roly-poly rocker engages in physical activity. 

"Although you wouldn't know it to look at me. I haven't played (tennis) in a while," he says, allowing only that he weighs more than 200 pounds (91 kg), and has to watch his blood pressure. 

Stills the activist surfaces on "Feed the People," which has its origins in an unfinished song that he wrote years ago for his friend Jimmy Carter, "the last honest president of the United States." He completed it last year as calls were growing for debt relief for African nations. 

Stills has a long history of political and social involvement but has no wish to compete for the spotlight with U2's Bono. "I don't have the glasses, and I can actually play the guitar," he says.