Graham Nash will fill the house for '60 Years' tour at The Moon

I was almost 10. My summer camp counselors, whom I usually considered on a par with Nazi prison guards, gathered around an upright piano at vespers and sang “Our House.” Three-part harmony, the whole works. It was the first time I heard the song. So concise. So direct. No fuss.

Changed my view on everything.

Later, I learned the upbeat tune was written by Graham Nash, when the singer became part of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and they released the smash “Déjà vu” album. The song chronicled a morning spent in Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles with Nash’s then-girlfriend Joni Michell. Two cats in the yard. Life used to be so hard.

Expect to hear “Our House” when Nash makes his first appearance at The Moon on Monday night, Oct. 30, as part of the “Sixty Years of Songs and Stories” tour. I am pretty sure he is required by law to play “Our House.” But there is so much more to Nash than his best-known song.

In the 1960s, the British-born Nash founded a band with his school chum, Alan Clarke, called The Hollies, named for the American rocker and influence Buddy Holly. The Hollies became a pop sensation in England and on this side of the Atlantic Ocean with hit singles such as “On a Carousel,” “Carrie Anne” and “Bus Stop.” In 1966, while The Hollies were touring the United States, Nash visited Laurel Canyon and met singers David Crosby and Stephen Stills at Mitchell’s house.

“When David and Stephen and I sang together in Joni’s living room … that sound we created was born in 45 seconds,” Nash said in a PBS interview recently.

The first song was the Stills-penned “You Don’t Have to Cry.” Nash chimed in on the third rendition. CSN instantly took shape.

“I am a musician, and I am not crazy,” Nash told PBS. “I knew my life had changed.”

The new singing group’s second gig was the Woodstock Festival in 1969. The FM-friendly hits included “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” “Ohio,” “Woodstock,” “Southern Cross” and “Teach Your Children” (written by Nash, a holdover tune from his Hollies days).

Nash later teamed with Crosby to record a series of albums that included such signature tunes “Immigration Man,” “Take the Money and Run,” “Carry Me” and “To the Last Whale.”

As a solo artist, though, Nash showed his personal as well as his political sides. In 1971, he released “Song for Beginners,” which chronicled everything from his breakup with Mitchell to his then-relationship with current Tallahassee resident Rita Coolidge to his thoughts on the trial of the Chicago Eight. Four years later, he released his dark, criminally underrated album “Wild Tales.”

Nash, now in his early 80s and still in solid voice, comes to town promoting a new solo album “Now.” The songs, such as “Golden Idol,” come out swinging in the political realm, directly calling out “MAGA tourists” who rioted at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

He may be older, but Nash is not going gently into that good night. There is no opening act because Nash is playing two sets with plenty to say.

Mark Hinson is a former senior reporter at The Tallahassee Democrat. He can be reached at mark.hinson59@gmail.com

If you go

What: Graham Nash in concert

When: Monday, Oct. 30. Doors at 6:30 p.m. Show at 7:30 p.m. No opening act

Where: The Moon, 1105 E. Lafayette St.

Tickets: limited availability, some VIP or upper-level tickets may become available, visit moonevents.com

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Graham Nash will fill the house for '60 Years' tour in Tallahassee