Available tomorrow, on Record Store Day

What is it about your voice and female voices that works so well together?

I don’t know. (Laughs) I have no idea. I wish I’d been singing with girls a lot sooner. Singing with girls in the Lighthouse band just blew my mind. Becca Stevens and Michelle Willis are two of the best singers I know. Frankly, so is Michael League. Singing with the girls, they have so much power in the top-end, and they don’t have to work for it. They just go up there effortlessly. It makes for a really great sound. In both bands, I’m getting to sing with a female voice above me and it’s really a joy.

Speaking of Michael League and your son, James, you worked with James on Croz, then with Michael on Lighthouse, and now again with James on Sky Trails. When you are working on a record these days, are you finding it easier to allow yourself to be produced or are you as involved as ever?

I want to be as involved as ever. It’s a definite chemistry with me. I’m obviously still producing, myself, when I work with these guys. They are tremendous writers and tremendous producers, both of them. They bring a whole lot to the party. In each case, I wrote probably half the songs on the record with them. We go back and forth on words and music. Both Michael and James write really good words, as well as really good music. I write pretty good music along with good words. They are probably two of the best producers I’ve ever seen. They both have lines of people trying to get them to produce. I’m not at all surprised because they are both terrific at it.

Going all the way back to your first record, it’s got this incredible roster of talent: members of the Grateful Dead, Santana, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell. But, at the time, I’m guessing, it was you just making a record with friends.

I’ve always worked with my friends. Any sensible person would. You need to be in a good relationship with people you’re making music with. Otherwise, it’s pretty hard to do it right. It’s a combination; the people you work with have to be talented, but they also have to be nice. They have to be somebody you care about.

Maybe this question encourages an obvious answer, but how does friendship help when making music?

If you actively don’t like somebody it’s tough to make music with them. That’s sort of what happened with CSN. We didn’t really like each other anymore. It makes it tough to do. Music is a very personal thing. You need to be friends to do it well, I think.

You are very active on Twitter. Do you see it more as an art form or as a personal forum?

For me, it’s a chance to communicate. I love communicating with people. It’s fun for me. That’s what I do it for. I have a blast doing it. I do get into trouble there. There is no question I get in trouble. I said that Kanye West didn’t have any talent at all, that he couldn’t write, sing, or play. That got me into a definite storm. I think I got into even more trouble saying that Trump is a walking intelligence-free zone. It made me really happy. I do have a lot of fun there. It’s a lightweight thing for me. I don’t really worry about it. And, I learn stuff. I’ve actually found or been turned-on to great music there. People have found out that I’ll listen to something they send. The problem is, I’ll tell you exactly what I think. People seem to find that valuable. I get two things every day: people sending me a song or a band, and people saying, Please reunite CSNY because the country needs it right now.

I’m appreciating the irony of you saying these things you said on Twitter got you in trouble, and you just now said them over again.

(Laughs) Busted!

You must realize that this may generate another round of reactions.

Yeah, I do.

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