Just a few months ago, guitarist Trey Anastasio took some time out of his solo band show to talk about a unique experience he had with the legendary Graham Nash. The story came right before TAB debuted “49 Bye Byes” in Brooklyn, NY, back in October, where he met Nash backstage at a concert.
The punchline of the story was when Nash told Anastasio, “don’t fuck it up,” referring to Phish’s growing fan base and musical contributions. Fortunately, the group is still going strong.
You can watch the video of the story and cover below:
Naturally, when Relix had the opportunity to sit down with Graham Nash, they couldn’t help but ask him his motivation for the comment. Nash responded with nothing put superlatives for Phish and their scene.
Nash said, “Of course—the legacy of Phish and the Grateful Dead has always been interesting, musically. But I recognized that Trey is a great, great guitar player and that Phish had the ability to go on and draw 100,000 people to a concert on a mere rumor. That kind of success—that kind of power in terms of communicating music to people who love it—that’s what I told him not to fuck up. He has that power, and he’s a great musician, of course.”
The majority of the interview focused on Nash’s new solo release, This Path Tonight, as well as some reflections on the tenure of Crosby Stills and Nash. While the interview was published earlier today, it was seemingly conducted before Nash’s recent comments that all but ended the possibility for future CSN performances.
At least he has good taste in music.
[Cover photo via Erik Kabik]