Stand and Be Counted: A Tribute

Just before he passed away at his home in Santa Ynez, David Crosby was in the midst of rehearsing with a new band that was slated to make its debut at the Lobero Theatre last February as part of the venue’s milestone 150th anniversary. Next weekend, the members of that band and a handful of special guests are coming together at the Lobero to play a tribute concert in honor of the iconic folk-rock singer-songwriter-guitarist who was twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Dubbed “Stand and Be Counted” after a song Crosby co-wrote with his son, James Raymond, as well as his book and TV documentary project about the history of activism, the band is spearheaded by Raymond and veteran singer-songwriter-guitarist-composer-producer Steve Postell, who had co-conceived of the project with Crosby back in early 2022. 

“We were sitting around one day at his house, just hanging out, and we’d usually take out our guitars and play a little,” recalled Postell, who grew up listening to Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) records and taught himself some of their songs while still in high school, then later found himself connected professionally and eventually becoming friends with Crosby. But the rock star told Postell that he had recently had surgery on his hand, and it had gotten worse. 

“He said, ‘I’m retiring. I’m not gonna play anymore. I’ll write and sing and make records, but I just can’t play guitars long enough to do shows. I’m done,’” Postell said. “I was surprised because it wasn’t something he had publicized at all.”

That’s when Postell offered to learn Crosby’s guitar parts, figuring that they had similar styles and with Postell handling the intricate string work, Crosby could still sing at shows.

“I just sort of threw it out there. I didn’t expect anything to come of it,” Postell recalled. 

But six months later, Crosby called and suggested they give it a try, with no promises that he’d be satisfied with just singing.

“I think he got really antsy sitting in his house watching everybody else go on tour [after the pandemic],” Postell said. “He wanted to revisit some of the classic CSN material. I told him I’d be honored to learn everything, and even if we never took it out in public, it would be fine with me.”

Postell tutored himself on the complicated open tuning guitar riffs by filming Crosby, then spent a couple months learning how to play the parts exactly how Crosby did. “They take a pretty high level of precision, and he just couldn’t play them himself for a whole night anymore. But I was thrilled to learn them.”

When he was ready, Crosby, Postell, and keyboardist-singer Raymond got together so the icon could see how it felt to sing while someone else played his guitar riffs.

“We played about six or seven songs, and he was getting more and more excited with each one,” Postell said. “When we were done, he said, ‘OK, let’s do this. Let’s put a band together.’” 

Crosby hand-selected the members for the Lobero show and beyond with input from the others, tapping longtime associates Steve Distanislao (drums/vocals), Dean Parks (guitar) and James “Hutch” Hutchinson (bass), plus guitarist-singer Chris Stills, son of CSN’s Steven Stills, the latter Postell’s suggestion.

“When I mentioned Chris, David just lit up. He’d known Chris his whole life of course, but they’d never really played together. This was an opportunity to make it happen. Everybody said ‘yes’ right away, so we had the band together in two days.” 

The band began rehearsals on a set list dominated by CSN songs, not just those written by Crosby. 

“With Chris and I singing with [Crosby] up front, we were gonna be able to really recreate the CSN harmony sound,” Postell said. “Chris sounds a lot like Steven, and I’ve got that high Graham Nash stuff covered. The plan was to truly honor some of the CSN history, playing songs that people hadn’t heard in many, many years.”

Crosby’s death made that specific approach impossible, of course. But Postell, Raymond, and the others decided to re-form the group and add a bunch of other artists to step in as guest singers and more. The line-up for the Lobero show will feature Shawn Colvin, who caught Postell’s eye when he saw a video of a tribute she did to Crosby, Richard Page (of 1980s band Mr. Mister) as well as Colin Hay (of Men at Work fame) up front in featured roles along with Lara Johnston (vocals), Ken Stacey (vocals), Nathan McEuen (guitar/vocals), and Raymond’s daughter Gracie Ray (vocals). Andrew Ford will also be subbing in for the unavailable Hutch. 

“It’s a phenomenal band, all people connected with David over his career,” Postell said. 

The group will play the set list originally intended for the David Crosby & Friends concert’s February date, plus extra material chosen by Postell and Raymond from the late singer-songwriter’s catalog and CSN material. 

“We’re honoring David, and we’re honoring his need, his desire to heal, to mend the relationships and to honor the music,” Postell said. “I think people are going to be blown away.” 

While Crosby is gone, the updated Stand and Be Counted band will live on, if Postell has his way. 

“We don’t want this to just be a one-off thing,” he said. “The original plan with David was to go on tour in the fall, timed to spread the word to get out and vote, go stand and be counted, make a difference in whatever way you can. It’s more important now than ever. James and I are thinking we can still do that. That’s what David would’ve wanted.” 

And while Postell and the rest of the band, like many music lovers throughout the world, still feel the loss of Crosby, Postell said he has no regrets whatsoever about launching the project with the iconic rock star even if they never got to perform it together in public.

“At this point, what I mostly feel is really grateful that we had the idea, that I learned the songs and guitar parts, and that we saw it through, had a couple of gigs booked, made the set list and had a rehearsal with the full band. I’m glad it got as far as it did because that will always live on for me as something that was real, not just an idea.”

The ever-busy Postell, by the way, will be back at the Lobero later this year, first on a November date supporting Bruce Cockburn, and likely yet another show with the all-star session group The Immediate Family, who are arranging a December concert to coincide with a screening of the group’s new self-titled documentary film that is set for an end-of-the-year theatrical release. Also in the works is a second annual concert tribute to the late photographer-musician Alan Kozlowski.

The Stand and Be Counted tribute concert to David Crosby takes place August 20 at the Lobero Theatre. For more information, visit www.lobero.org.