NPR

First Listen: David Crosby, 'Sky Trails'

The folk-rock forefather unleashes his inner jazzbo on his sixth solo album.
David Crosby's <em>Sky Trails</em> is out Sept. 29.

"You know, I really wasn't kidding," laughs David Crosby, referencing our 2016 conversation about his then-new album, Lighthouse, during which he'd described experiencing an unprecedented, elongated bout of creativity. The imminent arrival of Lighthouse's follow-up, Sky Trails, less than a year later, lends Crosby's claim credibility. Crosby has released six solo albums since 1971, but three of them have arrived since 2014.

Where was a sparse, acoustic-oriented recording, produced by Snarky Puppy's Michael League and harking back to Crosby's (overseen by Crosby's keyboard-playing son, James Raymond) sports some sophisticated, jazzy arrangements. Jazz has been a major influence on Crosby throughout his career, but this is the first time he's incorporated it into his work so overtly.

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