Graham Nash beat the Beatles in a talent contest

We both first heard Graham Nash just over 60 years ago when the Hollies’ Just One Look was on the BBC’s swinging Light Programme and we’ve followed him ever since, not least his transformational shift in the late-‘60s from suburban Salford to the wood cabins of Laurel Canyon. He’s touring the UK in October, An Evening of Songs and Stories with Peter Asher in support, and looks back here at the first shows he ever saw and played, which involves …
… Bill Haley in 1958 - “he opened the curtains and said ‘See yer later, alligator!’, and I’ve never been the same since.”
… meeting his heroes the Everly Brothers when he was 18.
… the talent contest he won with Allan Clarke in 1959 beating Freddie Garrity, the future Billy Fury and Johnny And the Moondogs.
... the early days of the Hollies - “my acoustic was never plugged in”.
… supporting Little Richard the night he screamed at his soon-to-be-famous guitarist, “never play the guitar behind the back of your head again!”
…. making ‘Two Yanks in England’ with the Everlys, Reg Dwight, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.
… playing Woodstock - “it’s hard to reach the back row when it’s raining and two miles away.”
… the songs he always plays and talks about onstage, Marrakesh Express, Our House and Teach Your Children among them.
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[@christopherdavies3079]

Graham memory and detail is amazing

[@Vivian-g1h]

I remember the Hollies collaborated on song writing and used the collective name "Ransford" before using Clark-Hicks-Nash for example.

[@buzzawuzza3743]

He's right that those songs still have power. That's the shame of it, that things haven't gotten better but worse instead.

[@samguberman2288]

Fantastic episode,The Hollies were a great band.

[@trevorfromengland]

Top man, Graham

[@jesusislukeskywalker4294]

🙏 great stuff

[@paulwelch1992]

It was He Ain't Heavy (He's My Brother) that Elton played piano on. I would have liked to hear more about Cliff & The Shadows thay don't get enough credit and when Graham & Allan seen them in '58 that was was a pivitol time in British music.

[@michaelcullen5308]

Mark thinks Bill Haley was 43 in 1958? I know he looked old, but he was 33.

[@NickAsh-jl5nq]

Looks like ,more to the point ,it sounds like Mark and David have both got professional microphones .I know from listening to David likes to upgrade often,but what is great now,you are both much better balanced in the sound.David was too loud before ( with respect,to all concerned magic?).Lovely interview shame it was so short,WHY?Anyway thanks Mark and David,I love your work.🙏

[@octavian4d]

For those who lived behind the Eastern Bloc the only way to listen to The Hollies, The Beatles and so many other bands was Radio Free Europe (short-wave transmission), Radio Luxembourg, BBC. Many thanks. I remember that the Beatles broke up in 1970 and communist Romania still did not allow the movies “A Hard Day’s Night”, “Help” or videos with The Hollies, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks etc to be released in the country. There is no doubt in my mind that the music of the 60s brought people from around the world together under the same common denominator, we have the European Union and on the horizon we can glimpse a World Union. If the seeds of everything were created in a world with extra dimensions, which most of us call Heaven, then outlined on its sub-dimensions at the moment of the Big Bang, I think everything is constructively predestined. So yes, in that sense, Graham is one of the pillars of creation, many thanks. Just a thought :)

[@LeoAdams-hs1be]

At 4:29 he appears to be drinking someone's liquor from an old fruit jar.

[@ivanconnolly7332]

Was that the contest where an Irish woman playing the spoons won.