It was 54 years ago today — May 29th, 1969 — that the self-titled debut album by Crosby, Stills, & Nash was released. The supergroup, which formed the previous year, capped the decade and provided the blueprint for the 1970's laid back Laurel Canyon – Southern California sound, featuring David Crosby from the Byrds, Stephen Stills from the Buffalo Springfield, and Graham Nash from the Hollies. Stills' Springfield bandmate Neil Young did not appear on the album, but was on board as a full member by the time the group began performing live the following August.
Although the Crosby, Stills, & Nash album has never been far off FM radio over the decades and made instant superstars of the trio, the album only got as high as Number Six on the Billboard 200 albums chart and neither of the two singles pulled from the set cracked the Top 20 — with Nash's “Marrakesh Express” stalling at Number 28 and Stills' “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” peaking at Number 21. All told, Crosby, Stills, & Nash spent 16 weeks in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200.
Stephen Stills played the majority of the instruments on the album and served as the set's de-facto producer, although all three members were credited as co-producing the album, with Bill Halverson engineering at L.A.'s Wally Heider Studios. Dallas Taylor handled drums on the album, with future Derek & The Dominos member Jim Gordon sitting in for the “Marrakesh Express” session.