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Artist: David Crosby
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David Crosby:

Lighthouse

When Crosby released Croz in 2014, it had been two decades since his last solo album. But now, only two years after that robust, full-band effort, the 74-year old returns with Lighthouse, an intimate, stripped-down set that highlights Crosby's instantly recognizable voice, incisive songwriting, and incomparable guitar work.

The palpable joy in the 9-song collection captures the iconic artist in an unexpected burst of inspiration. "To create brand new music that I'm excited about is a pearl beyond price,"says the two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.

Just don't ask the legendary musician to explain what brought on the renewed verve. "I'm baffled because most people my age have given up, petered out or they're just trying to get another hit,"he says, "but the muse has been stopping by my house pretty often. I don't understand it, but I'm extremely grateful."

For Lighthouse, the muse and Crosby received an able assist from Michael League, the bandleader/bassist for Snarky Puppy who executive produced and co-wrote much of the album with Crosby. After a friend tipped Crosby off to the Grammy-winning jazz/funk collective, Crosby "fell in love"with their music. He and League's burgeoning friendship led to Crosby appearing on Snarky Puppy's Family Dinner -Volume 2album. From there, the pair decided to write together.

In their first four days at Crosby's Santa Ynez, California  home, they wrote three songs, all of which appear on Lighthouse.Writing with League was "one of the best experiences in my life,"Crosby says. "It's not like he does words and I do music or he does music and I do words. We do both interwoven, almost word by word, note by note. It's an amazing process and very fast."

The admiration is mutual. "Among folk rock songwriters, David is a real outlier,"League says. "He brought an element of color and exploration and risk to the writing process in his lyrics, in the guitar parts, in the vocal harmonies. He isn't afraid to put notes in the chords you normally wouldn't hear."