40 years ago this month, Stephen Stills and Neil Young – who’d previously spent time playing together as members of both Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – released their only effort to date as The Stills-Young Band, Long May You Run.

It could be said that its origins were tied directly to the infamous implosion of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young mid-way through their 1974 stadium tour. The foursome more or less split in two, with David Crosby and Graham Nash continuing on as Crosby & Nash, while Stills and Young followed their own separate musical paths until colliding again in 1976. It was a fortuitous meeting that left the pair eager to revisit the sounds that they’d found so creatively fortuitous during their Buffalo Springfield days.

For a brief moment there, Crosby and Nash even joined the fold and Long May You Run looked to be the awaited CSNY reunion album. However, in order to meet the recording schedule for their own album, Whistling Down The Wire, they had to leave the Stills-Young sessions early. In response, Stills and Young decided to remove the duo’s contributions and, as you might imagine, it didn’t go over well with Crosby and Nash. But it did work to further solidify the bond between Stills and Young, who kicked off a tour in advance of the album’s release.

That loving feeling was short-lived though. Nine dates into the tour, Young decided he was done…and notified Stills of his departure from the tour via a telegram that read: "Dear Stephen, funny how some things that start spontaneously end that way. Eat a peach. Neil.”

Neil Young & Stephen Stills | Long May You Run

Despite all the hiccups along the way, Long May You Run climbed to #26 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Revisit the album on streaming below!

And, while the experience caused Crosby and Nash to vow they would never work with Young or Stills again, less than a year later they would regroup with Stills for a new CSN album in 1977.

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