{"id":1158679,"date":"2026-08-20T03:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T03:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1158679\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T03:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T03:46:18","slug":"the-story-of-stephen-stills-other-1970s-supergroup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1158679\/","title":{"rendered":"The story of Stephen Stills’ other 1970s supergroup"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ Omroepvereniging VARA<\/p>\n

Thu 20 August 2026 2:00, UK <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a tight group, the tightest in the business,\u201d Stephen Stills<\/a> told a reporter in 1972, touting his latest rock \u2018n\u2019 roll outfit, built in the aftermath of the quick flame-outs of both the Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Unlike those previous bands, in which a sharing of creative input had led to more fisticuffs than hugs, Stills was making a point of changing the rules with this new supergroup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the quarterback,\u201d he explained to the Atlanta Constitution. \u201cIt has to be that way. A band is a democracy up to a point; then, somebody has to be in charge. Everybody in this band understands that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stills\u2019 new band, which he seemed hell-bent on comparing to an American football team at every opportunity, was Manassas, a jammy but disciplined country-rock group built around seven musicians from different corners of the early-1970s American music scene.<\/p>\n

The project saw its initial spark after Stills crossed paths with Chris Hillman backstage in Cleveland, where both were on tour. Hillman, a former Byrd who went on to help launch the Flying Burrito Brothers, was looking for a fresh creative path. Stills invited him down to Miami\u2019s Criteria Studios for a jam, bringing along Burritos steel player Al Perkins and fiddler Byron Berline. Berline ultimately declined the invitation to become a permanent member, but the other pieces quickly fell into place. <\/p>\n

Stills then brought in four musicians from his own touring band: drummer Dallas Taylor, his old collaborator from Crosby, Stills & Nash<\/a>; bassist Calvin \u2018Fuzzy\u2019 Samuels, another veteran of Stills\u2019 orbit; keyboardist Paul Harris, a versatile session player; and Joe Lala, a percussionist and vocalist who had previously co-founded the Florida rock band Blues Image.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Credit: Far Out \/ Crosby Stills Nash and Young \/ Original Posters<\/p>\n

The result was the more versatile sort of \u201cteam\u201d that Stills had been imagining for a while: Hillman and Perkins supplied country and bluegrass credentials, Taylor brought the muscular rock foundation, Harris could navigate everything from gospel and soul to country, Lala provided Latin percussion, and Samuels added a distinctive Caribbean flavour. <\/p>\n

Stills himself could move between guitar, piano, organ, slide guitar and vocals. The group was augmented on the first album by several guests, including Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman<\/a>, the aforementioned Berline, harmonica player Sydney George, keyboardist Jerry Aiello, and acoustic bassist Roger Bush.<\/p>\n

Manassas\u2019 self-titled 1972 debut double-album was a commercial and critical success, putting Stills back on the right path. He took his \u201cquarterback\u201d role with the band quite seriously when they embarked on their first tour, as well, donning a brand new custom-made football jersey and gathering his \u201cteammates\u201d around him at the start of each gig for a pre-game huddle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen performing, I pick up on things happening on stage and react to them,\u201d Stills said, leaning even more into the sports analogy. \u201cIt\u2019s exactly like reading a defence and adjusting to it. I even call audibles [an American football term for changing a play call at the line of scrimmage].\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike any of his previous touring experiences, Manassas gave Stephen Stills the ability to follow his own personal whims and make each night on a tour completely unique, confident that the other guys in the band would be prepared to go wherever the vibes might lead them. This would have been an impossibility in a CSNY travelling show.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to tour with the Crosby, Stills & Nash thing,\u201d drummer Dallas Taylor said during that first Manassas tour, \u201cbut couldn\u2019t find the right band. Then Neil joined us, and more than our sound changed. The music was good, but the situation wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the new leaf he\u2019d managed to turn over with Manassas, Stills\u2019 optimism was still undercut with a realism born from experience. \u201cWe\u2019re a band, and we will stay together,\u201d he boldly told the Atlanta Constitution, before clarifying, \u201cTwo years. Two years at least for this band.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Credit: Public Domain<\/p>\n

Turns out, Stephen was right on the money. When Manassas reconvened for their second album, 1973\u2019s Down the Road, they\u2019d already lost a lot of their momentum. Stills was newly married (to French pop singer Veronique Sanson), and Chris Hillman was distracted by an attempt at a Byrds reunion along with offers for another supergroup recording with JD Souther. <\/p>\n

Soon enough, the financial draw of a CSN reunion came to Stills\u2019s door, as well. In the meantime, though, he remained focused on trying to get a second Manassas album across the goal line, pushing through take after take, even after Dallas Taylor\u2019s heroin addiction got him kicked out of the band. Calvin Samuel quit the band before the record was finished, as well, turning the process into a bit of a shambles. <\/p>\n

Down the Road still performed reasonably well, reaching number 26 in the US and 33 in the UK, but it proved to be the end of the road for Manassas as a band. They\u2019d served their two years.<\/p>\n

In retrospect, despite getting much of what he\u2019d wanted with this version of a supergroup, Stills was still a man dealing with a lot of pressure<\/a> during the Manassas years, desperate to plot the course in his career that would result in some level of sustained contentment.<\/p>\n

At the end of the band\u2019s 1972 gig in Atlanta, which had been received with enthusiasm and seemingly went off without a hitch, Stills was visibly upset backstage. A string on his guitar had broken twice late in the set, and, like a good quarterback who\u2019s too hard on himself, he addressed the fumble at the end of the game. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe missed the whole second encore, and it shouldn\u2019t have happened,\u201d he said, concluding, \u201cIf the string had been fixed right, it wouldn\u2019t have broken a second time. We blew it. We had it going out there, and we lost it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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