Stephen Stills and Neil Young’s only studio album as a duo reaches its 50th anniversary in 2026, marking a turbulent chapter in the history of two of rock’s most distinctive guitarists.
by Paul Cashmere
Fifty years after its release, Long May You Run remains the only studio album officially credited to the Stills Young Band, the short-lived collaboration between Stephen Stills and Neil Young that grew out of the unresolved tensions surrounding Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Released by Reprise Records in 1976, the album documented a reunion between two musicians whose history stretched back to Buffalo Springfield, while ultimately becoming another chapter in the complicated story of CSNY.
The album was recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami during the spring of 1976, with Stills and Young supported by Joe Lala on percussion, Joe Vitale on drums, George “Chocolate” Perry on bass and Jerry Aiello on organ. Stills, Young and Don Gehman shared production duties, with Tom Dowd receiving an associate producer credit.
Long May You Run followed the breakdown of CSNY’s attempt to record a new album after the quartet’s major 1974 stadium tour. David Crosby and Graham Nash subsequently worked together, while Stills and Young pursued separate projects. By early 1976, however, Stills and Young had reconnected and began recording with the intention of continuing the guitar-driven musical relationship established during their Buffalo Springfield years.
For a period, the sessions appeared likely to become a new CSNY album. Crosby and Nash contributed backing vocals and other material, but their involvement ended when they left Miami to complete their own Whistling Down the Wire. Stills and Young subsequently removed their contributions from the masters and completed the album as a duo.
The decision reflected the competing schedules surrounding the sessions. A Stills Young Band tour had already been organised, creating pressure to complete an album. The resulting record contained five songs written by Young and four by Stills, including the title track, “Long May You Run”, “Midnight On The Bay”, “Ocean Girl”, “Fontainebleau”, “Let It Shine”, “Make Love To You”, “Black Coral”, “12/8 Blues (All The Same)” and “Guardian Angel”.
The title song carries an unusually personal history. Young wrote “Long May You Run” about a 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse he had owned and nicknamed Mort. The vehicle suffered a transmission failure in Blind River, Ontario, in 1962. The song had also been performed by Stills and Young during CSNY’s 1974 tour, giving it a connection to the musical history they were attempting to revisit.
The recording sessions were marked by different working habits and schedules. Young was living on a houseboat in Coconut Grove while recording at Criteria, while Stills maintained a different lifestyle in the Miami area. Young also left the sessions temporarily to tour Europe and Japan with Crazy Horse before returning and bringing Crosby and Nash into the project.
The album was released in September 1976 and reached No. 16 in Australia, No. 12 in the UK, No. 26 in the United States and No. 3 in the Netherlands. It was certified gold in the United States. The title track was issued as the advance single, reaching No. 71 in the UK, while “Midnight On The Bay” subsequently appeared as a single in the US.
The Stills Young Band itself proved even shorter-lived than the recording project. The tour began in Clarkston, Michigan, on June 23, 1976. After 19 shows, Young withdrew from the tour on July 20, sending Stills a telegram stating: “Dear Stephen, funny how some things that start spontaneously end that way. Eat a peach. Neil.” Stills continued the tour alone through October.
Young later described the tour as something that was not working, while also referring to problems with the balance between the two musicians. In a 1981 Rockline interview, he characterised the Stills Young Band as an attempt to resolve something that had begun years earlier, while acknowledging that the musical chemistry did not reproduce the intensity of their earlier work.
Despite the breakdown surrounding its creation, Long May You Run occupies a distinctive place in the catalogues of both musicians. It captured Stills and Young reconnecting after the fracturing of CSNY, revisiting ideas associated with Buffalo Springfield while working with a dedicated rhythm section rather than the full CSNY line-up.
Several recordings associated with the sessions later provided additional historical context. “Traces”, “Human Highway” and “Separate Ways”, among other material, were eventually issued in archival form, including on Neil Young’s Archives Volume II: 1972-1976 in 2020.
The relationship between the four members of CSNY also proved less permanently damaged than events in Miami suggested. Crosby, Stills and Nash reunited for the CSN album in 1977, less than a year after the collapse of the Stills Young project. Young and Stills would continue their individual careers, with Long May You Run standing as their sole studio album together.
For its 50th anniversary in 2026, the album can therefore be viewed as both a musical document and a snapshot of a particularly unsettled period in American rock. Its nine songs preserve the sound of Stills and Young working together, while the circumstances surrounding the recording reveal why the partnership could produce an album without producing a lasting band.
Tracklisting
“Long May You Run”
“Make Love To You”
“Midnight On The Bay”
“Black Coral”
“Ocean Girl”
“Let It Shine”
“12/8 Blues (All The Same)”
“Fontainebleau”
“Guardian Angel”
Stay updated with your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here
Be the first to see NOISE11.com’s newest interviews and special features on YouTube. See things first. Subscribe to Noise11 on YouTube
Follow Noise11.com on social media:
Facebook, Comment on the news of the day
