David Crosby's group Crosby, Stills & Nash became renowned less for their songwriting complexity than for the sheer beauty of their vocal harmonies, something Crosby himself came to view as the band's defining strength. After finding his creative ambitions constrained during his time with The Byrds, Crosby helped form CSN as an outlet for material that hadn't fit elsewhere, and it was the trio's blended voices, rather than any single member's virtuosity, that came to define their sound and appeal to listeners.

Asked to name the band's most beautiful vocal performance, Crosby singled out "You Don't Have to Cry", a Stephen Stills composition released on their 1969 debut album. He recalled that after he and Stills sang it together, Graham Nash asked them to repeat it twice more before adding his own harmony on the third take, a moment Crosby said instantly signalled the musical partnership they would pursue for years to come. Crosby suggested that only The Beatles could rival CSN's vocal chemistry.