''For Free'' is the eighth and final solo

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American musician

David Crosby David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941 – January 18, 2023) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He first found fame as a member of the Byrds, with whom he helped pioneer the genres of folk rock and psychedelic music, psych ...

. The album was released on July 23, 2021, by Three Blind Mice and

BMG Rights Management BMG Rights Management GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label. BMG was formed in October 2008 after Bertelsmann sold its st ...

with cover art produced by

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...

. The album was Crosby's final release prior to his death in January 2023.

Critical reception

''For Free'' received generally positive reviews from critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 84, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 6 reviews.

Track listing

Personnel

* David Crosby – vocals * James Raymond – acoustic piano (1–5, 7, 8, 10), synthesizers (1–6, 8–10),

synth guitar A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities. Overview Today's guitar synths are direct descendants of 1970s devices from manufacturers (often in partnership) such as ...

solo (1, 4), synth bass (1–3, 6, 9, 10), synth acoustic guitar (3, 8), drum programming (3),

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

(4, 9), percussion (4), horn arrangements (4),

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to ...

(6), backing vocals (8) * Shawn Tubbs – guitars (1), acoustic guitar (6, 8), electric guitar (6, 8) * Steve Postell – acoustic guitar (2), backing vocals (2), guitars (5) *

Greg Leisz Gregory Brian Leisz ( ; born September 18, 1949) is an American musician. He is a songwriter, recording artist, and producer. He plays guitar, dobro, mandolin, banjo, lap steel and pedal steel guitar. Biography Leisz grew up in the garage ba ...

–

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

(2) *

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Parks has one Grammy nomination. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los A ...

– guitars (4), acoustic guitar (9), electric guitar (9) * Andrew Ford – bass (4) * Elijah Thomson – bass (8) *

Gary Novak Gary Novak (born in 1969) is an American session drummer who has collaborated with numerous artists as varied as George Benson, Maynard Ferguson, Chick Corea Elektric Band, Brandon Fields, Lee Ritenour, Michael McDonald, Natalie Cole, David ...

– drums (1, 4-6, 9) *

Steve DiStanislao Steve DiStanislao (born November 18, 1963) is an American drummer. David Crosby DiStanislao frequently collaborated with David Crosby. He toured with Crosby & Nash, the band formed by David Crosby, CPR, and Crosby's solo tours. He appears on th ...

– drums (2, 10) *

Abe Laboriel Jr. Abraham Laboriel Jr. (born March 23, 1971) is an American session musician best known as the drummer and backing vocalist of Paul McCartney's touring band since 2001. He is the son of Mexican bass guitarist Abraham Laboriel, nephew of Mexican ...

– drums (8) *

Steve Tavaglione Steve "Tav" Tavaglione (born December 1, 1950) is an American woodwind and EWI musician. He is best known for his work as a co-founder of the Latin fusion group Caldera with Jorge Strunz and Eduardo del Barrio, his work with Michael Jackson, Whi ...

– tenor saxophone (4), EWI (10) * Walt Fowler – trumpet (4),

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

(4) * Michael McDonald – backing vocals (1) * Gracie Raymond – backing vocals (3) *

Becca Stevens Becca Stevens (born June 14, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who draws upon elements of jazz, chamber pop, indie rock, and folk. Early life and education Stevens was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the youngest of ...

– backing vocals (3) *

Michelle Willis Michelle Willis (born November 6, 1986) is a British-born, Canadian-raised singer/songwriter and keyboard player. She performs regularly as a solo artist and as a side musician with David Crosby and Becca Stevens. She has also worked with The Stoo ...

– backing vocals (3, 6, 8) *

Sarah Jarosz Sarah Ellen Jarosz ( ; born May 23, 1991) is an American singer-songwriter from Wimberley, Texas. Her debut studio album, '' Song Up in Her Head'', was released in 2009 on Sugar Hill Records

– vocals (7) *

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...

– count-in vocal (10)

Production

* James Raymond – producer, arrangements, recording, mixing * Dan Garcia – recording, mixing * David Crosby – mixing * Nate Hassely – assistant engineer * Joel Jacks – assistant engineer * Jason Mariani – assistant engineer * Kaushlesh "Garry" Purohit – assistant engineer * Shawn Tubbs – guitar recording (1, 6, 8) * Dean Parks – guitar recording (4, 9) *

Bernie Grundman Bernie Grundman (born 16 December 1943, Minneapolis) is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chr ...

– mastering * Louise Hendy – artwork design *

– sleeve artwork, original painting * Mike Chadwick – management Studios * Recorded at The Bamboom Room (Altadena, California); Hz Werks (Van Nuys, California); Joel Jacks' Studio (Santa Ynez, California); Groove Masters (Santa Monica, California); Stubbs Recording (Spring Hill, Tennessee); Tomorrow's Sound Today (Memphis, Tennessee). * Mixed at The Bamboom Room;

Sunset Sound Sunset (or sundown) is the disappearance of the Sun at the end of the Sun path, below the horizon of the Earth (or any other astronomical object in the Solar System) due to its rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth, it is a phenomenon th ...

(Hollywood, California); Carbonite Sound (Ojai, California). * Mastered at

Bernie Grundman Mastering Bernie Grundman (born 16 December 1943, Minneapolis) is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chri ...

(Hollywood, California).

Charts

References

{{David Crosby 2021 albums David Crosby albums BMG Rights Management albums