Crosby documentary tempers warts and all approach with music

Even among his staunchest fans, there are those who feel that David Crosby might not be the nicest guy around. But even among those who only dabble in listening to the music he’s created, there’s no doubt that his songwriting and his voice are forces to reckon with. “David Crosby: Remember My Name” is a documentary that covers all of that and a lot more.

The film by first-time director A.J. Eaton spends most of its time following Crosby — the former member of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young) who has also had a lengthy career as a solo artist

— as he makes his way around old stamping grounds in Los Angeles and as he heads out on a six-week tour in 2017.

Laid back, relaxed, and unafraid of baring his soul — as well as the dicier sides of his life story — to an off-camera interviewer (rock journalist and filmmaker Cameron Crowe), Crosby tells stories about being fascinated by the intensity of the music when he saw John Coltrane perform, about learning to sing harmony by adding on his own third voice while listening to Everly Brothers records, about the fact that at age 76, and with diabetes and a few heart attacks in his past, he’s afraid of dying.

One of the strengths of the film is that it touches briefly onto so many different subjects and parts of Crosby’s life without ever feeling scattered. That’s quite a feat since this features everything from Crosby’s wife Jan confessing that, with his health problems, when he goes on the road she realizes she might never see him again and a politically charged appearance on “The Dick Cavett Show” the day after CSN played at Woodstock.

The director’s two wisest decisions are that he always keeps music at its center, and that he ends it with Crosby returning home to Jan after another tour.