Crosby, Stills & Nash began recording their breakout self-titled debut album on June 28, 1968.The session took place at a studio owned by renowned Los Angeles recording engineer Wally Heider. The LP includes several of the band’s best-loved tracks including "Marrakesh Express," "Wooden Ships" and "Helplessly Hoping.”The band’s principles were cast-offs from other top bands of the era: David Crosby from the Byrds, Stephen Stills from Buffalo Springfield and Graham Nash from the Hollies. They had first started playing together at an impromptu jam session at a party in L.A. (some sources say the get-together took place at Joni Mitchell’s house, while others claim it was at the home of the Mamas and the Papas’ Cass Elliot). One of their first gigs as a band took place at Woodstock the following summer, where the group made “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” an iconic track of the festival. The album was released in May of 1969 and climbed as high as number five on the Billboard 200 chart. It was among some of the biggest albums of the era; the top ten included the Beatles’ “White Album,” Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Green River” and the original cast recording of the show “Hair.” The release established CSN as one of the leading groups in the new Americana-inspired rock sound of the 1970s. They were also at the head of the political movement that raged on in rock through the late 1960s.