. it's all about the band, name the band. which i hadn't played in many years. buffalo springfield was hard enough. >> we go over to rehearse at the guy's house and they are working on the street. an enormous steamroller came through.

tavis: it was a sign from god, like a bruise brothers moment? -- blues brothers moment? signed atdue to get any moment, so we had a month or two. tavis: buffalo springfield it became. about the blues project in the second. back, what do you think of all those years later?

>> we have the producers found us working in the club. we made this record. those were the ones that we were there to supervise. at the time, i can still do it.

we learned how to tune the echo, equalization. we are like sponges. tavis: i am moved by the fact that such a young age, you knew what you wanted it to sound like and what it should sound like. andany people are produced, you'll learn to work the board arned to work thed t

board. did was ask questions. you can really concentrate. tavis: how did you hook up?

>> said there is a full set hah ontario. they say there is this visiting guy that we have before. to pick up an electric guitar and start. songs that were not very good. most amazing thing about the first song was recorded in 1962, maybe 1961. at the voice of america radio

station. this fellow heard me playing the guitar at a party and i said, i have to get you on tape. i have lots of stuff. it was a real to rio. there was nothing to do. year in high school, i would have been there back in tampa. that was all that i had. that recording, my style had emerged virtually whole. i was startled when i heard it four years later.

appreciative are you that your style emerged whole? >> the chaos of my family and the moving that we did. that tape managed to survive. we were pretty chaotic. the second thing i am grateful for. i've played lead guitar and grateful somewhat. not wait to get electrified guitar. the music that you're making, could not wait.

eric clapton, those boys. tavis: there was a point in time where you had written a couple songs the you were sure were not that good. i asked you to set your humility aside. what song was it, that you're that's-- you recall good? >> for what it's worth. i had finally gotten the band coming up and we were over the royal canyon. for aere having a funeral

bar called pandora's box where you start walking the sunset strip. , it wasoing to close being turned into a shopping center. tavis: funeral for a bar? >> funeral for a bar. they were closing and opening new ones all the time. this is not an extraordinary event. the mayor of los angeles at the toe decided that it was time with the 200 policemen helmet and the shield and the night sticks. that place was like a bungalow. it hit about 200 people.

where did they go? that is destruction of a public thoroughfare. they went back to her wrote a song about 10 minutes. this whole sequence of events, how mad everybody was getting about people being mad about the war. the civil rights movement. i have been working on this thread and a little shot up to the boys on the line.

and so it took as long to write it. this won't surprise you, but i am fascinated by iconic writers like yourself, i am the times thaty they were living through. it is such a central character. can you imagine being the artists that you would become if you were living in a different era? true of art. when you go to the museum and you look at grecian statues, they all have movement. the roman statues are all

static. just the era that they are in. down is a great collection at the center, at the getty. paintings,f the northern europe at the time before the industrial, so it is a little clearer. is always reflective of the times. if you are not paying attention to your surroundings, what is going to inform you? tavis: i want to talk about one of the next iterations of your brilliance. when you look back on those years, using what?

>> they have been hanging out together. was one of the funniest people i ever knew. they watched the tourists go by. we had seen them a few days before. i did not really put it together. never in a thousand years the realized there was a war going on, he had fallen head over heels for tony mitchell.

crosby calls you and tes you to go to your house, you do it. tavis: when the call comes, show up. >> seeing that one that has only one verse, let me look around the house. they have good acoustics, you sit there. , helayed this little song said to do that again. it was the fourth time that he chimed in. knew the lives had changed.

he was really smoothed. and what ever you want to call it can carry a tune. tavis: you can do more than that. you are being modest. that is howld me you are supposed to be. it just stuck off. -- took off. they left it up to me to what was going to go on.

i was a ishy guy in h-- a pretty shy guy in high school. possible.is all ,raham had all of these skills he had a dozen or so. the radio all the time. tavis: crosby, stills, nash, and -- >> now that i have done this [inaudible] once.ked out on me are you sure? but he was just restless.

aboard. and of course, they got really chaotic. the best new artist or something, they cleared the ceiling. are at of a sudden, we woodstock. what 400 acres of people looks like. from the helicopter. overnight, it was a complete accident. >> there is your solo work. side, i canhe good pick and choose. i wanted to play some more blues.

back to theget first place, rolling stones. of course, i hooked up with a country-style band. in the 70's. you know when you look back over your life, they get compressed. like the four years of college. literally, that is true. i did not know what i was going

to do. mentioned the blues project? where wrote five new songs. me and barry come from the chicago el cooper school. and we talkedgs about about five. shepherd, and i really wanted to have a guitar slung in blues album. album.ging blues it just doesn't let up. tavis: did you choose this title for the box that? >> i chose this title for the

song and it seems to me to be apropos of the first two chapters. reckon there is a couple more. gothave a gift and you've to use it. >> really. withnly, you struggle everything except reading. just getting on and overcoming being shy. you start playing this stuff, don henley tells the same kind of story. you find a set of drumsticks and your mother to save the furniture.

comes home with a set of progress radio kings. the rest is history. was off two the races. tavis: stephen stills has a 4-cd set out covering the best of all of this stuff. called carryiately on, it is great for all of us. at it. on this is what we're doing right now. tavis: i am honored to have you excuse forgram, any you to coming out with us.

that is our show for tonight. until next time, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with she has released her first album. see you then. >> there is a saying that dr. king had. he said, there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only about halfway to completely eliminate hunger and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> be more. >> be more. pbs. pbs.

>> funding for overheard with evan smith is provided in part by... the mattsson mchale foundation in support of public television. also by mfi foundation, improving the quality of life within our community. and from the texas board of legal specialization, board certified attorneys in your community, experienced, respected and tested. also by hillco partners, texas government affairs

consultancy and it's global health care consulting business unit, hillco health. and by the alice kleberg reynolds foundation and viewers like you. thank you. >> i'm evan smith. he's a 35 year veteran of the washington post, widely hailed as one of the most insightful and best source political reporters in the country. he's dan blaz, this is overheard. >> dan dallas, welcome.

good on to see you again. >> always glad to be in austin. >> 35 years at the post means that jimmy carter was president when you came to the paper. so wash hasn't changed. >> no, no. exactly the same. >> exactly the same. >> we all still have lust in our hearts. >> everyone gets along. >> a little bit of malaise, but if you can get past that, it's fine. >> then there was a reagan period. >> yeah, a little bit of change and then it came back. you witnessed -- we'll talk about journalism shortly, but we'll talk about politics and specifically congress and the presidency and the relationship between the two. you witnessed over 35 years things change and change again and change again. a lot of people think that today the relationship between congress and the presidency is at an all-time low in terms of the ability to get things done. >> right. i think that's probably right. it's easy to glorify the old days and to suggest that we all -- in the 60's and the 70's and even the 80's, that everybody did get along. and there were -- there were certainly periods in which they did get along. >> yeah.

>> tip o'neal and ronald reagan were able to work together on some things and get things done. >> have the occasional drink. >> have the drink afterwards. two irish guys who fought during the day and socialized in the evening. >> right. >> it wasn't all sweetness and light in those days, but we've gone in kind of a step by step way to a much different environment. >> how much of it is the institutions of congress and the presidency and how much of it is these congressmen and this president? >> well, i think a lot of it is a reflection of how the country has changed. and, you know, congress is a reflection of the people. >> yeah. >> and what we've seen is an increase in polarization year by year by year. >> right. >> it's now baked into our politics, it's baked into the way ordinary people think about politics. but they're also some institutional factors that have affected that. one is you have -- you had, beginning with newt gingrich in the late '80s