Aging rock legends don’t generally record a lot of new music. The incentives are low in today’s age of streaming, when money is made on the road as longtime fans come out to hear elderly icons play their hits. So why is David Crosby—77 years old and a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame entrant, as a member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash—releasing albums at a feverish clip, dropping four in the past five years?

Mr. Crosby smiles slightly at the question before answering simply, “Because I’m going to die.”

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