Infinity Hall

Poco has always been a pioneer. It can easily be argued that Poco first created the combination of vocal harmonies, country instruments and rock and roll rhythms that became known as country rock.

Poco began when Richie Furay (b. May 9, 1944, Yellow Springs, Ohio), Jim Messina (b. December 5, 1947, Harlingen, Texas), and Rusty Young (b. February 23, 1946, Long Beach, California) met during the Buffalo Springfield’s ‘Last Time Around’ sessions in 1968. Rusty was called to play steel guitar on Richie Furay’s song ‘Kind Woman’ and after the session was over the three talked about starting a band. That was the beginning of a band that would inspire a generation of musicians. With the addition of drummer George Grantham (b. January 20, 1947, Cordell, Oklahoma) and Randy Meisner (b. March 8, 1947, Scottsbluff, Nebraska) Poco began playing showcase California clubs like the Troubadour and the Golden Bear. The band was originally billed as Pogo until Walt Kelly, the creator of the cartoon strip Pogo, sued and the band was forced to change the name to Poco. “We weren’t all that disappointed by the lawsuit. Constantly being compared to a cartoon character would have been less than inspiring!” remembers Rusty.

Poco was ‘discovered’ at the Troubadour. L.A. Times music critic Robert Hilburn announced that Poco was ‘The next big thing’ and soon offers for record contracts began rolling in. The band signed with Epic Records and in the fall of 1969 Poco released the band’s debut album, ‘Pickin’ Up The Pieces’. Rolling Stone magazine gave ‘Pickin’ Up The Pieces’ a rave review and called it a perfect album. But just before the album’s release, Randy Meisner became unhappy and left to join Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band and a few years later Randy joined Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Bernie Leadon to form the Eagles.

Timothy B. Schmit was then chosen to take Randy’s place on bass guitar and Poco began crisscrossing the country jumping from one tour to the next. Now instead of playing to hundreds in the intimate surroundings of the Troubadour, the band was playing to thousands at concerts with Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Who. Times had changed.

After touring for almost a year, Poco went back in the studio. The band’s second album, simply titled ‘Poco’, featured an extended instrumental called ‘El Tonto De Nadie’ along with the band’s first chart reaching single, Messina’s ‘You Better Think Twice’.

By this time, Poco concerts had become such an event that the cry for a ‘live’ record had to be answered. The next album, ‘Deliverin’ was a live show captured on the road during a tour with The Moody Blues that captured all the excitement of a live Poco show. It was in the fall of 1970 when, after working non-stop for years in both the Buffalo Springfield and Poco, Jimmy Messina decided to leave Poco to do production work and spend more time with his new wife. The first project Jimmy was slated to produce was a promising new artist named Kenny Loggins. The chemistry between Jimmy and Kennywas undeniable and as a result the popular duo Loggin’s and Messina was created. Even Elvis proved he was a fan by recording their hit ‘Your Mama Don’t Dance’. In 1970 Jimmy was replaced by Paul Cotton. Cotton was an accomplished singer, songwriter and guitarist who brought more of a rock edge to the band. The new line-up journeyed to Memphis, Tennessee to record with guitar icon Steve Cropper as producer. The result was the classic country rock album ‘From the Inside’ featuring songs from Furay, Schmit and Cotton.

After months of non-stop touring to promote the album, Poco went back into the studio once again. The next album, ‘A Good Feelin’ To Know’, was recorded in Chicago with The Guess Who’s producer Jack Richardson. ‘A Good Feelin’ To Know’ had been a concert highlight and although it didn’t find success in the Top 50, it remains a classic Poco song and is still a concert favorite.

After another series of sold-out concerts in cities across America, Poco returned to the studio to record ‘Crazy Eyes’. The title track was Richie’s tribute to his friend Gram Parsons. It’s a beautifully produced album by Jack Richardson with lush string passages wrapped around steel guitar and banjo refrains. It would prove to be the last album Richie Furay recorded with Poco until many years later. Richie left Poco to join Chris Hillman and J.D. Souther in the much hyped, but mostly unsuccessful, supergroup The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band.

From 1973 to 1977 Poco toured and recorded as a four piece band. Tim Schmit and Paul Cotton shared lead vocals with George Grantham adding harmonies. During these years Rusty Young’s steel guitar prowess came to the forefront. Known for jaw dropping, show stopping concert performances, he also became a much sought after session musician. Rusty worked on movie soundtracks, TV shows and recordings with artists like Gladys Knight, The James Gang, Three Dog Night and America, and even worked with Beatles producer George Martin. In 1975 Rusty was honored by being voted into Guitar Player Magazine’s ‘Gallery of Greats’ beside Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Andre Segovia.

The seventies were filled with tours sending Poco from Los Angeles to New York City, from Amsterdam to Paris and London. Meanwhile, Tim Schmit’s vocal tour de force ‘Keep On Tryin’ became the bands highest charting single to date and Rusty Young’s ‘Rose of Cimarron’ became a classic with versions recorded by Emmylou Harris and Lynn Anderson.

The year 1977 proved to be a time of change once again. George Grantham left to join Ricky Skaggs and Timothy B. Schmit left to replace Randy Meisner in the Eagles. Many bands wouldn’t recover from such a loss, but Poco not only survived, it flourished.

In the fall of 1978 Poco released the ‘Legend’ album and the single ‘Crazy Love’. ‘Crazy Love’ quickly became Poco’s long sought-after hit. It broke into the Top 20 and reached number 16 on Billboard’s pop chart while sitting at # 1 on the contemporary music chart for an amazing six weeks. It went on to beat out Al Stewart’s ‘Year of the Cat’ for Billboard Magazine’s song of the year. ‘Legend’ was Poco’s first Gold record and became the band’s first Platinum selling album. Success for Poco had come at the most unlikely time.

But ‘Under The Gun’, 1980’s follow-up to ‘Legend’, failed to achieve the success of its predecessor. Two more albums followed before the band moved from MCA Records to Atlantic Records. The result was 1982’s ‘Ghost Town’ which found a Top 50 hit with a Rusty Young song called ‘Shoot For The Moon’. A second album for Atlantic was titled ‘Inamorata’, the second album for Atlantic, featured a reunion with Furay, Grantham, Meisner and Schmit. ‘Save A Corner of Your Heart’ with Rusty, Tim and Richie singing together received significant airplay, but never became a hit.

Then in the mid-eighties Poco moved to Nashville in an effort to escape the disco craze sweeping pop music. Paul Cotton signed a writing deal with a Nashville publisher and Rusty Young began doing sessions and toured playing steel behind his friend Vince Gill. In 1989 Richie Furay asked Rusty about reuniting the original Poco line-up for an album and tour. After calls to Messina, Grantham and Meisner, writing and rehearsing began in Santa Barbara, California and a record deal was signed with RCA Records. The result was ‘Legacy’ an album over twenty years in the making. The first single, ‘Call It Love’ marched into the Top 20 and Poco with Richie Furay, Rusty Young, Jim Messina, Randy Meisner and George Grantham began touring right where they left off in 1968. True to Poco’s history, change was the only constant and the original line-up decided to go their separate ways.

But concert offers kept coming in and it became clear the Poco faithful weren’t ready to quit just yet. That’s when keeping Poco alive fell on the shoulders of Rusty Young, Paul Cotton, George Grantham and Jack Sundrud, (and a few other friends). During the next two decades Poco would play over sixty shows a year and once again return to the recording studio. ‘Running Horse’ was released in 2003, the first studio recording in more than a decade. The year 2004 brought a DVD/ CD with Richie Furay titled ‘Keeping The Legend Alive’. Two live CD’s were released in 2006 and 2007, ‘Bareback at Big Sky’ and ‘The Wildwood Sessions’.

Still playing to crowds of Poconuts, still winning over new fans, still reaching for new challenges, 2010 marks the beginning of a new era in the Poco legend. Today longtime Poco bassist Jack Sundrud (b. Sept. 7, 1949), renown Muscle Shoals Section drummer George Lawrence ( b. February 17, 1954),and the newest addition, keyboard wizard Michael Webb (b. July 3, 1963), join Rusty Young, in building on the musical tradition that has been a hallmark of Poco for over four decades.

“Poco has a history unmatched by any band and we feel a responsibility to keep audiences captivated with each and every concert. I’m excited about Poco’s future. It’s been a long ride and it just keeps getting better!” Rusty Young.

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