Poco (band)
Poco was an American country rock band originally formed in 1968 after the demise of Buffalo Springfield. Guitarists Richie Furay and Jim Messina, former members of Buffalo Springfield, were joined by multi-instrumentalist Rusty Young, bassist Randy Meisner and drummer George Grantham. Meisner quit the band while they were recording their first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, though his bass and backing vocal parts were kept in the final mix. He was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit in 1969, and Messina left in 1970 to be replaced by Paul Cotton. The line-up would change numerous times over the next several decades, with Rusty Young being the only constant member. A reunion of the founding members occurred in the late 1980s-early 1990s, and the band continued in some form through 2021, though they retired from active touring in 2013, with Young citing health concerns as the primary cause of his retirement. Young died from a heart attack in April 2021.
To date, the band has released 19 studio albums, the most successful of which was 1978's Legend, which featured the Billboard Hot 100 #17 and Adult Contemporary #1 hit "Crazy Love". The band's last album was All Fired Up in 2013.
Poco are considered one of the founders of the Southern California country rock sound, and three of the members of the band have been inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as members of other bands. However, the band has yet to receive a nomination since entering eligibility in 1995.
History
Inception
During recording of Buffalo Springfield's third and final album, Last Time Around, lead singers Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Richie Furay each recorded songs without the other members present. One of Furay's solo efforts was the country-influenced ballad "Kind Woman", which he recorded with the help of producer/engineer/bassist Jim Messina and pedal steel guitarist Rusty Young.When Buffalo Springfield split up, Furay, Messina and Rusty Young decided to start their own group oriented toward such songs. Its original line-up was Furay, Messina, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner. The group was signed to a recording contract with Epic Records, which acquired the rights to Furay from the Springfield's Atlantic Records subsidiary Atco label in return for those to Graham Nash of The Hollies. Originally, the new group was named "Pogo", after the Pogo comic strip character, but was changed when its creator, Walt Kelly, objected and threatened to sue.
Furay era (1969–1973)
Their debut, Pickin' Up the Pieces, is considered a pioneering album of the country rock genre. The first edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide edited by Dave Marsh and John Swenson, gave the release 5 stars, its highest rating, as an essential album. However, the album performed weakly, peaking at No. 63 on Billboard album chart.The band's line-up proved to be a problem throughout its career. During the recording of the debut album, Meisner left the group as a result of a conflict with Furay. After a stint playing with Ricky Nelson's Stone Canyon Band, Meisner later became a founding member of the Eagles. Messina briefly took over on bass until Timothy B. Schmit joined the band in September 1969.
Their second studio album Poco again resulted in low sales, peaking at No. 58. However, the band's next album, the live set Deliverin', picked up moderate airplay, Furay's "C'mon" hitting No. 69. Deliverin’ became Poco's first album to reach the Top 40 on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 26.
Messina chose to leave the band in October 1970, feeling Furay exerted too much control over the group's sound. He also was anxious to get off the road and return to his career in studio production. This would lead him ultimately on to Loggins & Messina. At the recommendation of Peter Cetera of Chicago, Messina selected guitarist/singer Paul Cotton, a one-time member of the Illinois Speed Press, to replace him.
The realigned Poco, now on its third line-up on just its fourth album, hired Steve Cropper as producer and released From the Inside. Again, poor sales were the result as the release landed at No. 52.
The band and its management were dissatisfied with Cropper's production and hired Canadian Jack Richardson, who'd had big success with The Guess Who and oversaw the next three albums, beginning with A Good Feelin' to Know. The band built the LP around the title track, a popular concert tune, but the single failed to chart. The album itself peaked at No. 69. As a result, Furay became increasingly discouraged with Poco's prospects, especially since ex-bandmates Stills, Young, Meisner and Messina were so successful with their respective groups. In an April 26, 1973 Rolling Stone magazine interview with Cameron Crowe, he vented that Poco was still a second-billed act and had not increased its audience.
The next album, Crazy Eyes, reached No. 38 but Furay departed at its release and joined with JD Souther and Chris Hillman to create the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band on Asylum Records. Poco decided not to replace Furay and continued as a quartet.
Post-Furay era (1973–1977)
After Furay's departure, the band released their last two albums with Epic; Seven and Cantamos. The albums charted at No. 68 and No. 76 respectively. Poco left Epic after Cantamos and signed with ABC-Dunhill Records.Head Over Heels was their first ABC release, featuring Schmit's acoustic "Keep On Tryin" which became the group's most successful single to date, charting at No. 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. Around the time of the release of Head Over Heels, The Very Best of Poco was released as a compilation album that documented the group's years with Epic. Epic's release fought with Head Over Heels for attention though neither charted very well, hitting No. 43 and No. 90, respectively.
The group's next ABC album was Rose Of Cimarron which also failed to generate much enthusiasm and peaked at No. 89. Another Epic release also came out in 1976, the live album Live.
Al Garth, who guested on Head Over Heels and Rose of Cimarron, was added to the group's 1976 touring line up on sax and violin, but was gone by the end of that year.
In the summer of 1976, the group was on the bill with the Stills-Young Band teaming but was left high and dry when Neil Young pulled out of the tour, which was then canceled.
Indian Summer was released the following spring, peaking at No. 57, while the title track reached No. 50. The appearance of Steely Dan's Donald Fagen playing synthesizer on two of the album's tracks marked a move away from the country rock sound the band had primarily been known for.
Success (1977–1980)
In August 1977 Schmit quit to join the Eagles, coincidentally replacing former Poco member Meisner yet again. As a result, a fully produced live album recorded at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles in July 1977 was shelved by ABC. After languishing in storage for many years, the album was eventually released by John Thaler and Futuredge Music in partnership with Universal Special Projects as The Last Roundup in 2004.After Schmit's departure, Poco decided to take a break. Grantham took some time off, while Young and Cotton decided to continue as the Cotton-Young Band and redoubled their efforts to succeed. They selected the Britons Steve Chapman and Charlie Harrison, both of whom had played together with Leo Sayer and Al Stewart, to round out their new quartet. However, ABC decided to pick up the Cotton-Young album — as long as they continued under the Poco name. Thus, although Grantham had never quit Poco, he found himself bought out of the group after he was not happy with the changes in its business setup, including the group's publishing no longer being divided evenly. After a stint with McGuinn, Clark & Hillman, he subsequently landed a job as drummer for Ricky Skaggs.
Legend, the Cotton-Young album with cover art by graphic artist Phil Hartman, subsequently became the group's most commercially successful LP, containing two Top 20 hits, "Crazy Love" written and sung by Rusty Young and Cotton's "Heart of the Night". The album was certified gold, Poco's first album to achieve this distinction in original distribution.
Kim Bullard joined the band in December 1978 just after Legend was released. While "Crazy Love" was riding up the charts in early 1979, ABC Records was sold to MCA Records. Poco was retained by MCA and the Legend album was reissued on the MCA label.
With the momentum built up from Legend's success, Poco were invited by the Musicians United for Safe Energy collective to play during their concerts at Madison Square Garden in September 1979. And their new hit "Heart of the Night" appeared on the resulting live album No Nukes, the concerts and album all being in support of nuclear-free energy. Both the concerts and the album also featured several other big artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne.
1980–1999
During the first half of the 1980s, the group released five more albums: Under the Gun, Blue And Gray, Cowboys & Englishmen on MCA and, moving over to Atlantic Records, Ghost Town and Inamorata. Poco failed to duplicate the success achieved by Legend, with each album performing more poorly than its predecessor.Poco also contributed the song "I'll Leave it Up to You" to Fast Times at Ridgemont Highs soundtrack in 1982.
On Inamorata the band mostly played down their "Country rock" sound to adopt more of an "80s style" with more keyboards and glossy synth sounds as well as electronic drums. The album also featured guest spots by former members Timothy B. Schmit, Richie Furay and George Grantham.
The group lost its recording contract with Atlantic due to the slow sales of Inamorata but continued to tour, mostly in small clubs. Bullard left to rejoin Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1983 and Harrison departed in mid-1984. New members Jeff Steele and Rick Seratte came in for Poco's 1984 tour dates, but they departed, along with drummer Chapman, to be replaced in 1985 by future Great Plains front man Jack Sundrud and the returning Grantham. Grantham's reunion with Poco was brief, though; In late 1985, Steve Wariner asked him to join his band. Chapman came back to take over drums again. During this period, the band relocated to Nashville and recorded some demos, though no record deal resulted. And after a few scattered live dates for the group in 1986 and 1987, Paul Cotton pursued a solo career and did not perform with Poco again until 1992, while Young played in Vince Gill's band.
After a lengthy recording hiatus, at the urging of Richard Marx and his manager Allen Kovac who took on Poco, the band re-emerged on the RCA label with the successful Legacy, reuniting original members Young, Furay, Messina, Grantham and Meisner twenty years after Poco's debut. Though Timothy B. Schmit and Paul Cotton were also approached to appear on the project, Schmit declined and Cotton, who was busy with his solo career, was bought out of the group and it ended up being only the five originals. The album produced a Top 20 hit, "Call It Love," in the fall of 1989 and another Top 40 hit, "Nothing to Hide," in early 1990, earning Poco its second gold album.
The group toured in early 1990 opening for Marx and appeared at Farm Aid IV on April 7, 1990, at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana. But Furay, now a church minister in Colorado, then had to bow out due to his commitments and Poco toured as a headliner in the summer of 1990 with Sundrud returning to take over rhythm guitar from Furay.
Despite Legacys gold status and the two hit singles, the band did not make much money on their 1990 tour, one of the problems being their booking into military bases that turned out to be mostly empty, as the troops were all deployed for the Desert Shield operation in the Persian Gulf. RCA ended up dropping them from their roster and recordings for a proposed follow up to Legacy were abandoned.
In 1991 Poco toured as an acoustic trio with Young, Messina and Meisner, mostly to make up dates that were missed the previous year. But by the end of 1991, Messina and Meisner had returned to their individual careers.
After Messina and Meisner left, Young formed a side project, Four Wheel Drive, with John Cowan, Bill Lloyd and Patrick Simmons. They were signed to a recording deal with RCA Nashville and completed an album which was never released. Warner Bros. Records then picked up the group in 1993, but when they were threatened with lawsuits from bands who had already copyrighted the name Four Wheel Drive, they changed the band's name to The Sky Kings. But their one and only album, completed in 1997, was not released until 2000, three years after the group disbanded.
In the meantime, Rusty Young was the sole owner of the Poco name by early 1992 and, though they had not officially disbanded, the band seemed to be quietly fading away. Despite this, Young once again teamed with Cotton, brought in new members Richard Neville and Tim Smith and toured through the end of the decade, although on a very limited schedule. Young and Cotton also occasionally appeared as Poco as an acoustic duo.
On September 16, 1995, Poco appeared at Deadwood Jam in Deadwood, South Dakota, where former Loggins & Messina drummer Merel Bregante filled in for Tim Smith.