Poco

Poco
Poco, in 2007 L-R: Young, Lawrence, Cotton, and Sundrud
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States[1]
Genres	Country rock, rock, folk rock
Years active	1968-present
Labels	Epic Records MCA Records
Associated acts	Buffalo Springfield Eagles Great Plains Loggins and Messina Sky Kings Souther-Hillman-Furay Band
Website	Official website
Members
Rusty Young Jack Sundrud George Lawrence Michael Webb
Past members
Richie Furay Jim Messina Randy Meisner Timothy B. Schmit George Grantham Al Garth Steve Chapman Charlie Harrison Kim Bullard Tim Smith Richard Neville Paul Cotton

Poco is an American country rock band originally formed by Richie Furay and Jim Messina following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968.^[1] The title of their first album, Pickin' Up The Pieces, is a reference to the break-up of the Springfield. Throughout the years Poco has performed in various groupings, with a version still active today.

Inception

During recording of the third Buffalo Springfield album (Last Time Around), each of the three lead singers (Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Richie Furay) recorded songs without the other members present. One of Furay's solo songs 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.^[2] When Buffalo Springfield then split up, Furay, Messina and Rusty Young decided to start their own group oriented toward such songs.

The original lineup of this new group was Furay (vocals and rhythm guitar), Messina (lead guitar, vocals, producer), Young (pedal steel guitar, banjo, Dobro, guitar, mandolin and vocals), George Grantham (drums and vocals) and Randy Meisner (bass and vocals). The group was signed to a recording contract with Epic Records, which acquired the rights to Furay from Atlantic Records (the Springfield's label) in return for the rights to Graham Nash from the Hollies (who was moving to Atlantic as part of Crosby, Stills & Nash).^[2] Originally, the new group was named "Pogo" after the famous comic strip character, but it had to change its name when Pogo creator Walt Kelly objected to their use of the name and threatened to sue. "Poco" in Spanish means "little" or "un", as "poco importante", and is also a musical term meaning "a little".

Their first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces (1969), was considered an important album of the country rock genre.^[3] However, the album failed commercially, peaking at #63 on Billboard album chart.^[1]

The band's lineup proved to be a problem throughout their career. During the recording of the debut album, Meisner left the group as a result of a conflict with Furay (reportedly, Meisner had objected after Furay barred all but himself and Messina from the first album's final mix playback sessions).^[4] After a stint playing with Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band, Meisner later became a founding member of the Eagles. Messina assumed the bass chores until Timothy B. Schmit joined Poco in September 1969.^[1]

The "Furay era"

The studio album Poco (1970) again resulted in low sales, peaking at #58. The band's next album, Deliverin', picked up moderate airplay, Furay's "C'mon" hitting #69. Deliverin’ became Poco's first album to reach the Top 40 on the Billboard 200, peaking at #26. Messina chose to leave the band in October 1970, feeling Furay exhibited too much control over the group's sound. Before departing Messina secured the services of guitarist/singer Paul Cotton, a one time member of the Illinois Speed Press, to replace him.^[1]

The realigned Poco, now on its third lineup on just its fourth album, hired Steve Cropper as producer and released From The Inside (1971). Again, poor sales were the result as the release landed at #52. The band and its management was dissatisfied with Cropper's production and hired Jack Richardson, who oversaw the next three albums, beginning with A Good Feelin’ To Know (1972). The band built the LP around the title track, a popular concert tune, but the single failed to chart. The album itself peaked at #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 (1973), reached #38 but Furay departed at its release and joined with J. D. Souther and Chris Hillman to create the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band on Asylum. Poco decided not to replace Furay and continued as a quartet.^[1]

The "post-Furay era"

After Furay's departure, the band released their last two albums with Epic; Seven (1974) and Cantamos (1974). The albums charted at #68 and #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 #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 #43 and #90, respectively.^[1]

The group's next ABC-Dunhill album was Rose Of Cimarron which also failed to generate much enthusiasm and peaked at #89. Another Epic release also came out in 1976, the live album Live. Indian Summer was released the following spring, reaching #57.^[1]

Success

In August 1977, with the support of the rest of Poco, Schmit quit to join the Eagles, coincidentally replacing former Poco member Meisner yet again. As a result, a possible new live album was cancelled by ABC. After languishing in storage for many years, the album was eventually released 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, selecting Britons Steve Chapman (drums) and Charlie Harrison (bass) (both of whom had played together with Leo Sayer, Al Stewart and many others) 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. He subsequently landed a job as drummer for Ricky Skaggs.

Legend (1978), the Cotton-Young album with cover art by graphic artist (and later comedy actor) Phil Hartman, subsequently became the group's most commercially successful album, containing two Top Twenty hits, Young's "Crazy Love" (which also had a seven-week run at Number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart in early 1979, the biggest hit on the AC chart that year) and Cotton's "Heart of the Night". The album was certified gold, Poco's first album to achieve this distinction. Kim Bullard (keyboards) joined the band in December 1978 just as Legend was being released. While "Crazy Love" was riding up the charts, 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 played their new hit "Heart of the Night" on the live album No Nukes in support of nuclear-free energy, which featured several other big artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne.

The later years

Jim Messina - Founding member of Poco performing in 2009

In the 1980s, the group released five more albums: Under The Gun (1980), Blue And Gray (1981), Cowboys & Englishmen (1982) on MCA and, moving over to Atlantic Records, Ghost Town (1982) and Inamorata (1984). Poco failed to duplicate the success achieved by Legend, with each album doing more poorly than its predecessor.^[1] Furay, Schmit and Grantham had, since their departures, each guested with Poco at various times. Inamorata in 1984 included contributions by all three former members. Poco contributed the song "I'll Leave in up to You" to the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack.

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 (who had not played on Inamorata) departed in mid-1984. New members Jeff Steele (bass) and Rick Seratte (keyboards, backing vocals) came in for Poco's 1984 tour dates, only to be replaced in 1985 by Jack Sundrud and the returning Grantham. Grantham's reunion was brief though, in 1986 Ricky Skaggs asked him to rejoin his band. Chapman came back to take over drums again.

After a lengthy recording hiatus, at the urging of Richard Marx, Poco re-emerged on the RCA label with the successful Legacy (1989), reuniting original members Young, Furay, Messina, Grantham, and Meisner twenty years after Poco's debut. The album produced a Top 20 hit, "Call it Love" and a Top 40 hit, "Nothing to Hide" earning Poco its second gold album (in its 19th album).^[1] The group (having added a keyboardist, Dave Vanecore) toured in early 1990 opening for Marx. Furay bowed out early on and Poco toured as a headliner in the summer of 1990 with Sundrud returning to take over rhythm guitar from Furay. In 1991, Poco toured as an acoustic trio with Young, Messina and Meisner (drummer Gary Mallaber joined them for dates in Japan that July). But by the end of 1991, Messina and Meisner had returned to their individual careers.

By early 1992, Poco was once again without a record deal. But despite this, Young once again teamed with Cotton, brought in new members Richard Neville (vocals, bass) and Tim Smith (drums) and toured through the end of the decade. Young and Cotton occasionally also appeared as Poco as an acoustic duo.

In 2000, Grantham and Sundrud once again returned to Poco, reuniting the group's 1985 lineup, and Running Horse (2002) found the band in the studio for the first time in thirteen years. The CD was released through the bands website. Furay (who had continued to make guest appearances at their shows over the years when they played in his native Colorado) reunited with the band again for a sold out show in Nashville in May 2004, resulting in the CD–DVD release Keeping The Legend Alive (2004). In July of the same year, Grantham suffered a stroke during a live performance. His recovery was slow and expensive, and the group created a donor fund on its official website, Poconut.org, to offset some of his considerable medical expenses. Grantham has recently begun occasionally appearing with the band again but limits his contributions to vocals only. George Lawrence (who had subbed for Tim Smith on drums in 1999) rejoined Poco as drummer.

2005-2010

Poco continues to write and record while performing at festivals and clubs.In 2005 they played some shows in Europe, but Cotton was replaced by Bill Lloyd due to health issues. Cotton returned to the lineup of Young, Cotton, Sundrud, and drummer George Lawrence. Cotton and Sundrud recently released solo albums, and Young is the author of an upcoming autobiographical history of the band. Poco alumni continue to periodically reunite in concert with the current lineup. Richie Furay and Jim Messina returned for several 2008 Poco performances at the Wildwood Lodge in Steelville, Missouri and at Stagecoach in 2009 with Timothy B. Schmit and George Grantham. Bareback At Big Sky (2005) and The Wildwood Sessions (2006) are Poco's most recent original releases, capturing live acoustic versions of songs both new and familiar from their forty-year plus career.

On March 11, 2010, Cotton departed the band over a financial dispute which was carried out over the Internet. It was announced on Cotton's website that he would not be appearing with Poco at the Wildwood concerts, stating "It was not all that shocking when Rusty told me on Feb. 27 that he would not honor the contract that I had been requesting for over 15 years, and that this was goodbye..." On March 12, 2010, Young responded on Poco's official website: "It was a sad day when I read on Paul's website that he wasn't coming to Wildwood and I guess that means he's leaving the band." Young stated, via the band's official website, that Nashville keyboardist Michael Webb will be replacing Cotton for upcoming tour dates.

Discography

Poco member history

References

External links

• Angelfire.com Deliverin': The Poco Live Concert Database