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One of several acts spawned following the demise of the Buffalo Springfield (along with Crosby Stills & Nash, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Dewey Martin & Medicine Ball) Poco was one of the earliest of the Southern California Country Rock bands, and important for several reasons: the signature high harmony singing of Richie Furay, drummer George Grantham and bassist Tim Schmit; the dynamic interplay between Jim Messina's guitar lines and Rusty Young's stream-of-conciousness steel work; these are among the qualities that came to define the genre of "Country Rock", as practiced by groups like Firefall, Pure Prarie League and the Eagles. |
The cut "Kind Woman" on the Springfield's Last Time Around release was as far as I know the first pairing of Rusty Young and Richie Furay. Furay's plaintive singing and Young's gentle interwoven pedal steel accompaniment (I love those pedal trills!) make this recording a true gem. Seek it out!
Rusty Young's showmanship in introducing the pedal steel to Rock audiences was fairly unique; he used effects (playing steel thru a Leslie cabinet for an "organ" tone), unusual instruments (the Melobar; Mosrite electric Dobro(R)), and exciting stage antics (playing his steel with a leg broken from his chair during a concert finale was one I personally witnessed).
Poco could be characterized a "farm team" for the Eagles and other more well known SoCal Country Rock acts. While seldom achieving the chart success they deserved, the band contributed personnel to many more successful acts. Randy Meisner, Poco's original bass player, left after their first album to play with Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band and the Eagles. Tim Schmit also "moved up to the big leagues" joining the Eagles as Meisner's replacement. Richie Furay co-founded Souther, Hillman & Furay. Jim Messina teamed up with Kenny Loggins and the rest is AOR pop history. Actually, it's all pop history now...
(c)(p) David Van Allen 1996