Poco rides again

July 5, 2006

Rusty Young remembers the evolution of the country-rock sound. After all, he helped to create it nearly 40 years ago when he founded Pogo along with Jim Messina, Randy Meisner, Richie Furay and George Grantham. The band quickly changed their name to Poco after Walt Kelly, creator of the comic strip “Pogo,” threatened to sue the band. Now Poco makes their first appearance in Northern Michigan, headlining the 26th Annual Blisffest with a 9:30 p.m. performance on the main stage on opening night.
“Country-rock evolved out of the psychedelic era,” said Young. “People were looking for a new sound and layering country sounds with rock and roll made sense. Traditional country instruments like the banjo offered a refreshing feel to rock and roll, and the sound took off. Remember, the synthesizer had not been developed yet so these traditional instruments offered just what the scene was looking for at the time.”

ROOTS
Poco grew out of Buffalo Springfield, when in 1968 Stephen Stills and Neil Young left in the middle of the group’s final album, leaving Messina and Furay to fend for themselves. Rusty Young was brought in to lay down steel guitar tracks on the final track, “Kind of Woman.” The three decided to form their own band, bringing in Meisner and recruiting Grantham, Young’s bandmate from Boenzee Cryque. 
The band quickly made a name for themselves around Los Angles and in early 1969 signed a deal with Epic Records. The next day Randy Meisner quit (he would go on to be a founding member of The Eagles), apparently over personality issues. The band released their debut album “Pickin’ Up the Pieces” as a foursome and then returned to a quintet the following year when they brought in Timothy B. Schmit to replace Meisner (ironically Schmit would replace Meisner in The Eagles after Meisner quit because of personality conflicts).
Soon Messina left to form the popular Loggins & Messina duo with Kenny Loggins. Vocalist Paul Cotton of the Illinois Speed Press was brought in to replace Messina and this line-up stayed together for a couple of years before Furay, frustrated with the group’s lack of commercial success, joined up Chris Hillman and JD Souther to form the Souther-Hillman-Furray Band.
The group continued to struggle in the mid-’70s when Schmit left to join The Eagles and Granthan left shortly after, eventually becoming country star Ricky Skaggs’ drummer. Things turned around for the band in 1978 when they re-formed with Charlie Harrison and Steve Chapman (Al Stewart’s drummer), joining Young and Cotton along with Crosby, Stills & Nash keyboardist Kim Bullard. This version of Poco enjoyed the most success. Their album “Legend” earned a Gold Record and climbed into the Top 20 on the album charts. Songs “Crazy Love” and “Heart of the Night” also reached the Top 20.
 
KEEPIN’ ON
Their success was short lived as the 1980’s sound found the group on the outside looking in. They disbanded for several years before the original quintet reformed in 1989, producing one Top 20 hit, “Call It Love,” and a semi successful album, “Legacy,” which cracked the Top 40. The reunion of the original line-up only lasted six months despite a successful album and tour, but it was enough to put Poco back on the country rock scene, and Cotton and Young, along with bassist Jack Sundrud (joined during the Legacy tour), have kept the name and the music of Poco going ever since.
“This really is an exciting time right now in the music industry,” said Young. “Through technology, bands like ours are able to record albums that would have cost us millions of dollars years ago. Essentially, you found yourself in debt to the label and touring all the time to make a living. Now we can record an album anywhere, release it ourselves and keep most of the money.”
Young and Sundrud recently created an online recording company (www.sessioncats.com) that allows anyone in the world to have them perform on their recording.
“It is really cool. Five years ago it would have been cost-prohibitive, but now regardless of the size of the project we can lay down tracks without all of the travel expenses,” said Young. “I recently did some work for the band America and several other smaller projects. It has been a great creative outlet.”

LOOKING AHEAD
Young is also pleased with Poco’s current creative output. The band released “Bareback At Big Sky” last September. An acoustic collection of some of the group’s favorite songs over the years, including the Neil Young-written (from the Buffalo Springfield days) “On The Way Home,” that has become a staple in Poco’s live set. A Poco greatest hits album is due out at the end of the year and the group plans to release an album with all new material early in 2007.
“Again we wouldn’t even be talking about us releasing an album of all new material with a major label because of the expense,” said Young. “But it is important to us and to our fans that we present new material. It keeps things fresh.”
Poco in recent years has been praised by the critics for bringing forward new material at their shows. To often classic bands run around with a hodge-podge of cast members, sometimes with no original members at all, playing the tunes of the glory days. A Poco show is a nice mix of the best of the old and plenty of new stuff, showing that these guys are committed to creating music, not just performing it.
Expect to hear the hits from the past:  “A Good Feeling to Know,” “Crazy Eyes,” “Bad Weather, Rose of Cimarron,” “Heart of the Night,” “Crazy Love,” “Midnight Rain,” “Indian Summer,” “Ghost Town,” “Widowmaker,” “Call it Love,” and “Days Gone By.” But don’t be surprised to add a half dozen new tunes to your list of Poco favorites.
 
Catch Poco at Blissfest, Friday, July 7 at 9:30 pm. Blissfest is located between Harbor Springs and Cross Village. For a complete listing of performers visit www.blissfest.org or call the box office for details, 231-348-7047.