Poco

One of the earliest and most enduring country-rock ensembles, Poco emerged from the fading days of Buffalo Springfield. With the departures of co-founders Neil Young and Stephen Stills in spring 1968, only guitarist/singer Richie Furay and bassist Jim Messina stayed on to finish the group’s final album, Last Time Around. Its closing track, “Kind Woman,” featured solely Furay and Messina alongside steel-guitar guest Rusty Young, a skilled lap-steel player already at ease in rock settings after his time in the folk-rock-turned-psychedelic outfit Boenzee Cryque. Young elected to remain with Furay and Messina rather than audition for the new band Gram Parsons, formerly of the Byrds, was assembling. At Young’s urging the nascent ensemble next recruited ex-Boenzee Cryque drummer/vocalist George Grantham and bassist/singer Randy Meisner, whose résumé included the group the Poor. Four months of rehearsal preceded their Troubadour debut in Los Angeles in November 1968; a month later they appeared at the Fillmore West alongside the Steve Miller Band and Sly & the Family Stone.

They performed at first under the name Pogo, yet Walt Kelly, originator of the Pogo comic strip whose title they had borrowed, objected and filed suit. To retain the local goodwill they had accumulated in five months, the band altered a single letter and became Poco. Impressive live sets failed to yield an easy recording deal, because Meisner, Young, and Grantham were free agents while Furay and Messina remained contractually bound to Atlantic through Buffalo Springfield. Columbia expressed interest, and talent agent David Geffen—then negotiating Stephen Stills’s exit from Atlantic to form Crosby, Stills & Nash with David Crosby and Graham Nash—engineered an exchange: Atlantic chief Ahmet Ertegun and Columbia president Clive Davis swapped Furay and Messina to Columbia for Crosby and Nash.

Lineup instability surfaced soon after Poco signed with Columbia’s Epic imprint in early 1969. During sessions for their debut album bassist/vocalist Meisner abruptly departed, reportedly over producer-engineer Jim Messina’s refusal to let him participate in mixing. Meisner spent several months with Rick Nelson before joining the country-rock ensemble that became the Eagles. (Meisner died on July 26, 2023 at the age of 77.) Poco completed Pickin’ Up the Pieces as a quartet, with Messina playing bass; the June 1969 release earned strong notices yet modest sales, a pattern that persisted throughout much of the band’s career. By 1970 bassist/vocalist Timothy B. Schmit had joined, contributing two co-writes to the second album, Poco, which displayed wider musical range and drew even warmer reviews without producing a hit single or rising beyond the lower chart tiers.

Messina soon exited, citing Furay’s growing dominance over the sound, but first secured guitarist/singer Paul Cotton—formerly of Epic’s Illinois Speed Press—as his replacement. Messina remained to play on and produce the live album Deliverin’, a strategic pivot after two critically lauded yet commercially disappointing studio efforts; the set of new material captured the band’s onstage blend of rock energy and country lyricism, reaching number 26 and yielding the modest hit “C’mon.” Seeking a new producer for From the Inside (1971), the group enlisted Steve Cropper of Booker T. & the M.G.’s, whose Southern-soul background yielded a heavier, more soulful sound that nevertheless lacked the earlier freewheeling spirit. Remarkably, the lineup of Furay, Cotton, Young, Schmit, and Grantham endured beyond that single record. Their next release, A Good Feelin’ to Know (1972), centered on Furay’s popular concert piece of the same name; the album stalled at number 69 and the single failed to chart, deepening even Furay’s discouragement over continued commercial neglect.

A final push produced Crazy Eyes, their strongest studio album to date. Issued late in 1973, it climbed to number 38 and remained on the charts nearly six months, yet Furay left upon release to form the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band with Chris Hillman and John David Souther. Despite widespread predictions of dissolution, Poco continued as a quartet. Seven (spring 1974) did not match Crazy Eyes commercially but sustained fan interest, while the fall 1974 release Cantamos—the first self-produced Epic album—peaked at number 76 yet showcased strong songwriting from Young and Schmit alongside the band’s hallmark vocal harmonies and instrumental finesse, exemplified by the harder-rocking “High and Dry.”

Columbia and the group parted ways after nearly seven years of middling results despite favorable notices and loyal concert audiences. Signing with ABC Records, Poco issued Head Over Heels (1975), which outperformed recent Epic efforts by reaching number 48 and spawning the single “Keep on Tryin’,” a number-50 Billboard hit also ranking number 45 on Cashbox sales charts. Epic countered with the double-LP compilation The Very Best of Poco just two weeks later; that set reached number 90, siphoning some attention from the new album. Rose of Cimarron (1976) featured Rusty Young’s haunting title track—later covered by Emmylou Harris for her own Cimarron album and included on her Songs of the West compilation—yet the Poco LP climbed only to number 89 and the single barely entered the Top 50. Epic’s release of the previously unissued live album Live months earlier further complicated matters; new member Al Garth, formerly of Loggins & Messina, departed mid-year as the band neared breakup. Indian Summer (spring 1977) improved modestly to number 57, but such figures still demanded relentless touring to sustain momentum.

Four months after Indian Summer, Schmit exited amicably to replace Randy Meisner in the Eagles, an opportunity Poco encouraged. Grantham, the longest-serving member besides Young, left in January 1978 and later joined Ricky Skaggs. The band regrouped with British bassist/singer Charlie Harrison and drummer Steve Chapman alongside Young and Cotton; keyboardist Kim Bullard, a Crosby, Stills & Nash veteran, completed the quintet in December 1978. This configuration yielded Legend, the best-selling album of their career, certified gold after peaking at number 14. Its ethereal single “Crazy Love” became their biggest hit, reaching number 17 pop and number one adult contemporary, while Cotton’s “Heart of the Night” followed at number 20 in summer 1979.

Subsequent MCA releases—Under the Gun (1980), the Civil War concept album Blue and Gray (1981), and contractual-obligation set Cowboys & Englishmen (1982)—each charted lower than its predecessor amid a post-punk marketplace that marginalized veteran acts. Ghost Town (late 1982), their Atlantic debut, offered melodic strengths yet peaked at number 195. Inamorata (1984) reunited Furay and Schmit as guests but made little impact. Sporadic touring continued through further personnel shifts until 1989, when the original 1968 lineup of Furay, Messina, Young, Grantham, and Meisner reunited for Legacy. Its single “Call It Love” reached the Top 20 and the album hit number 40. Although that configuration disbanded after touring, Young and Cotton resumed leadership, occasionally joined by Grantham. New studio work grew scarce; Running Horse appeared via their website in 2002, followed by The Last Roundup (2004) on Future Edge. Grantham suffered a debilitating stroke onstage in 2004. Keeping the Legend Alive (2004, CD/DVD) welcomed Furay as guest, Bareback at Big Sky (2005) presented their first unplugged live set, and further live documents Keep on Tryin’ and Alive in the Heart of the Night arrived in 2006, with The Wildwood Tapes released in early 2007.

By 2007 the lineup comprised Rusty Young on multiple stringed instruments including mandolin, Paul Cotton, longtime bassist/singer Jack Sundrud, and drummer George Lawrence, who replaced Grantham. Their sets emphasized 1970s material alongside early Epic numbers and overlooked favorites. Cotton departed by 2010, succeeded by keyboardist Michael Webb; this configuration recorded the 21st studio album, All Fired Up, released in 2013. The live set Crazy Love followed in 2014 before Young announced his retirement from full-time touring, though he left open occasional short engagements. Young’s retirement proved permanent; he died April 14, 2021 at age 75. Paul Cotton passed away August 1, 2021 at age 78.