POCO...WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

POCO CONTINUES TO ENJOY SUCCESS WITH THE RELEASE OF NEW CD
By Rob Nagy

In the 1970¹s the California country rock movement was started with the
birth the Eagles, Firefall, Pure Prairie League and Poco  leading the way.
All of these acts had different degrees of commercial success but not one of
them didn¹t have an impact on an American music scene that was continuing to
evolve. While Poco was certainly one of the instigators of this new sound,
they often took an undeserving back seat to the aforementioned artists. Poco
has proven to be a survivor and it is no mistake that they have maintained a
longevity and style that has now out lasted the rest of the pack nearly
forty years later with the release of their twenty-sixth album ³Bareback At
Big Sky², putting the band in rare company.

Formed in 1969, following the demise of ³Buffalo Springfield², ³Poco²
consisted of Richie Furay, Jim Messina(later of Loggins & Messina fame),
George Grantham, Rusty Young and Randy Meisner, who would soon depart ³Poco²
to form the ³Eagles² after a lengthy delay with ³Poco¹s² 1969 debut release
³Pickin¹ Up The Pieces². Timothy B. Schmidt, replaced Meisner on bass and
would go on to play with the ³Eagles² as well, starting an inside joke that
³Before you played with the ŒEagles¹ you had to play with ŒPoco¹². Messina
followed suit forming the highly successful ³Loggins & Messina². Paul Cotton
replaced Messina and both Cotton and Young began a journey fronting ³Poco²
which continues to this day.

In spite of the revolving door of musicians coming in and out of the band
³Poco² was able to maintain enough stability to continue to release one
sometimes two albums a year through the 1970¹s as well as tour with
regularity. While ³Poco² didn¹t see lots of airplay early on, there was no
denying the solid body of work that the band produced. With record sales
falling short of what the they had hoped, ³Poco² was a band to be seen and
enjoyed live. Over time they developed a sizeable cult following, referred
to as ³Poconuts², which continues to follow them. ²We have the best fans in
the world², says Young. ³Many of the people that continue to come to our
shows were just teenagers and now they are turning us on to their children.
It is wonderful and truly a blessing.² In 1978 ³Poco² released their biggest
commercial success ³Legend² yielding the hit songs ³Crazy Love² and ³Heart
of the Night².  After nearly a decade of pounding out new material ³Poco²
had finally achieved the pinnacle of being ³Hit recording artists².  Both
³Crazy Love² and ³Heart of the Night² received consistent radio airplay for
the twelve months. It is no surprise that these two classics can be heard on
the radio and hit compilations nearly three decades later. With the new wave
and punk rock era immerging in the late 70¹s and taking the music industry
well into the 80¹s, ³Poco², like so many other talented bands, found it hard
to compete with the new direction of things. Musicians continued to come and
go while Young and Cotton still remained. Sporadic releases throughout the
80¹s and 90¹s kept the name ³Poco² alive but the band was unable to, again,
capture the commercial success they had experienced in years past.  Breaking
up and reforming under various line-ups was commonplace. On occasion Furay,
Schmit and Grantham, respectively, worked with ³Poco² only to move on.
Poco, now in their 38th year of existence, has most recently released a live
cd entitled ³Bareback at Big Sky² offering the diehard ³Poco² fans a fresh
collection of fifteen songs some old and some new. Not included are their
biggest hits ³Crazy Love² and ³Heart of the Night².  ³The new cd was
recorded live in Bozeman, Montana last fall in a beautiful lodge complete
with a recording studio.² Recalls Young. ³We spent a week there rehearsing
and recording before a live audience. We did the project because we hadn¹t
done an all-acoustic cd before and had many people asking for one.. We
purposely left off the hits and did material that was a little more
obscure.² Young added, ³Today everything has changed in terms of technology.
Back when we did ŒLegend¹ it cost a million dollars to record and promote so
as a consequence, even though we sold a million or more copies we never saw
one penny, it basically became a promotional device so we could go out on
the road and play.  Today we can afford to make a record like ³Bareback² and
we can pay for it ourselves and hire the same promotion people that the big
record labels use. Instead of the labels making all the money the band
actually makes money. It¹s an amazing concept, making money playing music
and selling records.²The band sounds as fresh and exciting as when they
first started out, banging out one kickin song after another with finesse
and gusto of a much younger band, a testimony to their passion and love of
what they do best.  Some of the standout tracks are the opening song ³Under
The Gun² with it¹s mesmerizing mandolin through-out. The romantic ballad
³Nothing Less Than Love² which is along the line of there hit ³Crazy Love.
³Everytime I hear That Train² in the style of Buffalo Springfield Alum
Stephen Stills. The Carribean feel of ³Barbadoes² and the Southern bluesy
sound of ³Cajun Man². While Young enjoyed the fame and popularity he is
comfortable with the place ³Poco² now finds themselves. ³Playing is more fun
now², say¹s Young. ³There isn¹t the pressure we had back in the 70¹s and
80¹s of having to make hit records.  Now we make music for ourselves and for
the ŒPoconuts¹ and it¹s a blessing to still be doing it. I am thankful for
every day that we get to be on stage performing.²

Again, with the advancements of technology Young and Cotton have created yet
another avenue to get their work out there, as Young explains. ³We¹ve got a
website called www.sessioncats.com that we just put up, where you can send
me your music demo and we will overdub steel guitar or mandolin or whatever
you want. That kind of technology is amazing because you couldn¹t have done
that before. Now you can have pretty much anybody play on your home demo.²
While currently on tour in support of ³Bareback At Big Sky², ³Poco² is one
of those groups that has never really stopped performing and whose
popularity is still very much in tact. ³We played more shows last year than
we played in fifteen years and this year looks even busier. We did B.B.
Kings in New York City last year and they weren¹t sure we could do business
so we said ŒWe¹ll come in and play and you don¹t have to pay us, we¹ll take
the door¹. So we went into that room and sold it out. Now they want us back
and are thrilled to have us. We are so blessed.² For further info on ³Poco²
go to their website at www.poconut.com

Currently on tour in support of ³Bareback at Big Sky², ³Poco² played the
Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA on February 10, 2006 in a rare
Philadelphia appearance. A near capacity crowd enjoyed a 90 minute set which
included the ³Poco² classics ³Crazy Love², Heart of the Night² and ³Legend².
Immediately following the show ³Poco² signed autographs and took photo¹s
with well over 100 loyal fans.