The Steel Guitar Forum

I just got "The Essential Poco" I used to have a couple of their lp's so this is a sort of best of . Well not sort of it is a best of , forgot how good these guys were . Their version of Stills "say goodbye" is great !

I always loved Poco and rated them better than the Eagles.

I notice that Poco is playing at the Tupelo Music Hall in Londonderry NH in June...anyone know who's in the band these days?

Poco is stil fronted by Rusty Young and Paul Cotton. Young, of course is an original member and Cotton replaced Jim Messina in 1970.

Bass is handled by Jack Sundrud who has been in the band with the exception of the Legacy tour since the mid- 80's. Since George Grantham, another founding member sufferred a stroke a few years back, the drummer has been George Lawrence who has proven to be very capable.

Poco is still out there playing with Richie Furay showing up from time to time.

They are playing three dates in California this month with both Richie and Messina...

You guys are good....thanx for the info. Sounds like a good nite out.

I just saw their "reunion" show last weekend. They were fantastic! Tim Schmidt joined them too - so it was all the original members (sans Randy Meisner) plus Paul Cotton & the new drummer & bass player. Every artist was given opportunity to sing their songs and they all sang and played perfectly. Needless to say, the impact on the crowd was palpable. Everyone from 20-somethings to sixty-somethings loved it. Rusty was playing his S-10 Carter thru a Twin Reverb and sounded really good. He didn't play any of his instrumental pieces and wasn't showing off flashy technique or speed, but instead played just the right parts that each song needed. That is when he played steel - about 1/2 of the time. The rest of the time he played guitar or mando & sang. It was one of the most memorable concerts I have seen in years. I hope they all come around again next year! Jim

I loved Poco (and, like Cameron, preferred them to the Eagles), but they were never better than when Jim Messina was in the band. I saw them in '71 in London, and was a bit disappointed in Paul Cotton as a replacement for Jim.

'You'd Better Think Twice' may be the best-ever track from that country-rock era. What a great piece of work!

Funny this thread poped up. our band tried out a bass player last nite. From Davisville, a little town in southeast Mo.He was telling us that Rusty had built a house and was living there. Thats only 60 miles from me.

Check out the video's on U-Tube of Poco last weekend at Stagecoach in California. The last 4 times I have seen Poco, Rusty has played 3 songs on the steel-at the most!! He plays at least 6 on the reunion show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMwKXCpud9M Check him out for his great steel.

Kind Woman here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoPJdvow ... re=related

The videos on youtube are interesting.. Jim Messina, Tim Schmidt and George Grantham. Great to see these guys all together again, but kind of a weird setting for such an occasion. Lots of tuning problems here, but fun none the less. They actually did "Honky Tonk Downstairs" but the video stops before the steel solo! Argh! This show is notable in that Rusty is playing more steel than usual. He doesn't seem to embrace his legacy as a steel icon though, which is really too bad. His style is unique and really stood out in the past. His current playing is more subdued though his clear sounding chords, phrasing and vibrato are unmistakable. I wish he'd play a few of his signature parts on tunes like Bad Weather, Good Feelin' To Know etc... and especially the single note lines in Kind Woman (ala the Buffalo Springfield version). I saw the regular band last year and though I was REALLY missing the steel parts mentioned, that show was really, really good. I highly recommend seeing them if they're in your area.. the show I saw, while not the reunion show, was better than what's on youtube. Rusty Young is also a great singer, writer and front man, as is Paul Cotton who I feel gets sort of a bum rap for following Messina... he plays a different style, but is great in his own right and wrote some of their true classics and still has a great voice. the tone of his Gretsch is cooler than Jim Messina's new Fenders too (though he's still one of my all time favorite guitar players).. I wish Messina would go back to a real Telecaster!
Anyone here ever ask Rusty what his take on his steel playing is? I think the world is ready for a strong dose of what he's really capable of, steel-wise. I really miss it.

I saw Rusty last year with Poco & Jim Messina followed with his band. Jim called out Rusty & they did Kind Woman same way that Buffalo Springfield did. Unfortunately, my recorder screwed up during that song, but Rusty spent the first part of the song jumping up & adjusting his amp, so he only played in about 1/2 the song. He seems to do this a lot-you can see it on a couple of the U-Tube video's. When he finally came in, he had the same feel as the Buffalo Springfield version.
I have asked him why he doesn't play steel more & his comment was the instrument bores him. Maybe someone in his neck of the woods can get him to change his attitude.

I figured it was something like that.. can't argue if he gets more out of being up front singing his those tunes. Maybe if he was playing his old ZB he would spend more time playing, and less time fiddling with the Twin Reverb. His Carter sounded fine, and flies better, no doubt.. plus, if I ever heard him play Kind Woman on a ZB live, I'd probably need an ambulance. Still a great band.. their encore of Buffalo Springfield "On The Way Home" is worth the price of admission alone.

There's finally a lot of great Poco on you tube. The live version of Indian Summer is imho just fantastic.
A really great chord progression, understated solo, and beautiful steel by Rusty. JP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFKNwZ-e6-0

Indian Summer is a cool song indeed, but that link was to a lip sync to the Lp version.
This one from a special Nashville show a few years ago is awesome. I like the close up of Rusty Young switching from his sitar bar back to the regular bar while singing the harmony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wwI3fgonMg

...and I'm *still* lookin' for tab (or something) to help me learn that killer PSG part of the Grand Junction solo. Not the laptop part, the PSG part.

Somebody somewhere (other than R.Y) has figured this out - it doesn't sound impossible to play. I just personally struggle finding the right intervals on some of the two-note, pedal in stuff.

Brian, you are correct, I put up the wrong link. JP

Jim, I figured as much. Tab for some of the faster R.Y. stuff would be cool... he really doesn't play like anyone else... and I think Poco tuned down to Eb as I recall, so that doesn't help when trying to figure out what's going on like in Grand Junction when open strings are involved. His setup shown in the old Winnie Winston book was different than anyone else's- he lowers his E's but doesn't raise them, lowers 6 a whole step lowers 2 one half and his 4th knee lowers the B's like the usual vertical lever. I still have all of my old Guitar Player magazines from when Rusty Young was writing the steel column (Suite Steel?).. and the one's when Buddy E was writing it.. I should get those out, I'll bet there's some great stuff in there.. Guitar Player Magazine used to be pretty cool once upon a time.

Saw Poco in Natick, MA last night. The vocal harmonies and musicianship were great and they have a warm, casual relationship with the crowd that's fun to see. Nice guys too and Rusty played killer steel and Dobro but he spent most of the night on guitar and mando.

One of the reasons I'm playing steel now is the early Poco Band with Messina. I saw them live in about '70 and was just floored. Never heard anything like that music. It was so refreshing. They are all great musicians, but to me their singing abilities were at the top of the heap at the time. The singing on the album "Poco" still just knocks me out. Harmonies were unreal! Really glad to see they are still gettin' it done. Although, I agree, I wish Rusty embraced his steel legacy. But hey, he's recorded plenty for us to listen to.

There's a few really good, early 70's Poco shows on sugermegs.org:

http://tela.sugarmegs.org/_asxtela/

Without wanting it to go any further, there's also some outstanding NRPS shows from 1970 - 1971, as well as truckloads of the later Buddy Cage era. That Garcia fellow was way better than he's often given credit for, long, interesting, evolving solos - in retrospect, I think maybe he chose the wrong instrument to stick with....
There's 20 or so old and new Commander Cody shows, too.

yeah, i wonder what caused rusty to pull the steel back out of the spotlight too. and to play kind woman like a stranger...that's weird.

Just back from a weekend in Denver; came across this place...

We just cut some tracks in Nashville a couple of weeks ago on Richie's daughter Jesse, who sings with him on the road. Used the same band we have used on Richie the last few records--Chris Leuzinger, Dan Dugmore, Michael Rhodes, Pete Wasner and Dennis Holt--she will be carrying the torch quite nicely...