Pure Prairie League, Poco

Dennis Ellerbee · Post by **Dennis Ellerbee** » 3 Sep 2019 9:00 am

Went last Friday to the Florida Theater in Jacksonville to see the 50th Anniversary concert of Pure Prairie League, Firefall, and Poco. Got to hang out with John David Call, steel player with Pure Prairie League, and got to talk to Rusty Young for a while. They are great guys, and two really good steel guitar players. Even in their seventies they still got it. Grew up listening to them play. Stole many licks off of them. The whole concert was great. Packed house. If you get a chance to see them, by all means go. You will not be sorry.

Mike Bacciarini · Post by **Mike Bacciarini** » 3 Sep 2019 10:56 am

Thanks Dennis.... my hero's, and like you said nice guys to boot.

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 3 Sep 2019 11:32 am

They played about an hour south of here on Labor Day and had I planned to attend. I got a flat tire on Labor Day. Ever try to get a flat fixed on Labor Day?! Uugh!
I missed 'em this time around.

Allen Peterson · Post by **Allen Peterson** » 3 Sep 2019 6:57 pm

Hey Pete, What a coincidence. I wonder if they played "I'll Fix Your Flat Tire Merle?"

Allen Peterson

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 3 Sep 2019 7:16 pm

I thought Poco had called it a career a while back and were pretty much retired?... bob

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 3 Sep 2019 8:04 pm

Bob Carlucci wrote:I thought Poco had called it a career a while back and were pretty much retired?... bob

Nah, it was a short-lived retirement and they're back performing a lot again.

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 4 Sep 2019 4:08 am

Jim Cohen wrote:
Bob Carlucci wrote:I thought Poco had called it a career a while back and were pretty much retired?... bob
Nah, it was a short-lived retirement and they're back performing a lot again.

Any original members besides Rusty?... Seemed they always popped in and out depending on whatever else they had going on.. bob

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 4 Sep 2019 5:09 am

Rusty is the only original but I understand they just had Paul Cotton sitting in

Mike Bacciarini · Post by **Mike Bacciarini** » 4 Sep 2019 6:02 am

Still waiting for Rustyâ€™s book to come out (lots of road stories?). Heâ€™s been working on it for a hundred years. Seems to get regularly sidetracked by music, but it should be a fun read. Sure do wish he was a psg player in a band like the good old days, instead of fronting. Man, that guy had some cool licks up his sleeve.

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 4 Sep 2019 6:59 am

Mike Bacciarini wrote:Still waiting for Rustyâ€™s book to come out (lots of road stories?). Heâ€™s been working on it for a hundred years. Seems to get regularly sidetracked by music, but it should be a fun read. Sure do wish he was a psg player in a band like the good old days, instead of fronting. Man, that guy had some cool licks up his sleeve.

Rusty is a great player, and some of the old Poco stuff had some great steel.. however, Rusty never really "drove" the sound in a lot of the later songs the way say Buddy Cage with the New riders did, or Sneaky Pete did with the Burritos.. On some songs yes, the steel was out front and dominant, especially early on. However, later on a lot of the music was more vocal oriented, and highly produced, and the steel seemed more like an afterthought to me.. I wish Rusty would hire a great front vocalist/guitarist, and once again play a lot of steel... bob

Dennis Ellerbee · Post by **Dennis Ellerbee** » 4 Sep 2019 12:50 pm

He played several songs on steel. He told me he quit playing for about six years, but decided to play again. He is just as good as ever. He has another singer in the band now. Pure Prairie League did play Ill Fix Your Flat Tire Merle.

Mike Bacciarini · Post by **Mike Bacciarini** » 4 Sep 2019 2:20 pm

Bob, I'm with you. The albums up though Rose of Cimeron & Maybe Indian Summer made good use of Rusty's steel, but then things went south production wise, as far as I'm concerned. Still, what a player! But as far as a live show, no one could touch the early Poco. It was as if the Springfield and the Buckaroos got morphed together.

Dennis, I'm glad to hear your report of a "reformed" Rusty.

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 4 Sep 2019 2:39 pm

The first of heard Poco was Legend especially 'Heart of the Knight', yes I was in High School in New Jersey, and you didn't hear a lot of Country up here, so that was my introduction to steel guitar, and I loved it and still do, Rusty opened up a whole new world for me and led me back to check out other stuff. I have every Poco album and have met mist of the members.

Good to hear that he's back out again, also a big John David Call fan, ' I don't wanna fade away'from 'Takin the Stage Live' is my favorite song of theirs.

I really like Rusty's vocals as well, plus he wrote a lot of their great songs

Jeff Garden · Post by **Jeff Garden** » 4 Sep 2019 4:12 pm

Great memories of both bands.

Here's John David Call cutting loose on "Tears" from PPL's first album. That's just "happy" steel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k8eCm58Hfw

John Haspert · Post by **John Haspert** » 4 Sep 2019 8:35 pm

We just saw PPL at the City Winery in Chicago. John was introduced by Mike Reilly as "the Pontiff of Pedal Steel" Those guys still know how to Rock. It is their 50'th Anniversary Year. John is a SUPER player. The Band was stellar and did some old and a few new ones. We love the City Winery and have seen numerous shows. This one was a bit different from their normal acts at City Winery. The "boys" were a bit loud for the room, so the mix was not the best. BTW, we saw them about 2 years ago at the Arcada, here in St. Charles, IL. Again, they were Superb. At the Arcada, they are used to having the "more Enthusiastic" Rockers, but there, they are better at taming the sounds levels to fit the room and have a better mix. If you have a chance, go see PPL. This is a quote, "We are working on a new album and hope to have it out by Christmas......(wait for it).... in 2025. Probably be available on 8-track or cassette." I know there were probably a few in the audience that had never seen an 8-track tape.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 5 Sep 2019 1:20 pm

Bob Carlucci wrote:
Mike Bacciarini wrote:Still waiting for Rustyâ€™s book to come out (lots of road stories?). Heâ€™s been working on it for a hundred years. Seems to get regularly sidetracked by music, but it should be a fun read. Sure do wish he was a psg player in a band like the good old days, instead of fronting. Man, that guy had some cool licks up his sleeve.

Rusty is a great player, and some of the old Poco stuff had some great steel.. however, Rusty never really "drove" the sound in a lot of the later songs the way say Buddy Cage with the New riders did, or Sneaky Pete did with the Burritos.. On some songs yes, the steel was out front and dominant, especially early on. However, later on a lot of the music was more vocal oriented, and highly produced, and the steel seemed more like an afterthought to me.. I wish Rusty would hire a great front vocalist/guitarist, and once again play a lot of steel... bob

Seen Poco several times.Always great,but once up in Fort Collins,Rusty played a Telecaster the whole time-didn't even have a steel set up on the stage!

Jerry Horch · Post by **Jerry Horch** » 5 Sep 2019 1:20 pm

I must say that I think the original Poco and Pure Prarie League were the ones I still really like.Poco gave free concerts in Yellow Springs Ohio ,those were the days....

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 5 Sep 2019 3:56 pm

I really like Rusty's vocals as well, plus he wrote a lot of their great songs[/quote]

How good were the vocals in the original POCO lineup?

They had Rusty Young and never let him sing!..
First time I ever heard rusty sing I was beyond shocked.. his voice was as sweet, pure and accurate as anyone I had ever heard in that musical genre.... bob

Mike Bacciarini · Post by **Mike Bacciarini** » 5 Sep 2019 3:57 pm

Yes Jerry, those were the days! And thank you Jeff for the link to "Tears".... very much happy music!

Jeff Garden · Post by **Jeff Garden** » 5 Sep 2019 4:05 pm

Here's a whack at the intro and break on "Tears" that I did a few years ago, Mike.
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... ight=tears

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 5 Sep 2019 4:24 pm

I liked a lot of their later records like Ghost town and 'Blue and Gray' very different, not a ton of steel, but they soldiered on and had some great songs, Much appreciation to Rusty and Paul for a lifetime of great music.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 5 Sep 2019 5:06 pm

Cool Dennis. I cut my early CR teeth on bands like these. I listened to a lot of POCO records and I still have most of the PPL records...and I still listen to them a lot.

That 1972 self-titled album with Tears has a lot of pedal steel guitar. The liner notes list John Call playing a sho-boo guitar

Of course that was almost 50 yrs. ago but the steel guitar from those LP's that had such great tunes and the steel hot in the mix were great and inspirational as well.

I used to own Rusty's instruction manual. I loaned it out and never saw it again.

All their stuff was good and I never get tired of listening to it.

I saw PPL around '74, I guess with the Burritos and the
Amazing Rhythm Aces. I got my fix for a few years from that.

Thanks for the heads up. If these acts come to my area, you can bet I'll be there if at all possible.

Dennis Olearchik · Post by **Dennis Olearchik** » 9 Sep 2019 5:14 pm

Rusty Young is one of my very favorite pedal steel guitarists and Poco one of my all time favorite bands. I saw them in concert 4 or 5 times over the decades and they were always excellent. My favorite show was at the old Devon PA, theater-in-the-round, back in the 70s. Rusty was a wild man back then. Poco should have had the success, fame and money of the Eagles. Such is life and luck in the music business,,,

Jim Pitman · Post by **Jim Pitman** » 10 Sep 2019 2:12 am

I too was a big fan of both. I was always disappointed Craig Fuller never got the big break he deserved after "Amy". I think he got arrested for dodging the draft which pretty much killed his career. I loved the rawness of PPL first record. I really liked the early Poco too with Jim Messina.

Dennis Brion · Post by **Dennis Brion** » 10 Sep 2019 3:01 am

Here is my story, driving to and from Akron U every day in 1971-1973 burned up two 8 track tapes POCO "Deliverin" and James Gang "funk49" how's that for musical diversity!!! LOL

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Pure Prairie League, Poco

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