Poco

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 11 May 2002 5:50 am

Someone should write a book...

Somebody did:
http://www.countrystandardtime.com/desperadosBOOK.html

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 11 May 2002 8:11 am

Oh Tay !

tp

JB Arnold · Post by **JB Arnold** » 11 May 2002 8:26 am

If you go to the Cage website below, and read the PSGA interview, you'll find that while Cage and the rest of the New Riders clan had little, if any, great interest in the Burritos, (Buddy was kind in his choice of words, and still regarded the Burritos as having an unprofessional approach to recording and performing-and if you're being honest, he's right, at least in Gram's case.), They were VERY high on Buffalo Springfield. Buddy thought it was the best music of the day, save for the Dead (who Stills used to jam with), and he would scoff at any serious comparison between the Burritos and Springfield. No comparison in his mind, or in that of anyone he knew at the time. His other fave was Commander Cody-he says having them as an opening act all those years really kept the NRPS on their toes. But for what they were listening to when not working on their own stuff, Springfield was what they usually had playing. Cage was a big fan.

john

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Fulawka D-10 9&5
Mullen Royal Precision D-10 8 & 5
"All in all, looking back, I'd have to say the best advice anyone ever gave me was 'Hands Up, Don't Move!"
www.johnbarnold.com/pedalsteel
www.buddycage.net

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 11 May 2002 11:46 am

regarding POCO lyric based posts in this thread:

"Tell me, how many more will there be-eeeee?"

Larry Miller · Post by **Larry Miller** » 11 May 2002 1:51 pm

"Here we go again"

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 11 May 2002 5:09 pm

When was Meisner the Bass guitarist for Poco? I only remember Timothy B. maybe later after I lost interest in them. After Messina left, they went downhill, IMHO.

By the way, my favorite Poco songs are ANY WAY BYE BYE and HONKY TONK DOWNSTAIRS. Honky Tonk Downstairs is my idea of how a steel should sound, both tone wise and lick wise. I think it is a classic.

I used to go to the Fillmore West in San Francisco from '69 to it's closing almost every weekend. I was able to see Rusty many times playing both a ZB and a Sho~Bud. He sounded great on both.

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Carter D10 9p/10k
Richard Sinkler

[This message was edited by Richard Sinkler on 11 May 2002 at 06:11 PM.][This message was edited by Richard Sinkler on 11 May 2002 at 06:17 PM.]

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 11 May 2002 5:16 pm

Sigh, the old Northern Cal versus the Southern Cal grudge match.

What can you say, while the New Riders were just a jam band on a farm in 1969 the Burritos and Poco had their debut albums out, and those two albums may have been slapped together by two groups who were in a state of flux. Neither had a constant line-up through the debut, the FBBs didn't have a regular drummer and Poco had Randy Meisner quit during the mixing sessions on their debut. Which is why he isn't credited as a bandmember on the debut.

To be honest I get a serious vibe that the San Francisco/Northern Cal crowd never forgave the Hollywood scene for beating them to country rock by a long mile.
Although it's interesting to note that Clarence White, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, the New Riders, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris were part of a Warner Brothers package show in 1973, one of the few times where North and South united.

Other than that, despite the fact that most of the geographically opposed Californian country-rock bands seemed to be quite seperate from each others scene, a heap of them came from the background of bluegrass and that scene was incrediably interchangable in the 1960s. In some ways the ultimate outcome of those roots was the Muleskinner album for Warner Brother Records, now on Sierra Records.

Bob Knetzger · Post by **Bob Knetzger** » 11 May 2002 5:56 pm

Yeah, there is an interesting history about the beginings of Poco and FBB's. At one point, Furray, Messina, and Rusty Young were trying trying out various players, including Gregg Allman and...Gram Parsons. Sometime later, after the line-ups of both Poco and FFB's were jelling, it was suggested to combine personal from both bands and have just one band. To quote Richie: "I think any conflict revolved around Sneaky Pete and Rusty Young, and I wasn't about to give up Rusty. He fit for what we were doing and Pete was more suitable for what Gram was doing." So it was the steel players that helped set the course of country rock history! Check this out in John Einarson's book, "Deperadoes, the Roots of Country Rock." It's a fantastically researched book and a great read if you're a fan of these bands, along with The Dillards, The Byrds, Ian & Sylvia's Great Speckled Bird, Rick Nelson/Stone Canyon Band, etc.

Rich Weiss · Post by **Rich Weiss** » 12 May 2002 2:05 pm

I saw Poco (then called Pogo) the first night they played out. It was at a Monday night Hootenanny at the Troubador. Rusty blew my mind. A week later, the FBB's made their debut, also at a Monday night hoot. That was it. I was gone. Country-rock forever...

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 12 May 2002 2:27 pm

It's interesting that the SoCal Country Rock scene that is slagged for its lack of discipline and professionalism ultimately spawned Desert Rose, probably the most sophisticated and accomplished evolution of the genre. When I saw them in NYC touring on their first album it was my first experience of guys wearing Nudie suits and playing a tight, tight set.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 12 May 2002 5:45 pm

North versus south??? Never saw it that way. Most people I know of here in northern California actually preferred the "L.A." country rock scene over the S.F. Country rock scene. I was/am one of them.

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Carter D10 9p/10k
Richard Sinkler

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 13 May 2002 3:06 am

There is a double album titled "Forgotton Trail" it has 38 tracks from '69 tru '74. The liner notes is a small booklet with the entire history of the band in the words of the members.
tp

BobG · Post by **BobG** » 13 May 2002 7:55 am

I cast my vote for "Bad Weather".

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Bob Grado, Williams D10 (lefty), Peavey 1000,
Profex ll.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 13 May 2002 5:28 pm

Richard, it wasn't a fan thing, moreso a case of the bands and various members never really acknowledging each other is the press.
The Hollywood country-rock scene was under way by 1967, but it wasn't until 1968 that we had the Burritos and Pogo (later Poco with original bassist/vocalist Randy Mesiner), Dillard & Clark, The International Submarine Band, Linda Ronstadt & The Stone Poneys (Herb Steiner on steel), The Everly Brothers and a heap of others.
By the time that Levitt & McClure, Dillard & Clark, The FBBs, Poco, the Byrds and others were releasing albums in 1969, and in some cases following up a '68 country-rock set, most of the Northern bands like Clover, Commander Cody, the New Riders and so on were just shaping up.

I've never seen an article where any of the Byrds or Burritos crowd have mentioned the New Riders of the Grateful Dead, while the same goes the other way.
Didn't the New Riders have a song that poked fun at 'Lonesome L.A. Cowboys' or something like that?
In 1966 when Hollywood was still home to a lot of kind of cool cowboy/western television show, the kids on Sunset Strip were inventing the coolest hippy and freak clothing while in San Fran the cowboy dandy look was quite popular, check out any pics of the original Charlatans from 1966, they set the image with the early Quicksilver Messenger Service.
The North/South CA. rivalry has always been there, amybe not with the fans, but the press and the bands seemed to perpetuate it constantly.
With the Montery Pop Festival the main groups from either city (L.A. San Francisco) found it so hard to compromise that they got Simon & Garfunkel in, and years later Paul Simon was to wryly comment that the main reason they did it was so that the Wesy Coasters could focus and unite their grievences on some East Coasters instead!

I might add that the original Rolling Stone magazine which was based in San Fran really added to this rivalry, continually presenting the Haight, Bay Area, etc as an organic happening place while L.A. was the 'plastic land.'
Probably a pay back for all those years that the K.R.L.A Beat mag and others dominated the West Coast music scene.

So I figure it's really about Press / labels / press agents and politics, and as Frank Zappa once noted. The San Francisco/Haight bands were always bitching about 'evil Hollywood' but where did they get their record deals?.....hmmm.