Jim Messina left, Richie Furay jumped ship for momentary success with J.D. Souther and Chris Hillman, and Messina and Furay’s replacements, Timothy B. Schmit and Paul Cotton, carried on with original members Rusty Young and George Grantham to a new label, never to have success until Timothy B. jumped ship too and a band that was barely Poco finally started getting radio traction.

I love "Heart Of The Night".

Not as much as the debut, one of those perfect albums that was a bit too twangy for a nation that embraced the sanitized country of Crosby, Stills & Nash.

But I’ve got a secret place in my heart for Timothy B.’s shining moment, before he left for the greener pastures of the Eagles.

Most acts can’t sing live as well as they do on record.  This is not only the curse of the auto-tuned mafia, but even the vaunted CSN had a hard time nailing those perfect harmonies live, just check out that Woodstock performance. But Timothy B., with his long hair from the seventies, the man presently in the background who used to be in the foreground, still has the pipes, which he demonstrated so well last week in the desert, at the Stagecoach festival.

We live in a networked society.  Information passes from individual to individual, not top down from gatekeepers to the hoi polloi.  And when I got the below message about Poco’s performance last weekend, I had to click through.

Dial up this video.  Click the HQ button, yes, this video was shot in hi-def.  And click the button to the right of HQ, to blow the image up full screen.

This performance was not made for fame, not even that much cash.  But in it beats the heart of rock and roll.  An aged band reunites for the DVD, they bury old hurts for the revenue.  But watching this performance, you think Poco just did it for the joy.

I’ve been thinkin’ ’bout
All the times you told me
You’re so full of doubt
You just can’t let it be
But I know
If you keep on comin’ back for more
Then I’ll keep on tryin’
I’ll keep on tryin’

That’s what bands do, they keep on tryin’.  Sometimes for decades.  If you come, they’ll play.  You’re the reason they do it, they can’t give up.  Sure, they need the bread, but even more the rush, the energy coming from their fans up over the lip of the stage to them.

It’s got little to do with magazine covers, the trappings are the goal of the wannabes, who want the big record deal and the TV exposure, who need fame more than musical satiation.

But the real bands do it for the music.  It doesn’t make sense without the music.  It’s not about hair and makeup, it’s about picking one note after another.

And I feel so satisfied when
I can see you smile
I want to confide in
All that is true
So I’ll keep on tryin’
I’m through with lyin’
Just like the sun above
I’ll come shinin’ through
Yes I will
Keep on tryin’
I’m tired of cryin’
I got to find a way
To get on home to you

That’s what the members of Poco did last weekend.  They got home to their audience.  It’s a long strange trip, but when you’re in it for the music, it’s worth it.

"Keep On Tryin’" begins about a minute in

From: Amy Primeaux
Re: The Idolmaker

Do you really care about this stuff?  As a fan of real music, as I believe you to be, how can you stand to spend so much time paying attention to this crap?

I saw something last weekend at Stagecoach that I thought I would never see, and it was beautiful.  It was the reunion of a very important, but inexplicably not massively successful band–Poco.  Forty-one years after they began, the current band members got together with most of the former members and celebrated their history.  The reunion included Timothy B. Schmit, who hadn’t performed with Poco in 32 years.  But the highlight of the reunion was the performance of the band’s original drummer, George Grantham, who suffered a massive stroke on stage five years ago.  He was able to sing with his old bandmates again.  Something most people, including perhaps himself, never thought would happen.  Among those loyal fans there who knew the story, there was not a dry eye.

The participation of Schmit and Grantham at this event was only announced about three weeks beforehand, and yet many fans flew across the country to see it.  The performance was not perfect, since there was not a lot of rehearsal time.  But the music was still great.  As a fan who only found Poco about eight years ago, I consider myself incredibly lucky to have had the chance to see this reunion.

Yet for all they have accomplished, this band still cannot seem to gain the attention and respect they deserve from either the public or some in the industry.  Jan Wenner wants Madonna in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but not Poco?  That’s why I stopped paying attention to the RRHOF a few years ago.  But it still rankles that there is such an institution and Poco is not part of it and probably never will be.  There’s a story there, and I think it is a lot more interesting than whatever the American Idol flavor of the minute is.  Now here are some YouTube videos worth watching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y-fnSFdl1Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VQelAO0Uf8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4giaSIVLMuM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th7b9rrpJ_U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEDVhOPzKBM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv4xM3_ETlE

Amy Primeaux
Ocean Springs, MS