Richie Furay, Timothy B Schmit Deliver at 2018 Poco Show
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Richie Furay performing on his Poco tour with Timothy B Schmit, The Troubadour, November 16, 2018
Though Richie Furay announced that’s he’s retiring from a headlining touring schedule, he’s continued to play farewell dates and has plenty of shows scheduled in 2024; see here.) In 2018, he celebrated the 50th anniversary of Poco with a brief club tour focused on the country rock band’s 1970 live album, Deliverin’. On Nov. 16, 2018, the celebrated musician was joined at the Troubadour in West Hollywood by his one-time bandmate, Timothy B. Schmit, for several songs.
The tour was billed as featuring additional music from Furay’s two other short-lived, but memorable, bands: Buffalo Springfield and Souther, Hillman and Furay. (It was released as a live concert album 50th Anniversary Return to the Troubadour in 2021 as a double CD as well as a single DVD concert film. Sadly, it no longer seems to be available.)
After the Springfield broke up, Furay and bandmate Jim Messina formed Poco with Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner in 1968. One year later, the band released their debut album, Pickin’ Up the Pieces, a not-so-subtle reference to Buffalo Springfield’s break up. And except for 1979, and through numerous lineup changes, each year meant a new Poco release.
Yet, despite their pedigree and acclaim, the band never truly achieved their predicted success. Through their first 10 releases, no album ever reached higher than #38 on the album chart. The same held true for pop radio: memorable songs such as “You Better Think Twice,” “A Good Feelin’ To Know” and “Rose of Cimarron” all failed to click with Top 40 radio programmers at a time when country rock bands were being embraced by the format.
As the Troubadour bill promised, the repertoire included material from all of Furay’s bands.
Watch Furay sing “Go and Say Goodbye,” written by Stephen Stills and originally released on Buffalo Springfield’s 1966 self-titled debut album
One prominent band with plenty of country rock roots – and plenty of Top 40 success – were the Eagles, whom Schmit joined in 1977 following his tenure with Poco. He’s reunited with Furay many times over the years and when Eagles took an extended break in between their many 2018 dates and 2019 world tour, Schmit was a prominent guest at his friend’s concert at the Troubadour.
Watch Furay and Schmit on the evening’s finale, “A Good Feelin’ To Know”
Related: Our interview with Timothy B. Schmit
(Meisner, Poco’s first bass player, was at the show backstage but did not perform.)
Watch the band perform three Poco favorites
Related: Our interview with Furay
Ironically, Poco earned its greatest success several years after Furay departed, with their 1978 album, Legend, and its twin hits, “Crazy Love” and “Heart of the Night.”
Related: Our review of Poco’s 1971 LP, Deliverin’
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9 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationYou also failed to mention that original Poco and Eagles bassist Randy Meisner was also in attendance but did not perform. Plus, Poco scores their biggest hits “Crazy Love” and “Heart of the Night” after BOTH Furay and Schmit left the band.
I just read where Meisner was replaced by the dog on Pickin’ Up The Pieces album cover. Pretty funny when you think about it.
Love this band and no matter what the charts say, they are the pioneers of country rock and belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!
yep!
Please include my name as the photo credit for the picture at the top of the article. My name is Patrick Nance, Tehachapi, Ca. Thank you in advance.
Thanks for reaching out, Patrick. The photo is actually a screen cap from their performance in the “A Good Feelin’ to Know” clip from YouTube that’s used in the story. Perhaps the person who shot and posted the video was standing near you.
Richie has pro quality footage of this entire show, with great sound, posting these terrible sounding audience clips does the band a huge injustice.
Yet Richie’s official Facebook page chose to share it anyway, Paul.
As much as I’ve always liked Furay’s voice, my favorite Poco offerings came in the post-Furay years. “Cantamos” is a wonderful album, and “Legend”, originally intended to be billed as The Cotton-Young Band, is a great listen all the way through. The title track to “Ghost Town” is easily in my Poco top 5 songs, and 1984’s “Inamorata” is an interesting listen, as Cotton and Young matched up with Oingo Boingo keyboardist Richard Gibbs and came up with the most DIFFERENT sounding Poco album. One in which, by the way, Richie, Timothy, and George Grantham returned for some background vocals on a couple of cuts.