If you lived in St. Louis in the 70's, Poco was on your stereo and on your radio.
"Poco has such a rich history and lineage. The seeds of Poco were born with Richie Furray’s departure from Buffalo Springfield followed by his association with Jim Messina."
December 10th, Welcome too “Must-Have-Monday” on the Live Vinyl Lovefest. It’s just a “feel-good” time of year so let’s just have a big ole dose of live “feel-good” music this morning. What do you say? Today’s selection is Poco’s “Deliverin’”.
Okay, so my formative years were spent growing up in a very small town just outside of St. Louis Missouri called Valley Park. And in so doing, there were just certain bands that were a part of the social fabric in that specific geo. I’m sure it was like that where you grew up as well. For St. Louis it was actually a very wide cross section of music that the people of that area of the country grew attracted to and clearly identified with, and live concerts were central to that experience. It was a very blue collar existence in St. Louis and if, as a band, your music made it on the progressive rock station -- KSHE-95 -- in St. Louis AND you showed up to play concerts, you had a better than average chance of becoming a very big thing in St. Louis as well as through out the country. It’s central to why St. Louis has such a rich history of breaking acts nationally. It was not any one genre that was stronger than another, but there was just a collection of very authentic artists and music that, when you look back in time, you just go “wow, I know right where I was when we were listening to that song”. It was music that seemed to show up on turn tables and car stereos and radio stations at every party, and every gathering of friends, every weekend of your existence while there.
For me and many others in St. Louis, Poco is one of those bands. I hold very rich memories of Poco’s music throughout my teen years and into my early 20s’. Those memories still resonate with me today 40 years on.
Poco has such a rich history and lineage. The seeds of Poco were born with Richie Furray’s departure from Buffalo Springfield followed by his association with Jim Messina. And if you were a Loggins and Messina fan, then you can definitely identify threads of Jim’s influence on Poco; in particular the signature vocal arrangements.
This album was the first live release by the band and Jim Messina left the band just prior to it’s release, even though he is credited as producer on the project. The album is of recordings captured at Boston Music Hall and The Felt Forum in New York City in 1970 by Stan Tokel and Stan Weiss.
There is a small paragraph on the back of the record by Charles Laquidara of WBCN-FM in Boston that I want to quote and share with you because it perfectly encapsulates my feelings and memories with regard to Poco. Here ya go:
“I suppose we all have to grow up sometime. In one way or another we’re forced to pick up an adult consciousness; to acquire some degree of political / economic / ecological awareness. Just when the bummers seem intolerable, along come Poco. Lauging-eyed, high-bouncing Poco — creating images of green hills, amber fields, rolling white clouds and a balanced planet.”
I don’t know about you folks, but I think the world could use all the Poco it can muster right now. I know it brightened up my outlook as a teen growing up in the midwest during the turbulent 70’s and it certainly changed my mood for the better this morning in 2018. God bless Poco.