The Essential Poco

Performer: Poco
Producer: Bob Irwin; Jack Richardson; Jim Mason; Poco; Steve Cropper; Bob Irwin (Compilation)
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Liner Note Authors: Jann Uhelszki; Jaan Uhelszki. Recording information: 01/16/1969-??/??/1989. One of the leading lights of the country-rock scene in the 1970s, Poco built on the innovations of the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers by combining an accessible, country-based sound with driving rhythms, layered instrumentation, and high-flown harmonies. THE ESSENTIAL POCO brings together 17 tracks cut over a 20-year period, beginning with the band's first single, 1969's "Pickin' Up the Pieces," and continuing on to 1989's "When It All Began." The band's earliest work is its most rootsy, and veers between lyricism (the live version of "Kind Woman") and Neil Young-like, open-road folk ("Bad Weather"). There is a respectable emphasis on Poco's initial offerings, before covering the band's more commercially oriented late-'70s and '80s material. "Crazy Love" (from 1979), for example, with its chiming, arpeggio guitar lines and lushly complex multi-part harmonies, is the group's best-known song. By 1989's "Call It Love," Poco's country edge had been smoothed over in favor of radio-friendly soft rock. ESSENTIAL represents all aspects of their sound, making it a useful, comprehensive collection.

Poco was part of the first wave of West Coast country-rock bands, emerging from the ashes of the seminal Buffalo Springfield and initially built around Springfield's singer/guitarist Richie Furay and producer/sessionman Randy Meisner. They combined the harmony-laden folk-rock sound of the '60s with a country twang (mostly courtesy of pedal steel guitarist Rusty Young) and made a few noted country-rock albums in the early '70s before their sound turned slicker and poppier later in the decade.

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