by Ana Carolina Lopes

The middle to late 60’s was the moment of the establishment of the country rock scene in the United States. The genre chose sunny California as its office. The folk-rock, rock and roll, scenario was country rock’s neighbor. Los Angeles is the place where paths and lines would be crossed, stories would be told, hearts would be broken and put back together, and the music would become the characteristic of what is defined as the counterculture generation.

The year was 1968 and the place was Sunset Sound Recorders, in Sunset Boulevard. There, three men would put together one of the most beautiful love songs ever written and start developing the idea of a new group, who would become one of the most talented, harmonizing, diverse, yet underrated bands ever. Though released as the “legendary, almost mythical” – according to Cameron Crowe – Buffalo Springfield, “Kind Woman” is the first unofficial Poco song. Ironically, it had more members of Poco than of Springfield in the recording session.

By 1972, Poco (a much better name than Pogo), had released three studio albums, a live album and replaced two band members. Paul Richard “Richie” Furay, founder and leader of this more-country-rock-not-so-much-folk-rock band, put all his hopes, everything he was and all the success he was longing, into the group’s new endeavor: “A Good Feelin’ To Know”, released October 25th. It was a good feeling to have a new album out. It was a good feeling to have fans and music lovers lend their ears to it, experience it, admire it and, of course, buy it. Though today the record is one of the most recognizable Poco projects, that was not the case 50 years ago. And so, it was not a good feeling to watch the hard work not match his or the other members charts and commercials expectations.

David Crosby once said: “If I can’t sit down and sing you a song, and make you feel something, I don’t think I really have a song”. With four songwriters, three from the inside – Furay, Timothy B. Schmit and Paul Cotton – and one familiar Stephen Stills as the outsider, “A Good Feelin’ To Know” provides all kinds of perceptions: homesickness and an idea of life on the road with “And Settlin’ Down”, electricity with Cotton’s “Keeper of the Fire” and “Ride The Country”, good loving from the title track, an immersive, seductive concept with Schmit’s “Restrain”. In “Go and Say Goodbye”, the harmonies are so significant, that we get a glimpse of how the song could also be performed by Crosby, Stills and Nash themselves. It was definitely not just country. Or just country rock. It was much more.

We’ve been racking our brains for a while now on how come this crafted, powerful in vocal blend album, with a production team the band felt confident and comfortable with, and with, I guess you could say, an endorsement from Stephen Stills, failed to send Poco to the stars and the moon. The answer is as mysterious as life in other planets in extreme unfairness and complete honesty. There is no way to specify it. Sells, marketing, management. It differs. The fact is no one is keen of nonsuccess.

What is not a mystery, is that the commercial defeat led Richie to wonder “What about me?”, after seeing former Buffalo Springfield mates, Stills, Neil Young and Jim Messina (who quit Poco to focus on becoming a producer and to partner with Kenny Loggins) and Randy Meisner (who left to join the Eagles) delight themselves in accomplishments. It was all or nothing. Unfortunately, at the time, there seemed to be nothing. And after the follow up record, “Crazy Eyes”, the Furay-era of Poco was over and done, until a reunion, 16 years later.

Music is important. And the way people absorb it was developed fundamentally with aggressive influence and use of technology. The streaming revolution is the latest progress in this game that is business, culture and life itself. And since everyone is playing the game, today, the single “A Good Feelin’ To Know” alone has more than 1 million streams on Spotify, part of the Top 10 singles by the band on the platform. Over 600 thousand listeners devote their time monthly to bless their ears and manifest their infatuation to this group of pioneers.

After supergroups, an endless spiritual journey, a congregation, an induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and more than five decades of being with his kind woman, Richie Furay remains, to this day, an artistic, creative icon and a humble, family man who “still has dreams”.

At the end of the day, it is a good feeling to know this Yellow Springs, Ohio native. And we’re all happier for it.