Rusty Young 1946-2021

Rusty Young, who founded the country rock band Poco and was its only constant member, died yesterday of a heart attack at age 75 at his home in Davisville, Missouri.

Norman Russell Young was born in Long Beach, California and raised in Colorado, learning guitar, lap steel and pedal steel during his childhood.  While still in high school, he played in the Denver-based band Boenzee Cryque.  In 1968, when Buffalo Springfield was recording its last album Last Time Around, singer-guitarist Richie Furay wanted to have a steel guitar on his song Kind Woman, for which Young was hired.  After Buffalo Springfield broke up, Furay and B.S. bassist-singer-producer Jim Messina decided to form a band with Young, which they called Poco.  With Messina switching to guitar, they added bassist-singer Randy Meisner and drummer-singer George Grantham to form the original lineup.  Meisner and Messina were eventually replaced by bassist-singer Timothy B. Schmit and guitarist-singer Paul Cotton.  A few years later, Furay left and the band continued as a quartet.  These would be just a few of the group's many lineup changes.  Besides pedal steel, Young played guitar, dobro, banjo and mandolin on various Poco songs.  He did not sing any lead vocals until the band's eighth album Head Over Heels, released in 1976.

Young is survived by his wife Mary and their children Sara and Will.

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In 1978, Poco released their eleventh album Legend, which included the top 20 hit Crazy Love, written and sung by Rusty Young.  At this time, the band also included Paul Cotton on guitar, Charlie Harrison on bass and Steve Chapman on drums.

Poco's original lineup reunited in 1989 to release the Legacy album, including Call It Love, sung by Young and written by Ron Gilbeau, Billy Crain, Rick Lonow and Jim Messina, who takes the guitar solo.  Toward the end of the song, Young and Messina perform a harmony guitar lead.  Lonow later became the band's most recent drummer.

One of Poco's most famous songs from the mid-1970s is Rose Of Cimarron, the title song of their second 1976 studio album.  It was written by Young, but sung as a duet between guitarist Paul Cotton and bassist Timothy B. Schmit.  Original drummer George Grantham was still in the band and contributed backing vocals.  The video shows Al Garth, who was briefly in the band and appeared on this album, but not on this song, which finishes with a string section.