Pickin' Up the Pieces (song)

Last updated

"Pickin' Up the Pieces" is the first song recorded by pioneer country rock band Poco. Written by founding member Richie Furay, the song was the title track of Poco's first album.

Country rock is a subgenre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late-1960s and early-1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal styles, and additional instrumentation, most characteristically pedal steel guitars. Country rock began with artists like Bob Dylan, the Byrds, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons and others, reaching its greatest popularity in the 1970s with artists such as Emmylou Harris, the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Michael Nesmith, Poco and Pure Prairie League. Country rock also influenced artists in other genres, including the Band, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Rolling Stones, and George Harrison's solo work. It also played a part in the development of Southern rock.

Poco American country rock band

Poco is an American country rock band originally formed by Richie Furay, Jim Messina and Rusty Young. Formed following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968, Poco was part of the first wave of the West Coast country rock genre. The title of their first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, is a reference to the break-up of Buffalo Springfield. Throughout the years Poco has performed in various groupings, and is still active.

Richie Furay American singer, songwriter and pastor

Paul Richard "Richie" Furay is an American singer, songwriter, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member who is best known for forming the bands Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin, and Poco with Jim Messina, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner. His best known song was Kind Woman, which he wrote for his wife, Nancy.

Contents

History

After Buffalo Springfield broke up, members Richie Furay and Jim Messina decided to make a band with pedal steel guitar player Rusty Young, with whom they had recorded the Furay-penned Springfield song "Kind Woman". This was Furay's first Poco-intended song. According to Young, "Richie played 'Pickin' Up The Pieces' for us back in 1967. ... It was obviously a comment on leaving one thing behind and carrying on," [1] referring to the breakup of Buffalo Springfield and the new beginnings with Poco.

Buffalo Springfield North American folk rock band

Buffalo Springfield was a Canadian-American rock band active from 1966 to 1968 whose most prominent members were Stephen Stills, Neil Young, and Richie Furay. The group released three albums and several singles, including "For What It's Worth". The band combined elements of folk and country music with British invasion and psychedelic-rock influences, and, along with the Byrds, were part of the early development of folk-rock.

Jim Messina (musician) American musician

James Melvin Messina is an American musician, songwriter, singer, guitarist, recording engineer and record producer. He was a member of the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield, a founding member of the country rock pioneer Poco, and half of the soft rock duo Loggins and Messina with Kenny Loggins.

Pedal steel guitar console-type of steel guitar with foot pedals to raise and lower the pitch of the strings

The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and levers added to enable playing more varied and complex music which had not been possible with antecedent steel guitar designs. Like other steel guitars, it shares the ability to play unlimited glissandi and deep vibrati—characteristics in common with the human voice. Pedal steel is most commonly associated with American country music.

Attitude and Impact

The single, though not commercially successful, was nonetheless undoubtedly instrumental in the creation of the then new genre country rock. Richie Furay said of "Pickin' Up the Pieces": "To me it summarized the attitude we wanted to convey in our music: good, wholesome & positive. There was so much negativity going on in the world in the early 70s and it needed a refreshing sound. The country rock sound we were creating, would be it. We were innovators, pioneering the way for a whole new 'Southern California sound' that many groups who followed would capitalize on." [2]

The song appears in the Mod Squad episode "Death of Wild Bill Hannachek"

Related Research Articles

<i>Buffalo Springfield Again</i> 1967 studio album by Buffalo Springfield

Buffalo Springfield Again is the second album by Buffalo Springfield, released on Atco Records in November 1967. It peaked at #44 on the Billboard 200. In 2003, the album was ranked number 188 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album was included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings—published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981)—and in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Rusty Young (musician) American guitarist

Norman Russell "Rusty" Young is an American guitarist, vocalist and songwriter best known as one of the frontmen in the influential country rock and Americana band Poco.

<i>Last Time Around</i> 1968 studio album by Buffalo Springfield

Last Time Around is the third and final studio album by the American folk rock band Buffalo Springfield, released in July 1968. It featured Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay, Dewey Martin, Bruce Palmer, and Jim Messina, who also worked as producer and a recording engineer.

<i>Pickin Up the Pieces</i> (Poco album) 1969 studio album by Poco

Pickin' Up the Pieces is the debut album by country rock band Poco, released in 1969. It was one of the earliest examples of the emerging genre of country rock. Several of the songs here date back to Richie Furay's days in Buffalo Springfield. An early version of "What a Day" was included on the Springfield's eponymous box set in 2001.

<i>Deliverin</i> 1971 live album by Poco

Deliverin’ is the third album, and first live album, by the American country rock band Poco. Jim Messina quit the band in October 1970, prior to the release of the album.

<i>Crazy Eyes</i> 1973 studio album by Poco

Crazy Eyes is the fifth studio album released by the American country rock band Poco. Released in 1973, Crazy Eyes was the album with which founding member Richie Furay ended his original tenure with the group.

<i>Inamorata</i> (album) 1984 studio album by Poco

Inamorata is the sixteenth studio album by the country rock band Poco. Featuring guest spots by former members Timothy B. Schmitt, Richie Furay and George Grantham, this would be the last album that the band would record for Atlantic Records. After this the original line up would reform for the 1989 release "Legacy".

<i>Legacy</i> (Poco album) 1989 studio album by Poco

Legacy is the seventeenth studio album by the country rock band Poco, released in 1989. The album reunited the five original members of the group and contained two top-40 singles, "Call It Love" and "Nothin' to Hide."

<i>Keeping the Legend Alive</i> live album by Poco

Keeping the Legend Alive is the 22nd album and 4th live album by the country rock band Poco. It was re-released in 2006 under the title "Alive In The Heart Of The Night." It includes original members Richie Furay, *George Grantham and Rusty Young, Paul Cotton who replaced Jim Messina in 1970 and Jack Sundrud a member since the 1990s.

The first in a long line of compilation albums, The Very Best of Poco features highlights from the band's career from 1969–1974. When released on CD in the late 1980s, the album omits two tracks originally on the album, "Railroad Days" and "Skatin" for space reasons.

Poco: The Songs of Richie Furay is a compilation album consisting of songs by Richie Furay during his tenure with the band Poco, released in 1980.

<i>The Best Of</i> (Poco album) Poco album

The Best Of is a Spanish compilation of the American band Poco, released in 1980.

<i>The Essential Poco</i> 2005 greatest hits album by Poco

The Essential Poco is a compilation album of recordings by the band Poco released in 2005 as part of Sony BMG's Essential series.

"Crazy Love" is a 1979 hit single for the country rock group Poco introduced on the 1978 album Legend; written by founding group member Rusty Young, "Crazy Love" was the first single by Poco to reach the Top 40 and remained the group's biggest hit with especial impact as an Adult Contemporary hit being ranked by Billboard as the #1 Adult Contemporary hit for the year 1979.

George Grantham is an American drummer and vocalist best known for his work with pioneering country rock band Poco.

The Au Go Go Singers were a nine-member folk group formed in New York City in 1964, and best remembered for featuring Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, two years before they formed Buffalo Springfield.

References

  1. ↑ Rusty Young on Poco songs
  2. ↑ Richie Furay on Poco songs
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.