Music Deaths: Rusty Young of Poco

RUSTY YOUNG,75

Died April 4, 2021

Pedal steel player / vocalist / co-founder with country rock band Poco.  One of my all-time favorite bands, but I am a big country rick fan.

Poco formed in 1968 and had members Jim Messina and Richie Furay, formerly of Buffalo Springfield (another one off my favorite bands).

Great Poco songs:

"Pickin' Up the Pieces"

"Rose of Cimarron"

"You Better Think Twice"

"It's a Good Feelin' to Know"

Back to the Summer of 1970-- Part 6: "Roadhouse Blues"

Songs on the radio and in your record collections (albums and singles) fifty years ago.  Right now.

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD--  Beatles
IN THE SUMMERTIME--  Mungo Jerry
CASEY JONES--  Grateful Dead    (How can such a great album group be so sad in concert.  Way too much jamming.

ROADHOUSE BLUES--  Doors   ("Gonna Have A Good Time")
CECILIA--  Simon & Garfunkel
QUESTION--  Moody Blues

YOU BETTER THINK TWICE--  Poco   This song and a few other got me completely hooked on country rock
SPILL THE WINE--  Eric Burdon & War
MISSISSIPPI--  John Phillips

WE GOT TO GET YOU A WOMAN--  Runt (Or do you say Todd Rundgren?)
BALL OF CONFUSION--  Temptations
I'M YOUR CAPTAIN/CLOSER TO HOME--  Grand Funk Railroad

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "You Can Stretch Right Up And Touch The Sky."  Answer below.  --RoadDog


"In the Summertime"

Goodbye Charlie Daniels "Be Proud You're a Rebel 'Cause the South's Gonna Do It Again"

CHARLIE DANIELS  (1936-2020)

So sorry to hear word yesterday of the death of one of my all-time favorite performers, Charlie Daniels.  His music made quite the soundtrack of my much younger days in the 1970s and 1980s.

As Wikipedia said, his music was wide-ranging, encompassing:  bluegrass, country, rock,  southern rock, outlaw country, country rock, blues rock, rock and roll, blues and gospel.  You're looking at my kind of music in these genres.

The Devil Went Down to Georgia
Long Haired Country Boy
Uneasy Rider

In America
Still in Saigon
The Legend of Wooly Swamp

The South's Gonna Do It Again

Listening to "The Essential Charlie Daniels Band" CD right now.

"Well, you can be proud you're a rebel 'cause the South's Gonna Do It Again."

Thanks for the Good Times, Charlie

Music Deaths: Buddy Cage of the New Riders of the Purple Sage

BUDDY CAGE, 73

Died 5 February 2020

Pedal-steel guitarist who played with the country-rock psychedelic band New Riders of the Purple Sage.  Also session player.  Played with Anne Murray, Bob Dylan and Brewer & Shipley.

So, if you're into the NRPS and hear a steel guitar, you know who was playing it.

Off to See Heartsfield

Heartsfield, one of my favorite country rock bands of the 70s are back together, and I'm leaving in an hour to go see them at the Round Lake Beach Fest. I have never seen them before, but really liked them on the FM radio back then. I thought I had at least two of their 70s efforts in my record library, and I had four: Heartsfield, The Wonder of It All, Foolish Pleasures, and Collector's Item. They were on major labels for those: Mercury and Columbia.

Perry Jordan and JC Hartsfield formed the band in 1972. They were a couple of southern boys living in the Midwest and avid fans of the country-rock genre. They broke up in 1986 and reformed in 2000. Only Perry Jordan remains of the original group.

Counting the first run, they claim to have performed for millions of people and have released 9 albums, one of the more recent ones a live performance from the House of Blues in St. Louis.

They also will be playing Sunday at the Arlington Heights Frontier Days.

Their website: www.heartsfield.com

Some of my favorite songs by then, and, as far as I'm concerned, their self-titled debut album is a greatest hits compilation: I'm Coming Home, Hushabye, Music Eyes, Understandin' Woman, and the great The Only Time I'm Sober is When You're Gone (talk about your great country titles!!!). You can hear some of their songs on the website.

I'm Coming Home to Some Great Country Rock. RoadDog