A touch of warm, spirited nostalgia pervaded the humid air early Friday evening on the first night of this year’s Riverbend Festival. That nostalgia was brought to us via the melodic tunes and harmonies of a long time favorite of many music lovers—Poco. I arrived near the bandstand just as the band was breaking into one of their many hit songs.

While I’m not a Poco aficionado I can admit to being old enough to have heard many of their tunes on the airwaves over the years. The band was kind enough to give the audience what they came for and that, most definitely, was a big helping of the band’s older hits, but they also dipped into a song from their newest collection. The CD Running Horse is available in music stores and on the band’s official website, which one can readily access by goggleing. One song from the new CD, “If Your Heart Needs a Hand,” is definitely a radio friendly tune. If we don’t hear this song on the Top 40, well, we can all chock it up to “it’s who you know. . .”

The band was rippin’ up a blue’s influenced jam called “Cajun Moon,” with some killer lap steel guitar work from Poco founding member Rusty Young, when one of the band’s biggest supporters offered me some information on the band members and what they’ve all been up to. Mary Breman, soon to be enjoying wedded bliss, was kind enough to tell me that the band had recently recorded another collection of songs up in Nashville. The CD was recorded, live, at the Bel Court Theater, in Nashville, on the evening of May 20th, this year. This fresh music should be available by late July.

When Mary and I finished our conversation the band was playing one of their hits, an acoustic version of “Call it Love.” The vibrant harmony that meant so much to the Poco sound over the years was clear and present for all to hear. The guitar work was excellent and, when I closed my eyes, as a light breeze gave me a moment’s reprieve from the heat, I could see myself as a younger man driving down a southern highway going nowhere, just enjoying being alive—with the backdrop sound of this song. Ahh, sweet memories brought forth from melody.

Poco the band still has that special talent that a group of musicians needs to stand the test of time. I don’t know exactly what that element is, it’s probably a mixture of many things that are, more than likely, imponderables. But, it’s there. You can hear it in the way their voices blend together like vanilla and chocolate—sweet to the ear like candy to the palate. You can see it in the way the band members give a knowing look every now and then when the notes fall into the air—just right. You can feel it in the way the fans sing along with the band, and know the words. Yeah, you can just tell.

Keep on keeping on, Poco.

Jay Mouton
m_mouton@bellsouth.net

Pogo at Riverbend
- Photo2 by Kelly Lockhart