Poco - One Night In Nashville (2022)

Poco's new concert album, One Night In Nashville, is not dedicated to long time member, Paul Cotton, or group co-founder, Rusty Young - the only member to participate in every Poco studio album - but it should be. Those two kept the band going for decades long after most of the other important members departed. Both passed away in 2021.

There are some excellent performances on the sixteen song record, but buyers need to beware. The country-rock pioneers previously released this concert on CD back in 2007 with an accompanying DVD under the name Keeping The Legend Alive. It's now out of print and can only be purchased as an overpriced collector's item, so if you already own that disc there is no reason to purchase this new one. But, if you don't have it fans of the band should add this superb set to your collection.

The show was recorded at Nashville's Belcourt Theater on May 20, 2004 and reunites most of Poco's "classic" lineup of Richie Furay, drummer George Grantham, Young, and Cotton. Only Timothy B. Schmit - who accepted an invitation many years earlier to replace another original Poco member, Randy Meisner, in Eagles - is missing. Jim Messina - another cofounding member with Furay - left after their second studio LP, just before this lineup came into fruition.

The setlist includes many Poco classics. They even find some room for songs from their missing former members. "Keep On Tryin" was written by Schmit, and Messina's "You Better Think Twice" has become a standard for the group in concert. As is often the case in live settings some of the arrangements vary from the original records you know and love. "Rose of Cimarron" is a prime example. As always, the musicianship is impeccable, especially Young's pedal steel work.

It's odd that One Night In Nashville is only available at Amazon and a couple of other online retailers. There is no indication that the album even exists on Poco's official website, and it's not available on iTunes.

There is also a quite attractive, transparent blue, limited edition, LP version containing only nine songs. It sells for over ten dollars more than the CD, so people who swear their records have more "warmth" than CDs may want to reconsider their dislike of the shiny five-inch, digital discs in this case, and get more for less money. The CD's running time is 79:54, only six seconds short of the format's maximum length capacity.

There is one obvious flaw in the liner notes. "Good Felling To Know" is credited to Cotton. Every Poconut knows that Furay is the composer of that fan favorite. Very poor quality control!

There are several Poco articles elsewhere on this modest little blog. I'm especially proud of the interview Furay graciously gave to Bloggerhythms back in 2009. You may want to check it out.

SETLIST
1. Where Did The Time Go
2. Keep On Tryin’
3. Crazy Love
4. Pickin’ Up The Pieces
5. Bad Weather
6. Call It Love
7. Let’s Dance Tonight
8. Magnolia
9. You Better Think Twice
10. Spellbound
11. Indian Summer
12. Kind Woman
13. Rose Of Cimarron
14. Ride The Country
15. Good Feelin’ To Know
16. Heart Of The Night

Comments

  1. Anonymous6:09 PM, February 25, 2023

    They also spelled Phil Kinzies name wrong in the cd notes.

    ReplyDelete

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