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"Bareback At Big Sky" - New Poco CD. Sept. 11, 2005
"Bareback at Big Sky". Great music takes the listener somewhere special – in Poco’s Bareback at Big Sky that would be under the stars, bathed by moonlight in the Montana heartland ... Even within a catalog that dates back 35 years (!), Bareback at Big Sky casts a unique spell. It’s Poco’s first unplugged live album, with well-known tunes, never before recorded gems, and a few new ones gathered like a bouquet of blooms, warmed by golden vocal harmonies and rustled by cool whispers of rhythm. This is music with history, yet it’s also alive and immediate: Songs first heard on Under the Gun (1980) or the landmark album Legend (1978) are reborn here, in intimate versions that flow with the newest material, including the never-before-recorded “Bareback.” As each song leads into the next, the lesson of Bareback at Big Sky becomes clear: Poco is a stream that has wound through and nourished American music. From its wellspring in the sixties, it has inspired artists whose fusions of country and rock began with the example set by Poco. Some of them learned these lessons first-hand, as members of Poco prior to launching their own careers. After rising in 1968 from the ashes of the Buffalo Springfield, they began infusing the L.A. folk/rock sound with their deep-rooted lyricism and the instrumentation of country music, a revelation and inspiration for the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, and other future headliners. Poco’s albums chronicled their explorations, with two members always onboard to pilot each lineup: Young, who was there from the beginning, and singer/songwriter/guitarist Paul Cotton, who arrived in the early seventies after Jim Messina left to produce Kenny Loggins. “A lot of great musicians have been in Poco and have gone on to make amazing music. We’re very proud ofthat,” Rusty says. “But ever since Legend, Poco’s first platinum record, our sound has been consistent because we work hard at writing quality music and playing with talented musicians.” And so they were there, at the Bareback sessions in Montana, last April, along with bassist Jack Sundrudand drummer George Lawrence, who makes his Poco recording debut on this release. It was a perfect venue: “We hadn’t done a live album in many years,” Rusty explains, “so we wanted to do it somewhere special – not in a club, but at this beautiful lodge, where we could invite our friends and play what we wanted to play.” That lodge, the Goodwin Ranch, nestles at the foot of Montana’s Bridger Mountains. Managed by a friend and music enthusiast, “Big Dave” Goodwin, the lodge filled with Poco fans from nearby Bozeman and points far beyond, drawn by news of the event at the band’s website (www.poconut.com). The Goodwin Ranch also houses a studio, allowing Poco to capture the freshness and energy of a live recording without the limitations that normally come with recording in a traditional live venue. Bareback at Big Sky brings the listener the best of both worlds. The band spent a week at the ranch, working out their set list and crafting each song to fit the room. “The ranch has a rustic feeling,” Rusty says, “with decks outside where you can sit and look at the stars. We played in the main room, which was huge, with sitting rooms branching off from it and couches everywhere.And we set up in front of a two-story window; as we played you could see the moon crossing over our heads.” “It just got more and more beautiful, the closer we got from the airport,” Paul adds. “I’d seen the house and the pictures of Dave’s dog, on their website (www.bigskyhigh.com), but it was even more impressive than I thought when we got there ... And that dog ended up sleeping with me in the lobby one night.” The setting affected their choice of what to play. “We wanted to record an album that would be fun to listen to from start to finish,” Rusty explains. “We played crowd pleasers, like ‘Cajun Moon.’ And as a surprise, we sang one of our favorite Timothy B. Schmit songs, ‘Find Out in Time,’ with the classic three-part Poco harmony. We can’t have a Poco album without some pedal steel guitar, so we recorded Paul’s ‘Midnight Rain’.” “None of these songs have ever been recorded in this unplugged format,” Paul points out. “This meant making a few changes. For instance, Rusty came up with a fresh version of ‘Under the Gun’ and put it into a lower key; we start our electric sets with this arrangement now. And we hadn’t played ‘Barbados’ in years;this is probably the only acoustic version we’ve ever done.” It all came together on two consecutive nights. The familiar songs complement the flavor of the new or updated material introduced on these starlit, living-room sessions. It is in fact an ideal Poco evening, from the urgent but breezy pulse of the opening track, “Under the Gun,” all the way to their traditional closer, the Buffalo Springfield signature “On the Way Home.” More than any other album, Bareback makes it clear why Poco has stayed strong through all the twists and tumbles of pop music. “It’s about the songs,” Rusty insists. “You remember where you heard them the first time, they become part of all of our lives. Now you can make new memories with new songs and ‘remember when’ with the old ones I know we’re enjoying ourselves more than we ever have and we know the audiences are too.” No matter how long you’ve traveled with Poco, you’ve never gone Bareback. Whether you’re new or long onthe trail, this is a ride to treasure. See www.poconut.com to order the new CD or wait till September 20th, when it will be in stores. Either way please call any retail establishments and request they carry "Bareback at Big Sky"