Richie Furay

Richie Furay was a member of Buffalo Springfield, Poco and the Souther, Hillman, Furay Band and has a new album of country covers produced by Val Garay. Richie is open and honest and tells a good story. You're gonna dig the insider truth.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bottom Left such podcast.
My Yest today is the one and only legendary Richie
Furay Ritchie. Good to have you on the podcast. Bob,
Thank you so much for inviting me. This is really
nice man. I'm I'm excited. Okay, you have a brand
new album coming out which I listened to. It is
as good as the hype. It's fantastic, wonderful called in

(00:31):
the Country. How did this come to be? You know?
I was doing a concert for the Wild Honey Orchestra group.
They take um bands like the Beach Boys or the Birds.
They took Buffalo Springfield and they do they recreate the
whole catalog. And uh, they invited me out and Val Gray,
who I've known since way way way back in Buffalo

(00:55):
Springfield days, he came to the show and he approached
me and he said, hey, would you like to make
a record. What do you got in mind? He said, well,
would you like to do uh country? Uh, some iconic
country songs? And I said, well, uh, let's start matching
songs up. Because I didn't know how far back he
wanted to go. And it might have been too far back,
you know, But when we first um started the list songs. Uh.

(01:19):
The very first song that he had on his list
was a song, believe it or not, that I had
on my list that I heard back in the nineties,
a song by John Barry called Your Love Amazes Me.
And when I saw that we were both on the
same page for that, I said, let's do it and
start matching songs. Okay, I did not know that song,
but that's the best song on the album. Oh wow, man,

(01:41):
that is I love it, Bob. I mean, you know,
I heard it when I was in Montana and I
was fishing, and I was driving in a car with
some friends and the radio kept going in and out
and in and out, and I said, man, I gotta
catch a line so when I get home, I can
find out what this song is and who it was
that did it. And when I found it, manage, I

(02:02):
loved it, and it was one of VAL's. It was
both of our first songs on the list. So we
went from there. U. Well, I love it that you
love it, man, that's great. Right, Let's talk about Val.
I've known Vale long time. He says he was there
when Buffalo Springfield was named, when they were paving the
street and think came down. Is that match your memory
or it's too long ago. He's got a better memory

(02:23):
than me, man, because I don't remember it. All I
remember is we found a sign on a Buffalo Springfield
steam roller on Fountain Boulevard or avenue. I don't know
is a boulevard or avenue. I don't know what it is,
but and we took it into in the Steven says I,
I don't know if Vow was around. He was hanging
out a lot at the time. You know, he had
his good I think a group of the Great Sunflower
or something like that. I don't I don't even remember.

(02:44):
But whether he was there or not, if he wants
to be there, he can be there today. I don't care. Okay,
let's go back to the rest of the songs on
the album. How did you choose those? We had a
list and uh, he sent me a list, and I
sent him a list, and then we started a sort
of amount um. I picked I Hope You Dance the

(03:04):
Leanne Womack uh song, and I picked she Don't Know
She's Beautiful because I just think of my wife when
I sing that song. It's such a simple little rock
and roll song. But you know what I mean, My
wife is so unassuming and she's just the most beautiful
thing in my life, you know, and so I just
I picked that song. There's of course, your love amazes me.

(03:27):
I picked Lonesome Town because Ricky Nelson had such an
influence on me early on on Ozzie and Harriet. Let's
stop there. Tell us about Ricky's influence. You know. Um,
at the end of every Ossie and Harriet show, Uh,
he would come on and he would play. But there
was one significant time uh that that I remember distinctly.

(03:49):
He maybe I made it up in my mind. I'll
be honest with you, I don't know, but this is
what I remember. He was singing Bebop Baby over a
crib to probably David's first child. I don't know what
it was, boy or a girl. But when it got
to the last verse, it switched to the high school
gymnasium and there he was with James Burton and Joe

(04:10):
Osborne and I don't know who was playing drums. But
it was like, Oh my gosh, I gotta do this.
If he can do this, I can do this too.
That's what I said. Look, not even thinking well, he's
in a Hollywood family. Man, I'm just living in this
little town in Yellow Springs, Ohio. You know. But that
was the impetus, I really I if there was a
defining moment, that was it watching him sing with just

(04:34):
an acoustic guitar be Bump babyby be Bump Baby, and
then boy, when it got to the chorus, it was
like with the whole band, and it was like, oh
my gosh, I love this. Gotta do it, gotta do it, okay,
And the rest of the tracks on the record, going
through the rest of them, I actually suggested walking in
Memphis may be a dispute here, but and and I'm

(04:54):
already there and in this life and Chalk, which I
remember as written in chalk, you know already there was
a song I didn't even know if I was gonna
be able to sing on the album because Bob, to
tell you the truth, every time I listened to that song,
I just started bawling, just started crying. And and I
there was something about that song I'm not even sure

(05:14):
you know. I mean, my picture of it is a
guy that's in the service someplace, calling his wife and
getting ready to, you know, go overseas and and uh,
I don't. I don't know why. It just it just
hit me. I was I was never in the service,
I never left my wife like that, you know. And
but it's just something that just hit me. And there
would be times I just sit and listen Lone Star

(05:35):
did the did the song the hit that I remember,
and um, it was just I just start crying. And
I just didn't even know if I was ever gonna
be able to get through it when we recorded it,
but we made it. Okay. You are one of the
people responsible for injecting country into rock. Now, I'm a
little younger than you, and country was pooh pooed at

(05:58):
the time, even though I, you know, Tom Petty, I
know was listening to it. So when you were growing
up in Yellow Springs, to what degree were you listening
to country music? Well, well, on the radio. I really
liked what you call rockabilly. I guess you know the
gene Vincent, um, uh, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly. I mean,
you can even put Elvis Presley in some of that.

(06:19):
But Eddie Cochrane, those kind of guys, those are the
guys that I liked growing up. And um, I think
there's where I got the country, the country stuff, but
I also moved from there to do what I love Diona,
the Belmonts and and uh a little Anthony Imperials and
songs like that. I had an eclectic mix, you know. Okay,

(06:40):
So those who followed your career, you know, you were
in Buffalo, Springfield, Poco, souther Hillman Furay band, you went solo,
but then you took a long time to become a preacher.
So at this point in time, how do you feel
about your career and how active are you active in
what way? Well, going on the road, making music, desiring

(07:02):
more fans, satiating fans, stuff like that. Okay, I get it. Yeah,
you know, um, there there was a time in my life.
You know, I've been married for fifty five years, Nancy
and I have and we tried to divorce twice. We
tried to divorce at three and at seven, and we
both made it through. Wait wait, wait, I'm really interested man. Okay,

(07:25):
what caused the intention of divorce and what brought you
back together both times? Okay? The first time, Uh, Nancy
wanted the divorce and what was happening. Poco was on
the road constantly at that time because we you know,
we we never had when I was in the band,
We never had the A M hit and that was

(07:46):
the thing that launches. So you're out there, you know,
you're just playing every gymnasium or what a little small
place in towns and we were on the road all
the time. And tell you the truth, Bob, I just
got lost. I got I got caught up, and we
rifted apart, and uh almost uh you know, it almost
cost me my marriage. I'm interested at that particular point,

(08:08):
did you or did you not have children? Yes, we
had one child. We had one child, and Nancy um
actually the second time then she was pregnant with our
with our second daughter. But um, and I'm you know,
the circumstances of that first one. Um was was just crazy,
you know, I was I was just I was lost.

(08:28):
I was caught up in in music, I was caught
up in life, I was caught up in in everything.
And I was actually driven at the time. I wanted
to be a rock and roll star, but little did
I know what it would cost me. And then that
led to the second Um, you know, a couple of
years later. Uh, it led me to the to the
second time when she decided she wanted out of the

(08:50):
marriage at that point in time, you know. I mean,
the first time, I guess I made a mistake. I
was thinking I want out of the marriage. The second
time she wanted out of the marriage. And that was
the one that was because there's where the Lord caught
up with both of us along the way. And this
one has some pretty interesting stuff in it. We were
recording with Richie Podler at American Recording Studio on on

(09:12):
Ventura Boulevard, and I remember I went in to do
uh some uh some background singing with Chris Hellman on
one of his songs that he had on the album.
And we were we were just really finishing up the
record and I didn't think, you know, it would be
very long, and I left my guitar in the car.
I had a little Porsche nine eleven at the time.
Everybody was driving those at the time, you know, And

(09:32):
and I had my little Porsche out there, and you know,
we went in and came out at two o'clock in
the morning, I mean, and it was night and I
noticed that my windshield had been broken. I noticed that
the endiction ignition in my car had been stolen, and
my guitar was gone, and I had no idea, man
what to do. We reported it to my business manager

(09:53):
at the time, and then we went off to Hawaii.
Little did I know that my wife had had an
encounter with Al Perkins, who was in Southern Hillman Furay
at the time. She had an encounter with his wife
and she got in the closet and basically she accepted
the Lord in the colis. She just said, I don't

(10:13):
She read a book called how Lindsay called um uh
Satan is alive and well on planet of the Earth,
and she said, I don't want to have anything to
do with this, you know, and she made a commitment
to Christ in her life. Uh, in the closet. We
went to Hawaii. I didn't even know it, She didn't
even tell me. And all I know is that we
had a house. We rented a house from Chip Douglas
and David Cassidy up on the north shore of Hawaii.

(10:37):
And um, I mean David was a friend of ours
at the time, and uh, and of course I knew
Chip from just days on when he was with the
Modern fol Quartet and all that we it was just, uh,
everybody was in the inner circle, but my wife I
couldn't figure it out. Every morning she'd be reading her Bible.
And by the time we came home and my business

(10:58):
people told me we found your get are And I said,
what makes you Why do you think you found my guitar?
Said well, it's in a pawn shop out in Pacoima.
And I said, oh, my goodness, you're you gotta be kidding.
He said, no, the serial numbers match up. You gotta
go out and get it. Well, on the way out,
Nancy told me that she had been praying that that
guitar would be found the whole time we were gone,

(11:20):
and then explained to me, you know that she had
accepted the Lord and all that. Well, when we got
out the Pacoima um, you know, kind of back in
those days, it was a CD into town, no doubt
about it. I wouldn't even let her get out of
the car, and I walked in the pawn shop. They
took me in the back room and dog going with
my guitar. It was my DT my Martin Dwight, that

(11:41):
Bob I had written every song that I had ever
written up to that point in salary human furae on
and so I mean monetarily, no one could really have it.
Wouldn't buy the guitar back, but the fact the sentimental
value of it, and I got it back. I got
the guitar back, and lie just went on from there.
But uh man, there's just so much that I mean,

(12:05):
let's let's focus on the first issue. Why did she
want to divorce them? Well, when she wanted the divorce, Um, okay,
let let me just put this together. In my mind,
I gotta put the two of them together. Um, I
was gone. I was gone all the time. Her dad
died when she was seven years old. So she grew

(12:26):
up with her mom and she didn't have a father
figure basically in the home. And she saw me out
on the road, gone all the time, and she didn't
want to live that life with her, you know, have
our kids grow up in that same way. And so
she just decided, you know, I want a divorce because

(12:46):
I'm gonna start I'm gonna have a family, and I'm
gonna have a father figure in the you know, in
the in the home. And um, that was the basic
reason you know that she wanted out of the marriage.
I was gone, and she just she wasn't going to
live that life again. And she you know she didn't think.
So how did it resolve itself? Well, I meant with
a whole lot of friends. Uh. Al Perkins introduced me

(13:08):
to a bunch of folks down at Coasta Mesa, California,
in a in a church called Calvary Chapel down there,
and I met a lot of friends, and uh, I
just started really digging into the Bible. In the meantime,
she had already set accepted the Lord, and so she
was having a dilemma because you know, I mean, she
she knew that the scripture says is God doesn't look

(13:30):
highly upon divorce. So she was having a dilemma. And
when I finally called her and told her that I
accepted the Lord, you know, this was like a crisis
in her life. You know. Oh, no, I gotta bring
him back home now all that and it was, it was,
it was just one thing after another. But she finally
acquiesced and and I came home. I remember um a
good friend of mine. Oh, this is a funny story.

(13:52):
When I when I went home the first time, because
it happened more than once, I had to go. I mean,
she didn't she didn't buy into it the first time,
but I was Uh. I was staying with Alan Debbie
at the Perkins at their house, and Uh, I just
got this, I got this, I gotta I. I don't
know what it was. It was something just told me
go home. And I didn't know why. I didn't know

(14:14):
why I was supposed to go home. And uh I
walked back in the house and and told Alan Debbie
that I just I really since I gotta go home.
We've been we'd we'd been separated for probably four or
five months at this time. And UM, they said, well,
you know what, let's take you to the airport. Because
the message to me basically, and I'm not I don't

(14:35):
want to get weird and eerie here. But it was
like go home now. Don't wait two weeks, don't wait
three days, go home now. It was it was like
I was I was moved to go and uh they
took me to the airport and this guy as I
was walking up to the to the ticket counter, Uh,
he started singing, picking up the pieces and humming. And
it's like, oh my gosh, I gotta deal with this now,

(14:58):
you know. I looked at this guy's a a big
six foot guy. Can't even remember his last name. It
was his first I know his first name was John
because he was a good friend of mine. I'll tell
you in a minute. And uh, I acknowledged him, but
then I ignored him when I started walking down to
the gate, and of course he was going to Denver
as well, and he started humming picking up the pieces again.

(15:19):
So we struck up a little bit of a of
a conversation, and he said, how are you getting? Are
you going to Boulder? I said, well, I'm gonna try
and get there. I don't know how I'm gonna get there.
He said, well, I had a friend that was gonna
pick me up and and take me to Boulder, but
I haven't been able to get ahold of him. This
was way before cell phones and computers and all that stuff.
And he said, let me try and call him one

(15:40):
more time. And while we're both waiting down here, I
didn't know how I was going to get home. I
didn't know how I was gonna get the Boulder. All
I knew I was going to get to Colorado. And
he called the guy up and lo and behold it
was a guy I had done an interview with on
numerous occasions only, and the last one was probably about
three or four months earlier, Kenny Weissberg. I don't know

(16:02):
if you know Kenny or not. I do. I hear
from an email all the time, and Kenny's a great,
great friend. And he said, Kenny's gonna pick me up.
He'll take you right up to your house. And so
it was worked there, and I remember sitting on the
porch Nancy had gone to get our daughter, Timmy, who
was in school, and sitting on the steps because I
tried to do the whole credit card thing to get
in the door. I didn't have a key anymore, trying

(16:23):
to do the credit card thing, and uh. When she
drove up, she looked at me, man, and it was like, oh, no,
what are you doing here? You know? And you know,
I said, I don't know. I just I got this
feeling and I was supposed to come home right now.
She says, well, I didn't think you're supposed to come
home right now. What are you doing? But you know, Bob,
this was probably one of the most sensitive things that

(16:45):
ever happened to me in my life. Nancy was scheduled
to have an abortion with our second daughter in that
next week, and that's what I went home to try
and get her to stop, and it did. She stopped it,
and you know, I mean, she didn't go and have it.
But that was why I wasn't supposed to go two
weeks from then, I wasn't supposed to go three weeks.

(17:05):
I was supposed to go right then, and we started
to talk things out, but she wasn't ready for me
to come home, but she did. She did cancel her appointment.
So how did you ultimately come home. Well, we were
recording the second souther Hillman Furae record up at Cariboo Ranch,
which was like three miles from my home. And during
that whole period that we were up there, and this

(17:27):
is one of the most I when I think back
on it, it really hurts a lot. Because we had
Tommy Dowd producing the record. I don't even remember making
the record. I don't I was so I was so
disco disconnected to making that record that I don't even
remember it. I don't even remember with working one of
the greatest producers of all times, you know. But she

(17:50):
had me move everything out of my house. I had
a road manager go up and take the stuff out
of the house and and all because I couldn't even
do it. But as we were finished sen up the record,
she called me and she said, you know, Timmy, our
first daughter. She said, Timmy wants to come up and
and see you. And so I said, great, I'd love

(18:11):
to have her come up and you come up, you know.
And so they came up and they had dinner, and
Nancy actually spent the night with me, and uh, and
we talked and uh, we we kind of started to
work things out. But even at that, it still would
take probably about another month before you know, she actu asked.
And even on the night that I was because I
went back to California to live with some friends out there. Um, uh,

(18:36):
even before we started back. Um, the night that, the
night before I was supposed to leave, I called her up,
said we're on our way. She said, don't come, don't come. Well, man,
I had sold my Porsche, bought a pickup truck. I'm
ready to come to Colorado. And I said, we're coming.
And so that was basically it, I mean, and it
and it took work, you know. I mean, it wasn't

(18:56):
something like just flipping on a switch and everything was
blue sky's, green lights and tops down weather Man. We
had to we had to work on it, and she
had to see that I was actually committed to her
and the marriage and and wasn't so, you know, driven
anymore by by this rock and roll stuff, because that
was the thing that I had to decide, do I
want to be a rock and roll munician musician or

(19:18):
do I want my family? And I chose my family.
That's what I wanted. And so I met all these
folks out at Calvary Chapel at Costa Masa, great friends,
and and that that was how we started. You know,
I came back and um, it took a while, but
we we worked out our our differences and here we
are today. Okay, how did you ultimately go to the

(19:39):
pulpit from someone who started out as you know, far
from that. Everybody that I met at Calvary Chapel was
a pastor. I mean they were young pastors. And some
of these guys, I mean they had there's a there's
a book that's out now that talks about some of
these young pastors that Chuck Smith who was the pastor
of Calvary Chapel and Cousta mac passed away a couple

(20:00):
of years ago. But some of these guys were like crazy,
crazy crazy guys, I mean drug dealers. They were like
they were like crazy guys and they became my friends.
And when I finally went back to Colorado, we found
a church and I basically said, Lord, what will you
have me to do? And I didn't have a clue.

(20:21):
I was writing some songs with a guy that was
actually doing what they have where Saturday night concerts at
Coasta Masa at the time, and I became friends with
this guy. He actually took me into his house, the
first guy to take me into the house when Nancy
and I were separated, and he moved back to Colorado
later on because we were writing songs together. His name
was Tom Stipe, and he passed her to church in Denver.

(20:43):
He too, just passed away a couple about a year ago.
But uh so one day I was just, you know, what,
what do you want me to do? Lord? I I
didn't think it was to be another, you know, put
another rock and roll band together. It ultimately turned into
that because the guys that I was now uh talking

(21:03):
to about who were pastors, some of these guys were
musicians and I actually used part of them in a
in a band that Bill Shnay and Michael o'marty and
both produced with me called I've Got a Reason. But
it wasn't certainly on my radar that I was going
to put a band together and uh, just ask the Lord,
what do you want me to do? And there was

(21:23):
a little diversion for me actually starting to become a pastor.
I actually did put a band together with these guys
and went out and did a little more music together.
But then that didn't you know, it didn't last long,
and I, uh, I stepped back, you know, because I
wanted to make sure that my wife knew and that
I was focused on on my family. She was pregnant
with our second child and actually had he had to

(21:45):
check a second child, and so it was oh boy,
it was man to relive. Some of this is like, uh,
heavy duty stuff. Man, that's good though, it's good, Okay.
Subsequent to the demise, we're talking about this period nineteen,

(22:07):
the demise Southern Hillmansury Bean. You made a number of
albums on a silo. I did, So, how was that
relative to the marriage. Well, I owed David Geffen three
records and basically I've Got a Reason, dance a little light,
and I still have dreams were the records, uh that
I made, and the first one, I've Got a Reason,

(22:29):
was an interesting record because again I was torn. I
didn't know whether I was going to be a musician.
I didn't know what I was gonna be doing, and uh,
so I made this record, I've Got a Reason. And
interestingly enough, that record was, um it was it was
to Jesus for the uh, secular world, and it was
too secular for the Jesus people or the or the

(22:51):
Christian market that I was in. Interesting enough, the name
of Jesus isn't on the record at all. I just
told about some of my story when Nancy and I
were uprated, and that's the one that Bill Schney and
uh and Michael o'marty and produced together. Um. And then uh,
you know, we didn't go out on the road a lot,
but we did travel, but I really kept it under control.

(23:12):
Then dance a Little Light came along, and well, I
would tell you that, you know when I when when
I Got a Reason was getting underway, David Geffen did
call me and he said, you're not gonna give me
any of that Jesus music, are you? And uh, I mean,
but that's the time he started to do Donna Summer
and some of these other people that were, you know,
really becoming outspoken Christians or whatever. But it was kind

(23:34):
of funny. I love David. I mean I really, I've
only had good experiences with him. Lots of people don't
like him, but you know what, I I've only had
good experiences with David. Haven't seen him for years, but
when those things were going on, we were pretty close
and spent some time together. And and that's why I
felt obligated to make these records and just finish this commitment,

(23:54):
you know, without trying to bail out. But by the
time I made Dance a Little Light, David had left
Asylum and it was Joe uh oh, gosh, Joe Smith,
Joe Smith, thank you um and I made Dance a
Little Light. And each each one of these records became
less and less about me and who I was with

(24:16):
my faith, but they were more secular in uh in,
in scope. But it did nothing. And I remember playing
at the Roxy, and I remember Asylum, you know, coming down,
we want to come down and here you and I
was hoping, boy, they're gonna come down and say get out.
We don't want you know you're out of your contract.
We don't want you any more. Well, we blew the
place apart. I had a band. It was terrific, and

(24:38):
we blew the place apart. And they said, when are
you gonna do your next record? Oh man, that that
one had just come out, you know, but that's what
they wanted, and that's when I got together and ended
up doing I Still Have Dreams. That was another interesting
project because I recorded most of that record the first time.
I recorded it twice. I recorded it up at Cariboo

(24:59):
Ranch with my band, with my with my band, and
when we got done with it, it just it didn't
have I wanted it to sound more alive. And a
guy named Charlie Reardon was working with me at the time.
He was an Asylum UM record uh runner here in Denver,
and he said, well, let me, you know, call Asylum

(25:19):
and tell him you're not gonna do it, and we'll
just call, you know, we'll see, you know what we
can do. We ended up doing Val Gray and the section,
you know, and it was like, oh man, I tell you, Bob,
it was a record that I'll never forget because that's
one thing with Val that on both records that I've
done with him, I've been able to sing nine percent
of the records live while the tracks are going down,

(25:42):
and most of the time you're always overdubbing, you know.
But anyway, um, we had already recorded up at Cariboo,
and I said, I don't like it and I don't
want to you know, I don't want to put this out.
And he said, well, let's go out there, l A
and do it. Man. We'll get the section and get
uh you know, so Val produced. I still have dream
teams with you know, Russ Kunkin and Les Clare and

(26:02):
Dan Doug Moore and and Wadi wak Tell and Craig
Dergy and there was the band man and you know,
I still have dreams. Became a top ten radio hit,
but no one bought it it, uh, you know, and
so things are kind of like, okay, what now? And
I think that's when I decided, you know, I need

(26:22):
to really figure out what I'm gonna do. And that's
when I started pastoring a church for about thirty five years. Okay,
so you didn't make another record for fifteen years. I'm
interested in the details of how you end up getting
your own church. Did you get involved with the church
that existed. Did you start your own church? How did
you start preaching? How did that all happen? Well, basically,

(26:44):
we started a home Bible study. Nancy and I start
a home Bible study in our home. We were living
up off of uh, you know, up in the mountains
west of Boulder, and there was a neighbor up there
and said, hey, would you like to He approached me
and he said, hey, I've heard, you know from another
neighbor up here that you're a Christian and and um,
you know, want to do a Bible study. And so,

(27:06):
you know, we got together on our home and we
both sat around and it was like, okay, who's gonna
lead this thing? And nobody did anything, you know. We
were just sitting there twiddling our thumbs and kind of like, okay,
that was nice. We'll get together some other time, you know.
And so I went down to the local bookstore and
I got I'd already come home with a bunch of
Chuck Smith tapes through the Bible. That's what he did. Uh,

(27:29):
Calgary Chappell does book by book, verse by verse, and
so you you got to hit everything or you or
you don't. It's not topical studies in other words. And
so I went down and I got I got the
Book of John, a commentary on the on the Book
of John, and uh, I said, Okay, when we get
together again, I'm gonna take over. I'm gonna start and
lead this thing. And so that's basically how I started doing.

(27:51):
And I listened to Chuck Smith tapes and I listened
to and I read, I read commentaries that I got
at the local bookstore, and you know, we started get
some more people that would come around to the house
and and uh, we just had our little home Bible.
Say that's how the church got started. Okay, so what
happened after that? After that, I had a friend down
at which was really Calgary Chapel in Denver, who was

(28:14):
making worship records at the time, and came to a
friend of mine who was in our church at the time,
and um, he was my worship leader, and asked if
we had some songs to contribute to a worship album
that we were doing well. By the time we got
around to it, we had played him ten or twelve songs.
He said, you've got enough for an album yourself. And
so we went into studio with this guy, Randy Rigby,

(28:37):
and John Macy here in Denver, and uh, and we
recorded in my father's house. And so that was the
first record that I actually made after Seasons of Change,
which was really uh that was that was one of
the last secular Christian when I was I don't like
to call my my my records or my Christian records
or whatever. You know. Some of them are more devotional,

(28:59):
some of them, you know, but they're just in my
father's house. And I am sure we're two devotional records
that came out of that accounter with Randy Rigby and
and John Macy. Okay, but that was already I got
way ahead of myself here. So you're having Bible study
in your house, you're leading that. How do you end
up with your own church? Well, as it turned out, um,

(29:24):
in the Bible study that we did, people came to
me and they said, you know, because the Bible study
was growing, and they said, when are we going to
start church? And I'm trying to think that must have
been about a d two or eighty three somewhere, maybe
two somewhere and there. I can't remember. Man, it's like beep, beep,
beep beep. Their short circuiting. But they came and they

(29:46):
said and I basically told him, I said, well, when
the Lord leads, well, some of them decided they were
in a hurry to get started, and so they kind
of broke off from our little Bible study and they
started their own thing on on Sunday mornings, and it
just flopped and went nowhere. And in the meantime, I
went looking for a building, you know, that maybe we
could meet in with the rest of the people. And

(30:06):
so that's what we did. I found a little Seventh
day Baptist church on the corner of a Rapaho and
Ninth Street and Boulder, and they didn't meet on Sundays,
and so we we started meeting on Sundays in in
that place that we I took the rest of that
Bible study over there, and actually we just we started church.
We just we're Calgary Chapel a Boulder at the time.

(30:28):
No no seminary, no nothing, just Chuck Smith tapes and
the way we go. Okay, so you recently retired, when
you retired and passed the baton, how big was the church?
How many people would come? You know, My wife and
I were just talking about this, and our church was
always pretty small. And as she said, we had between

(30:48):
two hundred and two undred fifty people, you know, counting kids. Right,
that's pretty good size. I have to ask because it
is the music business. Yeah, your deal with the asylum
is over. What are you doing for money? Living? Financially?
I had the church, but I also would go out
and I would play some concerts because this one band
that I had with Randy Rigby, UM, we actually did

(31:12):
some churches. And then Kenny called me and he said, hey,
do you want to come out to um? Uh what
what did it by the bay out there in San Diego?
Um Humphreys Humphrey. Yeah, And he said would you like
to come out now? It's been probably ten years, you know,
And I said, well, I got this little band, but Kenny,

(31:33):
I haven't played. I just don't know if I can do.
I'll find the show for you. And he called me
back in about a month and he said, I got
the perfect show for you to do. And he said
as Steven Stills. I said, really, And I thought about
it and I talked to my to my buddy at
the time that was he was like my band because
he played guitar, ban Joe and do Bro and all
kinds of it was just the two offus we were.

(31:55):
He said, we can do this, and so we put
about seven or eight songs together and one out and
open for Steven Stills, and the next thing I know,
you know, we've we're going out back and forth to
Calvary to Humphreys by the Bay. Kenny had us out
there six times, and each time I had a little
more of a band, a little bit bigger of a band.
And so I'm actually playing music on um you know,

(32:17):
I'm taking time off from from the church. Not lengthy time,
so I would I would never be away from the
church for more than probably two weeks at a time.
And that was that was like very rare that I
would do that maybe a week. But that's how all
of that just started. Kenny was really the impetus behind
all of that off but he he had his plan
with the Emmy Lou Harris, and then he had his

(32:38):
plan with Poco, and he had his plan. I mean,
he had us doing all kinds of concerts out there. Okay,
so tell me about how you decided to retire as
a pastor, and it appears that you're more invested in
music subsequent to that. Tell me, what's going through your brain? There? Oh? Man?
You know, once you really have music, it's always there.

(32:58):
And I not only had had recorded in my father's
house and I am sure, but then I recorded Heartbeat
of Love. I did Alive the double C D with
my band. I did Heartbeat of Love and I did.
I am sure. But but what's going on here? Is
pose the question again? I'm sorry man, I'm getting old. Well, okay,
you know you have a thirty five year career as

(33:21):
a pastor. How did you decide to retire? And it
appears that you're refocusing on music? But tell me what
you feel. Well? See, I never walked away from music.
Always made these records on my own, went to next film,
made him. But here's what happened with the church after
thirty five years. Um, you know, my life has always
been giving. It's always whether it's been music, whether it's

(33:44):
been the church. You know, you're you're always doing it.
And I came down with Bell's palsy. I didn't even
know what Bell's palsy was. And this was like two
days before Christmas. Um, and uh, my wife and I
are having breakfast and he she says, she said, are
you okay, I said, yeah, what's wrong? She said, well,
it looks like the whole left side of your face

(34:04):
is just drooping. And so we headed over to the
doctor and the next thing, I know, you know, they
diagnosed it the best they could and said, you got
Bell's palsy. After putting me in that little tube that man,
I just I can't. I'm claustrophobic and can't do that thing.
But they finally got me in it. Man, they drugged
me up enough they got me in it. And you know,
Nancy and I just talked and said, you know what,

(34:26):
I think I was seventy five at the time, and
I said, you know what, we've we've we we've really
put a lot of time in and probably have neglected ourselves.
Maybe it's time just to step away so that I
don't always you know, I don't always have to be
in one place at one time. Let's just start focusing
on ourselves. And bobbed us basically, what really caused me

(34:46):
to step away from the church apter thirty five years.
We just wanted to spend more time with ourselves, with
our kids, with our grandkids, and just you know, just
really uh um, you know, living our life together. Here
we are old people, you know, but we're still wanting
to you know, we're I wrote that song called hand
in Hand. You know, after all these years, we're still

(35:07):
going hand in hand. And we just that was really
the what was behind it. We just wanted or I
just wanted to step away from having the commitment of
having to be at church and serving and doing this
and do it. I wanted to. I wanted to focus
on my wife, which maybe I should have done even
ten years earlier, but who knew. But it took Bell's
palsy to really, you know, put me in that uh,

(35:30):
in that frame of mind to start thinking about that.
Sometimes Bells pausy doesn't go away. So how is your
Bell's pauls? It's great, you know, And I was. It
was like it was almost like a miracle. Mine lasted
maybe maybe six to seven, maybe two months, two months.
My friend and I spoke about earlier Tom Stipe, who
was a pastor that just passed away. That was my

(35:52):
good friend. I wrote quite a few songs with him
and I've got a reason and uhh, yeah, I've got
a reason to dance. He got it and he had
it for a long time. I mean, he really did
have it for a long time. But uh, yeah, I
can wink at you right now with both eyes. And
it was crazy though, Man, I never even heard of

(36:13):
Bell's palsy. I didn't even know what it was. Yeah,
I had a friend who had it. And so in
any event, you're stepping away from the church, is music
just one thing you're doing, or you refocusing and devoting
more time to music A little bit of both. You know.
I stepped away and I had a band together at
the time, and we were actually um uh there were

(36:38):
some crisis is that went on in the church after
after I stepped down and turned it over. I don't
know that I necessarily need to get into him, but
I had some things booked. I had actually David had
had actually encouraged me to do the delivering uh c D.
And um you know, I already was playing all but
three songs, uh you know, at a various times, uh,

(37:02):
in my in my sets, and so I was doing that,
I was focusing on music. I wasn't focused. I never
have focused on it, like, Okay, you know what, I'm
gonna have another career and do that again. I never
thought about that. And so around the same time. You know,
that's when Val kind of approached me not too long
after that about in and Um. So, I mean it's

(37:25):
always been music. And you know, one thing that I've
been very um, I've been very proud of that I've
been able to write music that I really feel is
is good music, you know. I mean it's really good
music on heartbeat of love and and and I am sure.
So I've been creative. I haven't just sat around and
twiddled my thumbs. And I've always been creative. And when

(37:48):
something came around to write some music and some songs,
I've done that. And um, and been fortunate enough to
have some good people to play with. I got some
great people right now, Dan one of them, who's sitting
back here with me, who's helping to tape this, and
and on, and my daughter Jesse, and then I've got
some other friends in San Diego. Because I had some issues,

(38:10):
I had to break up my band that I actually
played with longer than I ever played with any other
band in my life. So how come you have to
break him up because I was betrayed? Yeah, I will
leave that of that. Let's go back to the beginning. Okay,
Yellow Springs Ohio was a college town. So what were
your parents doing there when you were growing up? My
dad and mom had a drug store. Now my dad

(38:31):
was not a pharmacist, but he owned the business. He
owned the drug store, and um, he passed away when
he was forty five years old. I was thirteen years old. Yeah,
he had an aortic aneurysm. And I can remember it
to this day when the ambulance pulled up in front
of our house at six one six Zeni Avenue, and um,

(38:52):
you know they were they were carrying him away and
that was it. I mean, you know, it's like John
Ritter when he passed away. If you're not in the
hospital and something like that, uns, you're done. And he
was done. But they were business people and um, you know,
my mom then after after he passed away several years,
uh you know, sold the business of the drug store

(39:14):
and opened up a gift shop and uh and all
and so they were they were business people in town.
How the family just my sister and uh, she's three
years older than I am. Just saw her last week
at the coach House, which was really sweet, and her
whole family. So what kind of kid were you? Good student?
Bad student? Popular, not popular. I was a terrible student.

(39:37):
I would like to think that I I was a
popular student. Uh My. My graduating class at Brian High
School in Yellow Springs was forty six people, so I
mean it was very small, and I'd like to think
I ran with the with the in crowd, you know,
I'd like to think that, But who knows me. Did
you play any music in high school? I did basically though,

(40:01):
from the junior high to just into high school. Uh
is when I played most of the music because it
was popular. Music wasn't really the popular thing to do
at the time. The popular thing to do was to
be an athlete, and so I really started focusing on
baseball factors. When I went to college, I thought I
wanted to I thought I really wanted to pursue a

(40:23):
baseball career. And I got the I got the college man,
and I went to the team. Well that's not gonna work,
is So I think, I think I'll be an actor.
Then you know what happened. Man, my roommate he was.
He he was an actor, and here we are freshmen,
and we both tried out for the first play and
we went into the into the room you know where

(40:44):
they have the list of you know, and he got
the lead into play and I had to go clear
down to the cleared down to the chorus to find hours.
So I said, well, this isn't gonna work either, and so, um,
you know, I was kind of thumbing along at that time,
not knowing what I was gonna do. I met two guys,
Bob Harmelenke and Nels Gustuson, and they were they were
good friends. I did win the college talent show. I sang.

(41:08):
They called the win Mariah. And so that's where we
picked up and we became we became the campus folk singers.
We went around from otter Vine in Westerville, Ohio, Ohio,
Staton around there and singing, you know. And and that's
when we went off to New York later on, you know,
on on the Acapella Choir tour. Okay, so how long

(41:33):
were you in college here and a half. I actually
had a rupture dependix my sit my sophomore year and
I never went back. At Christmas time, I never went back.
So how did you decide not to go back? And
what did you do that? Well, college wasn't for me, man.
I went to college because it was the it seemed
like the thing to do at that time. I was
following in the footsteps of my sister, she went to

(41:54):
atter Vine and all. But the one thing that really
um attracted, I mean that that kept me kind of
hooked into college was there was an acapella choir tour
that was planned for the spring of my sophomore year
that was going to New York and Bob and Nels
and I who were doing all the Peter Paul and

(42:15):
Mary Kingston trio and and all those songs, you know,
and we were gonna go in uh downtown in the city,
and we were we were going to become the next,
you know, the next big thing in in New York,
you know. And here I have I have a rupture
to panics, and I said, I I school didn't appeal
to me. And I was able to talk to college

(42:38):
into allowing me to go on that choir tour if
I came up for the rehearsals. And so I would
drive up to Westerville, you know, probably two times a week.
I was working at a place called Pratt and Whitney
Aircraft making tire no no no no no Morris meaning
company uh making um tire castings at the time at

(42:59):
home and then driving up there to um to uh
do the rehearsals. And you know, they allowed me to
go on that trip. And that's how it all got started,
you know, from way back when we went down into
the village on a Saturday night on our on our
day off, and Nell's who could sell you anything. I

(43:20):
get a load of this, this is good. He he
went up to these clubs and uh, I think we
played at the Village Gate and I think we also
played at the four not the we did play at
the Four Wins, but at the Cafe Wah. But here's
the catch. We played as they turned the audience over.
I mean, I thought, man, this is the big time.

(43:42):
But you know, this was the time when tourists were
coming through the village, you know, and folk music was
the big thing. And they said, sure, man, you can play. Well,
we're getting the people out and the other people in,
you know, And that's what we did. But Bobby was
enough to sell me man that Uh. You know, we
went back that that next summer. I talked the guys
in the on back that summer and and um we

(44:03):
one of the other little clubs we played out was
a past the basket place called the Four Winds, and uh,
that's that was that's where I met Stephen. Okay, so
you went back and worked in the tire planted for
a year and then came back to New York City.
It actually wasn't a year when when when the tour
was over, when the Apell acquired tour was over, we
went back and they finished their sophomore year. So I

(44:24):
only went back to that tire company. Morris beIN a
company for probably what another three months or so before
we all went back to New York around probably June
or July something like that. So how do you meet
Steven Still? He was in the same pack. I I
contacted Johns Hopkins, who was the kind of like the
manager of the Four Winds, and um, man, I was

(44:47):
kind of stupid, you know, I mean, can we come
back and work at your club? Well, of course you can.
It's a pasta basket place. I don't have to pay you,
you know, I mean, he didn't say that. But so
I went back and Stephen was doing the same thing.
He was in that same club, and um uh, and
that's where we met. And so we started, you know,
becoming we became friends. Okay. Was it a natural connection,

(45:11):
you know, you bonded, or was it more like, this
is a business, how can we make it work? Now,
it was definitely a bonding thing, and but at that
time it was just I appreciate you, and he appreciated us.
He he liked us and and Bob and Nells and
it was very friendly and Stephen was an outgoing guy
and so so we hit it off. But there was
a guy his name was Eddie Miller, and he came

(45:35):
to us at one time and he he had he
had I'm not sure if he was managing this group
that was working up on eighth I think it was
Eighth Street. They were called the Bass Singers, and there
was a guy named Roy Michaels in that band who
was in Cap Mother and the All Night Newsboys. But
but but that was a group, another folk group. They

(45:57):
were kind of like more uptown than we were. And
he took that group and took my group with Bob
and Nells and Stephen, and then he took Roy Michaels,
who was in the Bay Singers, his girlfriend Kathy King
and put us together as like a new Christie minstrel
serendipity singer backporch majority whatever you know. We ended up

(46:20):
being called the Go Go Singers after the Cafe a
Go Go the hair in the city. But he put
us together and we we uh we in in a
sixth probably in a six month period of time, we
did a Rudy Valley on Broadway to night television show.
We did a off Broadway play that was off off

(46:42):
Broadway in two weeks. Very quickly, we did a supper
club tour of Texas, and I'm trying to think there
was one other thing we made that record for for
Roulette Records called they call us a Go Go Singers.
So we did all of that, then it broke up.
And when it broke up, uh, Steven's the Bass Singers,

(47:02):
I guess had booked a little tour across Canada, and
Stephen went with them as their lead singer because they
really didn't have a lead singer. And that's where he
met Neil Young in Toronto, and so he told Neil man,
come on down to to New York or whatever, you know,
if you need to do anything down there, because we've
kept an apartment down there, and I would come down

(47:24):
and and stay at the apartment and do auditions in
New York myself when I was working up at Pratt
and Whitney Aircraft, because I was working at Pratt and
Whitney at the time. Okay, you're in the Go Go Singers. Yeah,
how do you end up working at Pratt? And when
when the group broke up, I needed to eat and
doing auditions wasn't paying me anything. But there were things

(47:45):
that we're going on. Uh, you know, I called my
cousin who um uh you mentioned in the in in
your liner notes of the of the Delivering record, you know,
my cousin up at Pratt and Whitney, and uh he
convinced you know, I con tim basically that I was
in for the gold Watch and u uh he had

(48:05):
me come up and I was actually uh dating basically
one of the uh the girls in the base thing
or her sister at the time. They lived in Massachusetts,
So I went up and and stayed with that family
while I commuted from Wilbraham down to East Hartford. And um,

(48:25):
so that's how I started working at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft.
And UM, I don't want to get ahead on myself here.
I want to make sure I got all that right.
So yeah, basically when when the Agogla Singers broke up,
I just needed to eat. And a living across the
street from me in New York City, though, was Graham Parsons.
And Graham's the one that really kind of I gotta

(48:49):
say he was. He was really a force in getting
me to call Stephen to find out what he was doing,
because there was nothing happening for me. I was handing
out tools in the tool crib, and I was probably
gonna be handing out tools in the tool crib until
the day I died if something didn't happen. And what
happened was Graham brought the Bird's first record up to
me and he said, you got to hear this. This

(49:09):
is fantastic. And when I listened to it Bob and
heard it, it was like I never heard anything like it.
Here's Bob Dylan electric. You know, It's like, oh my gosh,
this is terrific. And so I got ahold of Stephen,
and um, I think, as you elated to in in
the in the liner notes, you know, I didn't know
how to get ahold of Stephen, but I contacted his dad,
sent him a letter, give me Steven's address, give me

(49:32):
is you know, give me somehow to get in touch
with him. And I waited and I waited, I wait
and I waited, and I thought, oh my gosh, the
letter did never reach him because he was in El
Salvador and I had I mean, I was, I don't
even know how I had that address. I really don't
to this day know how I had that address. But
the letter came back no postage, not enough, not enough postage,

(49:54):
and it was like, oh my gosh, Uh so I've
got enough postage, sent it back, and you know what,
within two or three weeks, I was in touch with Stephen.
He had moved from his he was up in San
Francisco with it at his mom and had moved down
to Los Angeles and he said, hey, come on out
to l A. I've got a band together. All I
need is another singer. We're ready to go. And I said,

(50:17):
let me take care of business here and I'll be
out there now. That was pretty bold on me because
I had also heard Stephen a couple of months earlier
try to put a night owl, uh love and spoonful
type band together and it was awful handy, I mean,
it was a train wreck. Actually, I backed Stephen and
I talked about this a couple of weeks ago, and

(50:37):
he didn't even remember doing it, so you know it
it had to be bad, man. But uh, handing out
tools into tool croup sounded better. So for me to say,
I'm on my way to go clear across country, man,
this was a big step. And uh, interestingly enough, when
I got out there, I waited at the at the
l A Airport, and I watched all these little yellow

(51:00):
they looked like vacuum cleaners driving around that little circle
on the at the airport. Man. It was it was
like these little cars, man, And the one that stuck
out was a bright yellow car. They were Porsches, you know,
these nine eleven Porsches, and and watch them go around
and go around and go around and find a little
v w you know, keep packed up and and and

(51:21):
stopped in front of me, you know. And it was
it was Stephen and he was with Dickie Davis, and uh,
uh you know, we went back to I don't know
if it was Dickie's house or Steven's apartment or whatever,
but that was how we, you know, the whole thing started.
But when I got there, there was no band. It
was me and him, and it was like, oh boy,

(51:43):
what have I done now, you know, because this was
like I come all the way across country, I've i've
I've quit my job, and there's no band. He had
told me all I need is another singer, and I said, okay,
but when I get But you know what, that all
worked out perfect. And it worked out perfect because for
probably a month, maybe three weeks, three to four weeks,

(52:07):
we sat in this little apartment on Fountain Avenue, sitting
right across from one another. Stephen had written all the
songs that he wrote for the first Buffalo Springfield Record,
and we learned to harmonize, we learned a phrase, We
learned to sing in unison because the Beatles were like
you know, they were like that, yeah man, and so

(52:29):
it was like the Lennon and McCartney. And then when
and when Lennon McCartney sang together, yeah, I mean there
were three, you know, with George Harrison and Paul and
George and John they were all lead singers. But then
Paul and John would sing together, and so Steve and
I learned to sing unison. We learned to sing harmony,
we learned a phrase, and so when we went in
to make the record, which was actually at gold Star

(52:50):
on a four track, you know, uh, you know, some
of some of the singing we had already just we
had already leveled it, you know, but we hadn't at
Neil yet. It was just me and him. Okay, So
how did the band ultimately come together? And how long
did it take? You know, I don't know the time frame.
We had a guy, Barry Friedman, who was working with us.

(53:13):
Uh later changed his name to Fraser Mohawk and uh,
he was he was he was helping us out. Um
and Stephen and I were kind of like living up
in a little place in front of his house. In
the back. He was working with another group called Maston
and Brewer, which later became Brewer and Brewer and then
Brewer and Shipley. Uh so it was Tom Maston and

(53:35):
and and Mike Brewer and UM. They were putting a
band together. Barry didn't think that we were ready, so
he took us down his screen Gems and Stephen that
was when Steven sold sit Down, I Think I Love
You two screen Gems and the Mojo Men made a
hit out of it. I sold a song called My
Kind Of love. We both sold him for a hundred
bucks man and that was it. But but I think

(53:57):
Stephen did better than I did with with Mojo Man.
But anyway, Um, that's that's what helped us live for
a little bit. And we just kept doing our thing
until one day we're on Sunset Boulevard and I have
no idea. Um, you know, Barry didn't think we were ready,
and but we were hanging out with him and we

(54:17):
were driving down Sunset Boulevard. We were actually going west
and he was uh and and Neil, I'm sorry, we
were going east. We were coming east. Neil and Bruce
in Niel's old hearse with Ontario license plates. Kind of

(54:37):
we crossed right there. I don't know what the intersection is,
but it used to be Ben Frank's and yeah, it's
I don't know what it is that what is it
that uh today changed to a chain? But you're just
west of Lasiana, Yeah, La Sienega and there's a traffic cam.
Figure it out. Figure it out. No, I mean, this

(54:58):
is like fate happening right a way, you know. I
mean Steven has already been a friend of of Nil's.
Neil had come down to New York to pedal songs
and I I met him down there. He actually taught me.
Nowadays Clancy can't even sing at that particular time. But
here we are on Sunset Boulevard. They have been there,
Bruce and and Neil had been there for I don't

(55:19):
know for weeks anyway, And again this is well before
cell phones and computers, and you know, nobody knew how
to get in in touch with one another. And Bruce
and and Neil were leaving town. They were heading west
on on Sunset Boulevard to the four oh five to
go to San Francisco. They were done with l A.
And there we were, man right there at that little

(55:40):
intersection or nearby where where Ben Franks was and and uh,
Stephen or and I. I. I've heard so many stories
of how it happened, But in our car, I don't
know who it was, if it was me or here
you nobody. Wow, look at that. That's gotta be new
young man, and that stupid looking Hurst man with Ontario
license plate. And sure enough, man in the middle of

(56:00):
a traffic jam, we got everybody turned around and pulled
into Ben Frank's parking lot and there was Neil. We
took him back to the apartment, played him some of
the things that we were doing that Stephen and I
were working on steven songs and I had actually played
and taught Stephen. Nowadays, Clancy can't even sing at the time,
so we were able to like audition that if you

(56:20):
will for Neil, and he was sold. And so now
we've got a We've got a two lead guitar players
and a realthic guitar player and a bass player. We
need a drummer. But there's the beginnings of the band
right there. How does it become the band? How does
it become Buffalo Springfield? How do you get a record deal? Well,
we became a band. Um Again, Barry was trying to

(56:42):
put us together with a couple other people, and he
tried to put us together with Billy Mundy and I
love Billy, Billy say sweet guy. Um but um it
didn't work. And somehow another David Crosby and Chris Hillman
both you know, had found out about us and knew
that we were looking for a drummer. And they were

(57:03):
being managed by uh dis uh Tickner and Dixon at
the time, and the Dillards were also being were managed
by them, and they were a blue grass group that
had tried to you know, put bass and drums, make
you know, make it a little more lively with stuff,
and that it wasn't working for him. And Dewey Martin

(57:24):
was their drummer, and so it all turned around that
Dewey was introduced to us and um uh so when
he auditioned, he said, the only thing, you know, if
if he gets it, the only thing he wanted to
do is be able to sing a little bit, you know,
because he said, I sing like Wilson Pickett. And so anyway,

(57:44):
we listened to Dewey and you and you know Bob
so often it's like this. You know, it might not
be the greatest players, might not be the greatest singers
or whatever, but you know what, it worked. It worked
somehow with Bruce and Dewey. Bruce was a phenomenal bass player.
Dewey was a very simple drummer, you know, but it

(58:06):
just worked for us. And and that's that's what, you know,
The band worked like that, and it wasn't. Man, I
don't know if it was. Uh, I don't know how
much it was weeks you know that we were actually
going out and we were opening up for the Birds
doing some of their concerts at that time, and it
was like crazy. And then then we became the house
band along with the Doors and Love and um Um

(58:30):
maybe leaves in a couple of the other bands, you know,
the l A bands at the time at the Whiskey
Igogo thanks to Chris and and and David at the
same time. You know. But that was how you know
it all started. You know, they heard us and they
got us. Uh, they got us, Dewey, and Dewey was
satisfied and uh, there you go. Okay, tell us the

(58:51):
story of how you name it Buffalo Springfield and how
you actually get the record deal. Okay, Well, you know,
we didn't have much money at that time, so I
think we'd I think we're going out to Pioneer Chicken.
You remember Pioneer Man. That is the best cheap chicken
in town. And I gotta jelly. I loved it, man.

(59:14):
And so we had gone down to Pioneer Chicken Man
and got some chicken, and we're coming back and there
was there was a steam roller. They were doing some
work on Fountain is an avenue or Bulevard It is avenue. Yeah,
on Fountain Avenue and there was a Buffalo Springfield steam
Rollers that was there, and somebody, I don't know who

(59:34):
it was, I'm not gonna take credit for it, took
one of the ten signs off and um came back
to Barry's house in the way I remember it man
as we put it up on the Barry Friedman's Uh.
He had a little fireplace in his house, put it
up on the mantel and said, looks like a name.
You know, now we've got a name for the band,
Buffalo Springfield and uh. Um. I don't know how long

(59:57):
it was that we got introduced to Charlie Green and
Brian Stone. Um they were they were managing Sunny and
Share at the time. You know, I can't remember how
they became involved with us. Uh, Barry must have introduced us.

(01:00:17):
Um I'm an rdigan. Oh gosh, I'm I'm I feel
like uh, I feel like I'm really old. Now I'm
short circuiting because I can't remember this this exact little
part about how who introduced. For some reason, I'm thinking
that I'm an Erdigan introduced us to Charlie and Brian.
But Charlie and Brian had Sonny and Share. I don't

(01:00:38):
know how there's a there's something going on there. I'll
have to go back and read one of my stories
when I was younger to see if I remember. Man. Okay,
so what does Ahmed say about the band? I'm an erdigan.
Loved the band. He was knocked out. I mean, I
mean he really, he really loved the band. I don't
know if you remember around the time the Buffalo Springfield

(01:01:02):
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Uh,
you know, he got up there and there were almost
tears in his eyes that he he was talking about
the time when uh, you know, we we broke up. Basically, Um,
he was he was, he was a good man, and
we really liked domand a lot and Ahmad really uh
he supported the band. Unfortunately, you know, we didn't really

(01:01:24):
stay together long enough to uh he he did help
us though, Uh in in in with for for what
it's worth? Uh the song because he's the one that
actually heard the song. Yeah, I tell you a little
story about that. We the first the first album didn't
really um, it didn't have the sales that they thought

(01:01:45):
and and my opinion is they released the wrong single. Nowadays,
Clancy was too Esoteric to be the first single. I'm
sorry to say that I love the song, but I
think if we would have released do I have to
come right out and say it, I think it had
more accessibility to people at the time. It was a
love song and had a good melody and had a
hook to it, you know. But that's that's regardless of that. Uh.

(01:02:09):
We we had all gathered together at Steven's house and uh,
he wanted to hear songs if we had songs for
the next album, and um, you know, Neil played his
songs and Stephen played his songs, and I played my songs,
and as everybody's kind of packing up at the end
of the day, Uh, the way I remember, Stephen said, well,
I've got another one, for what It's Worth, and that

(01:02:31):
was it, and Alma said, we gotta record that right now,
and so we went back into the We went back
into the studio and recorded for what It's Worth and
it took one of Stephen's songs, baby Don't Scold Me
off of the first album and then re re released
it again with for what It's Worth on it. But
that's how I remember it came about. Okay, so that

(01:02:56):
was about the Sunset Strip riots. You were there, what
was your sensation of what was going on? Well, I
did not see the riots. Steven did, obviously he had
right there at the last Uh yeah, las Cienaga, suns
up Boulevard Laurel Canyon. There was a little triangle there,
there was a there was a club there called Pandora's Box,

(01:03:19):
and um, the police had decided a gathering like that
was a little bit more than what they really wanted,
and so they were trying to shut the place down,
clear out all the traffic. And that's what Stephen was.
He there's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear.
There's a man with a gun over there, and telling

(01:03:39):
us we'd better be aware. And so, I mean, he
it was perfect, you know. I think he wrote the
song just like that. But so, yeah, they wanted to
shut down Pandora's Box, and you know, things were intense
at that time. Um. I remember, uh, you know, being
at the Whiskey sometimes and and I would avoid I
was down at living off of hermosa and and um

(01:04:01):
a fountain at the time, and with with Dickie Davis,
and I remember I would avoid Sunset Strip and go
down a block, you know, to where you could just
down the fountain basically, And I remember that a little
convenience store had been broken into, and I got stopped
by the cops and I remember distinctly man them asking

(01:04:25):
for my I d or They didn't say i'd either.
They said driver's license, and I said, I'm not driving.
That was not the That was not the right thing
to say, because that was not at that particular time
in my life. That was not the right thing to
say because I didn't I know what was going on.
But they want to check me out. And I said, well,
I'm not driving. He said, show me your driver's license

(01:04:48):
right now, because I want to see him. And if
you don't show it to me, I'm gonna knock you
on your You can you can fill in the blanks.
So what did I do. I pulled out my driver's
license man and showed him. But yeah, it was so,
I mean, there was there was some intense things going
on in l A at that time. And and um,
obviously you know, with long hair and hippies and and

(01:05:12):
uh kind of like that, you know, we were, we
were we could have definitely been tagged at the time,
you know, Okay, so you cut for what it's worth.
I'm it said, that's a hit. Tell us about cutting
that track to the degree you remember, it went right
over my head. I mean, when I'm gonna heard it,
the song went right over my head. I said, that's
a nice little folks song. Man. I was into Bluebird
and rock and roll woman and Mr Soul and I was.

(01:05:34):
I was into the rock and roll at the time,
and here we got this little bing bing you know,
something happened. You know. To me, it was a nice
little folks song. But I was wanting to play for
rock and roll, so it basically went over my head.
But Ahmad knew, he knew that there was a hook
in there that uh that that had something, you know,

(01:05:54):
something that he could latch onto. Okay, so what was
it like when they had to begin a huge smash.
There were nine people in and out of Buffalo Springfield
in two years, so you can figure out what was
going on. Even though there was a hit going on.
Neil I I don't think Neil ever really settled into
wanting to be in the band, I really don't. I

(01:06:16):
think he always wanted to be a solo guy. And
that's fine. You know, I don't have any problem with that.
I love Neil to this day, you know, I don't
have a problem with it, and and all. But he
was he was off. He he had been off and
starting to do his own thing. Nick Bruce had been
busted a couple of times and had been deported. So

(01:06:36):
we were having trouble. And here we got this hit record,
and I think we went back to Boston, you know,
and and we were gonna go to New York and
be on the Johnny Carson Show. And Neil never showed
up at the UH at the airport, you know, so
we went back and that was the only time that
I can ever remember we got fired from a gig
in Boston where we played one night with four of

(01:06:56):
us and they said, you guys don't need to come
back tomorrow. Not so um. It was tough. I mean,
it was hard because we did we had a hit record.
We had, I mean, who you couldn't ask for anything
more at that time, and you we had a hit record.
We were on our way, and there was so much
craziness going on, you know, because we just couldn't juggle

(01:07:18):
the band. It was like one step forward and two
steps back. So it was. It was a struggle. So
how did it ultimately break up? I remember appearances without
you know young one night I saw you, you know,
how did everybody say this is the end for me?
As long as Stephen was in the band? I had
in my heart, I said, I'm gonna be in the band.
We were friends from New York. I was gonna be

(01:07:39):
with him. But when Stephen decided, you know, hey, enough
is enough, you know, And it never got down to
enough is enough. I mean he never said that, but basically,
you know, he he was off and and started to
go off to do some other things, and and and
we just knew it it was over. Um, we were
doing beach Boy tours and I mean we were really

(01:08:01):
living the life. It was fun at that time. There
was a lot of stuff that was going on. But again,
we just couldn't keep up with with the with the traction.
Jimmy Messina was now playing bass with us at the time,
and we just couldn't We couldn't keep up with the
uh with with all the changes, and finally, you know, Stephen,
we just knew it was over. And so when it

(01:08:21):
was over, Jimmy and I had become friends and we
had basically said, if ever this falls apart, you know,
why don't we just go ahead and pick it up
and pick up the pieces? Okay, when Steven left, did
you have any idea he was gonna cook up with
Crosby and Mash. I didn't know at that particular time

(01:08:43):
he was doing the Mike Bloomfield Umson Uh, the super sessions, right,
and so I didn't know it at that time. No,
So tell me about the formation of Poco. Well, Uh,
Jimmy and I had decided that we were gonna con
canue on. At this time, Amma had come to him
and asked him to ask Jimmy because Jimmy was an

(01:09:05):
engine and Jimmy's a He's brilliant. I mean he really is.
He's not only a fantastic uh and and uh stylized
guitar player, but he really understands, you know, the technical
aspects of recording. And Ama already gonna come to him
and asked him if he would finish uh last time around.
And that's when everybody was just coming with bits and

(01:09:27):
pieces of songs or not bits and pieces. But here's
the song for you, here's the song for you. Put
him together. I think the only song, I I think
the only song that the that the full band was
on at that time was on the Way Home. I
think I don't I can't remember for sure, but um
so we've we finished that album, but we wanted to
put a steel guitar on a song of mine called

(01:09:48):
kind Woman and a road manager of ours at the time,
because Jimmy and I didn't have a clue who do
I mean, we had names that we could have called.
But a guy named Miles tom m us Uh came
and he said, look, I know the best deal guitar player.
Where his young guy back in Denver, Colorado, and and
he would be great on this song sight Unseen. We

(01:10:11):
got ahold of him, told him to come out. You know,
we got him out to We didn't tell him were
you pay to get We paid his way out to
Colorado and um and and uh he came out Rusty
played on the song. I think when he played on
the song, Jimmy and I kind of looked at each
other and said, there's our guy, you know. And so

(01:10:32):
when he got through with kind Woman, Uh, we started
talking to him about joining the band. And we didn't
have a drummer. We didn't have a bass player. So
he said, I know a drummer. I mean, I've been
playing with this guy back in Colorado and he's a
great drummer, and he's also a really good high he
sings high harmonies. George grant them and so we got

(01:10:55):
George out to Colorado and George joined the band. So
once again here we are with four people, but this
time we got the drummer. We don't have the bass player.
And so Myles Thomas, I think again, was instrumental in
recommending Randy Meisner and um, Timothy B. Schmidt both. Timmy
was in a band named Glad at the time, and

(01:11:17):
I'm trying to think Randy was in a group called
the Poor and um we we auditioned Randy and Timothy
at the same time. I'm not at the same time,
but on the same day from what I remember, and
um it was kind of cool. Um uh you know
when when Randy, uh we we settled on Randy and
I got a letter though from Timothy, which was I

(01:11:38):
just found it in a box of stuff, maybe about
five or six years ago, and Timothy had written he said, man,
I really thank you for the time. I mean, you know,
Timothy and he's just the sweetest guy in the world. Matthy.
You can see this letter, and it's really I just
thank you so much for letting me have the privilege
of of of auditioning for you, and I know you'll

(01:11:59):
may the right choice. And I just want you to
tell you how honored I was to be able to
have this opportunity and all and and then Randy of
course got got the gig. But I framed that little
letter and sent it off to Timothy because I thought
he needed he it should be in his possession more
than mine. But then he turned out to be in
the band. A little bit later on when Randy, you know, decided,

(01:12:20):
you know, for reasons, you know, there's different reasons that
that he had for not uh um, you know, stick
stick with the band. But that's how basically the band
with George and Rusty and Jimmy and myself and Randy
got together. How do you end up on Epic? Well,
that was the first base and only baseball trade of
the music business, because Crosby, Stills and Nash was getting together,

(01:12:42):
Graham was on Epic, I was on Atlantic. Ahmad were
wanted Crosby, Stills and Nash and uh so um. In
order for you know, us to end up on on Epic, uh,
you know, Live Davis had to be willing to give
up and go for Graham Nake. Now, don't don't make

(01:13:04):
me get into this. Who got the best deal? You
know because as as a as success went, you know,
but that's basically what happened. It was a swap. You know.
There wasn't really much to it except to swap. Graham
went over to Atlantic and I went over to the Epic.
I have to ask, do you believe if you'd been
on Atlantic it would have played out differently? I don't know.

(01:13:27):
I can't tell you. Okay, So this is very much
your band. The record comes out, has phenomenal reviews, phenomenal reviews,
and it sells. It's an album era, but there's not
a hit, right And of course at the same time,
Crossby Stills in Nash blow up. What's going through your head?
You know? There was there was disappoint where with our band,

(01:13:50):
obviously because there was still the struggle with Randy who
even when it came you know, before the record came out,
he had decided to leave and I thought, oh man,
we're not gonna do what happened to the band, to
the off of Springfield or the Birds and all this
here we here, we got it happening. So, you know, Bob, honestly,
you know, I can't really say that, uh that there

(01:14:10):
was any I mean I was happy for Stephen and
Graham and David at the time. I really was. I mean,
I didn't think that we were in a competition. You know.
All I knew was what I was doing, and I
was focused in on what I was doing at the time.
I heard the Crosby Stills and Nice record in David's
apartment New York, and I thought, Wow, this is terrific.
I was happy for him, I really was. What was

(01:14:33):
I not happy for my for for Poco? Because yeah,
we were we were we were we like you said,
we had wonderful reviews. We had uh you know, audiences.
I mean we were playing at the Troubadaur I think
at the time, and I mean we're having full houses.
It was great. I mean it was great. You know,
we had everything but the hit record. Okay, Randy leaves

(01:14:55):
and then Jim Leaves. What was going on there? I
guess Jimmy, you know you're gonna have to talk to
jim me about this because to this day, you know,
I think he has issues that you know, I'm not
even aware of, because he even said when I tried
to get him to come when I was when I
was recording uh the new album in the Country, Jimmy's
moved to Nashville, and I wanted him to come, you know,

(01:15:15):
and and there was there were some difficulties. And I'll
be honest with you, man, I love Jimmy, I mean,
I really do. But he he did not even want
to come. I invited him to uh to get on
uh my Heartbeatle Heartbeatle Love record with a Kind Woman
and all that. I wanted Jimmy to sing on the
song or do a song, and and he's not. I'm

(01:15:35):
too busy, you know. But Kenny's on it. Kenny Loggins
is on Kind Woman. And also, um, you know, Jimmy's
Jimmy's issues were. I think he thinks I was too dominearing.
That's what it was. He he thought I was too dominearing,
and you know, who knows, maybe I was. I don't know.
I apologized to him, I did if I was, I

(01:15:56):
apologized to you, I did. I made that apology and
and all. So when Jimmy left, it was it was
kind of hurtful, but at the same time, you know,
auditioning and looking for I think at the time that
he left, we were looking for something a little more
rock and roll than a little cut a little more country.
Jimmy was a little more you. Jimmy was a little

(01:16:17):
more James Burton, who was one of the greatest guitar
players in the world, you know, I mean, James is
absolutely terrific. And Jimmy had that he had that same
he had that same uh stratocaster telecaster. You know, he
was good. But we wanted something a little more electric,
and so we set out. I mean, it wasn't like
the end of the day, you know. And and Jimmy

(01:16:39):
was actually very agreeable. Even when we got Paul Cotton,
Jimmy said, look, I'll go on the road with you
and I'll teach Paul all of all of the parts
that I played. So, I mean, it was it was
all amicable. I think that's the word, right. And and
and Timmy, Timothy had already joined the band. After that.
That was another trip. After you know, Randy quit, I

(01:17:02):
went up to Sacramento where Timothy was playing with his
band and Dickie Davison. I went up and we were
in also, jymnasiing up there where where his group Glad
was playing, and they all knew why I was there,
you know, and asked timmoth Iffy if he was still
up for joining the band, and he said yes, so
he had come down. So we already had, you know,
somebody to replace Randy, but we needed someone to replace

(01:17:24):
uh Jimmy. And so when we we auditioned, uh, we
auditioned Paul, who had been in Illinois speed Press passed
away a little recently. Okay, so you sold Geron, you know. Ultimately, Crosby,
Stills and Nash gets young and they implode. But there's
a million solo albums. Theoretically, Missina is gonna be a producer.
Suddenly he hooks up with Loggins and they have huge hits.

(01:17:48):
What's going through your head? I'm thinking, man, what about me? Literally?
You know, I mean, I'm just as good as these guys.
This is my ego speaking. This isn't really I mean,
this is just my ego speaking to my heart. You know,
you're just you're just a good there? What what about me?
But we couldn't, you know, come up with the hit
record at the time. We couldn't. We couldn't come up

(01:18:08):
at the hit and so I was. I was frustrated
at that point in time. I was, because, yeah, they
had all gone off, Jimmy and Randy and and all
of them going off and haven't hit records, and and
Steven and Neil and on, and it's like, whoa, I'm
left behind here. Things work out the way they work out, though,
you know. I mean I got get over it, you know,
I got over it. But at the time, yeah, it

(01:18:29):
was like I can't deny it, you know, I thought, yeah, man,
what do I mean? To what degree did you feel
the pressure, whether from the company or yourself to make
a hit record? And to what degree did you follow
through on that? Well? I think I tried, and I
wrote a song called good Feeling to Know, and everybody
you know in our little camp thought we had Jack

(01:18:52):
Richardson who we were looking for a producer at the time,
we were looking for a hit record producer. I actually
wanted Richie Poddler at the time because he had done
Three Dog Night and Stepan Wolf and he was all
over the radio and m epic wouldn't. They wouldn't go
for it, And so we started looking for a producer
and we all settled on Jack Richardson, who was doing

(01:19:14):
the guests who at the time, and um, everybody thought,
Good Feeling to Know is the record, And we made
the record. And here we are, man, we're back in
New York playing every s U N why there is
back there, you know. And on the radio, you know,
we're on the way to the gig and I hear
what We're traveling at a road trying to listen to
the load, and it's like, ah, my heart just sunk again,

(01:19:37):
you know, because Good Feeling to Know came out around
the same time, and it was like, oh my gosh,
really and there was another dud. So how did you
end up leaving Poco? Had you already gotten the offer
to join Southern Hillman or had you decided to quit?
How did that all go down? Well? I was frustrated,
There's no doubt about it. And so at one point

(01:19:58):
in time, you know, I got a to David and
and and I, you know, we were we had recorded
a Good Feeling to Know and the whole album. We're
probably doing some work. But all this time it was
going through my mind. You know, it's it's never gonna happen.
For Poco, It's never gonna happen. And so I called
David and I had that conversation with him and said, well, listen,
you know, Chris Hillman is looking for something to do.

(01:20:18):
J D. South is looking for something to do. I mean,
he's writing all these songs for the for the Eagles
and all, and he you know, why why don't we
just put together another Crosby Stills in Nash And I thought, really,
that's all there is to it. You know, I've been
at this for six seven years and I can't get
a I can't get and all I have to do
is join up and we'll put together another Crosby Skills

(01:20:40):
in Nation. You know, Bob all the all the time
in the background. I think there's an awful lot of
business that's going on, you know that. You know, I'm
just doing music. I'm not involved in that, and I
think that was a part of it. But so, you know,
David convinced me that if I got together with the
UM with J D and and Chris, you know, that
we would we would start having to hit records and

(01:21:01):
have the success that they had, and so, you know,
I stuck around long enough for Crazy Eyes and UM
and that album. And then you know, David actually came
down and called the guys off into the back room
and he told him I was leaving. I tell him.
I didn't even tell him I was leaving. Man, it

(01:21:21):
was I think it was a sore spot for a
long long time, you know, but uh um, you know.
And and so then joined up and with Chris and
j D and we started working out. But you know,
there was never the family feeling for like I did
with Poke. There there was even with all the stuff
that went on with Poco, there was a family feeling.

(01:21:42):
I can't explain it, you know, it was it was
really more of a family with with with Chris and
j D, who I loved this day. I mean, Chris
and I worked together. J D came by the studio
when I did in the country, and it was like,
oh my gosh, man, it was so good to see him.
It was I mean, he was a ferent guy. I
don't know what it was, but he was just a
different guy. Man. And not that j D was difficult,

(01:22:06):
but he was a young he was a young guy
on his way man when we were putting this thing together.
But he he had just he had just changed, you know,
a couple of years ago, and we did this record.
It was so good to see him. It was just wonderful. Anyway. Okay,

(01:22:26):
so Southern Helman Furay is not organic. Geffen tells Poco
you're leaving. How does he introduce you to the other
guys and not even start? Well, I knew Chris and
and I knew Actually I can't say I knew j D.
But I knew of j D with Glenn because of
Long Branch Penny was when Glenn used to come over

(01:22:49):
to my house and somebody told me that j that
j D came over to when I was rehearsing Poco
at hundred Laurel Canyon Boulevard, you know, and and uh
and but uh so I think I I think David.
David had the he had the he knew us all,
so he brought us all together. I I don't know.

(01:23:11):
I mean, I knew Chris and uh and all, but
I don't I can't say that I knew j D
at the time. So it was David. Okay, so you're
sit in a room and what do you say, Hi, guys,
we're gonna be another crossby Steals and I don't I
don't remember. All I know is that at that point
in time, we knew we were going to be a band,

(01:23:31):
and we needed to start to find a band, get
some songs together. I think we probably started playing, you know,
different songs. Um. I had a song called Believe Me
and a song called for falling in Love and uh
fly to the Dove I think on on that particular record,
and and I can't remember all the other songs the

(01:23:52):
other guys on the record, but you know, we started
putting them together. We started putting a band together. Chris
brought in uh j D. Chris brought in UH Paul
Harris on keyboard. And actually when he brought in Al Perkins,
I said, no, I don't want this guy. I don't
want Al because you know why because Al Al had

(01:24:13):
a fish sticker on his guitar that said Jesus Lord.
And I said, huh, that guy is gonna stop us
from becoming rock and roll stars. I Al could have
been anything. He could have been a womanizer, a drunk,
a drug addict, he could have been a but he
was a Christian, and I didn't want him in my band,
but Chris went out and he joined the band, and

(01:24:33):
then we got Jimmy Gordon. And I don't know how
we got Jimmy Gordon, but jim I tell you, I
never met a guy that was I mean he okay,
everybody know he was Jack on Hide. I mean when
when when Jimmy was straight man, he was like just
the sweetest, loving, big teddy bear that you would ever
want to meet. And when he was not, he was not,

(01:24:56):
he was like just it was Jack on Hide and
I just my heart goes out. My heart goes out
for him today because it's not you know, obviously not good,
but boy to play with him and uh to have him,
uh you know, I mean it was. It was one
of one of the best rock and roll drummers ever

(01:25:17):
I can remember. I mean, he had three sets of
drums going around town when he was working with us,
putting our our songs together. And we would go to
town sometimes playing and we would go out after after
after a show to a little funky, you know, place
to eat or something. Somebody playing the jukebox and there
was a song Jim played on you know, I mean

(01:25:38):
it was he It was just like he was. He
was on everything you heard at the time. Man, what
a drummer, what a what a rock and roll drummer,
And what a musician to playing the end of of
such things as Layla on the piano. I mean, what
a guy, man. But what a tragic story, Bob, what
a tragic story. It most certainly is. Was this an

(01:25:59):
album recorded as a group or was it more like
the songs were recorded individually and then assembled at the end. No,
we recorded as a group, and Richie Podler was definitely
the right guy at the right time. Man. He and
Bill Cooper, man, they were terrific and I think everybody
loved working with. In fact, is Richie who was an
accomplished um um not a Flamenco but yeah, maybe Flamenco guitar.

(01:26:27):
You was a guitar player, a really accomplished guitar player.
We could not come up for an intro to Falling
in Love, and he brought a you know, the little
talk back and his hey, guys canact him out there
and just give you a guy, let me try something
to see if you like it or not. But it
was a whole band effort that we were doing. But
Richie sat out there there, I turn air turned there

(01:26:49):
and there it was. Man, we had the intro to
the song. Man, Okay, was it your decision to have Richie?
I definitely think it was because I wanted Richie to
produce Poco well years earlier, and I knew that he was.
He knew how to make hit records. Man, nobody made,
I mean, nobody made records like he and Bill made.
I mean they would take at that time at the

(01:27:11):
board and you you could have a word that had
three syllables in the word, and they would take it
from three different tracks, I mean, and put a word
together and you wouldn't even know it when you listen back.
They were great. I loved him. I bought that album.
I love that album, played it incessantly. The album went gold.
So what was going on on the other side of

(01:27:32):
the fence. I was having issues at that time. My
wife was deciding. That was at the time that she
was deciding we're done. So I was that's you know,
everybody thinks that Chris and j D and I didn't
get along. You know, it wasn't at all. It was
I was having personal issues that I had to deal
with in my own life that had nothing to do

(01:27:53):
with Chris or j D. You know, that was when
family stuff started to really happen in my life. Okay,
the second album, it's almost like it didn't even come out.
You said earlier you were kind of checked out. What
can you tell us if anything about the second album? Well,
you know, not a whole lot. It was recorded like
three miles from my home and I wasn't even able

(01:28:17):
to live there. My wife and I were separated. Um,
we had our band up there. I'm trying to think
who was drumming for us at the time, because Paul
was up there hours up there. It says, you know,
I just looked it up Ron Grinnelle. Well, I'm not
familiar with Ron. You're now thank you boy. You're quick man,
you got that damn um. But you know, for for me,

(01:28:40):
I was really distant. Man, I just don't. I don't
remember a lot about that record. I even felt like
the the two songs that I offered were not really
completed songs. Um. It was a very very very dark
time in my life, man. I mean my I you know,

(01:29:01):
it was just a dark time. I was like devastated
that you know, Nancy and I were not you know
C and I I and we were going to break
up and head for divorce and it was it was
it was hard, man, it was really hard. So how
did Southern Hill in Fury ultimately literally died? Well, I
think it was at the end of that record. You know,
I didn't go on tour, and uh, basically it was over.

(01:29:24):
I think, you know, I just told him I can't
do it. And that's when, you know, I mean, I
put the focus on family and all of it, trying
to get my wife back together, and you know, we
we were separated. I you know, again, it was at
that time. I remember um uh you know, being uh

(01:29:44):
lost in l A at the time, you know, living
with uh, living with people down in Coasta, Mesa, John
Mayler and Tom Stipe and and uh and up with
Al Perkins. It was during that whole time, that whole
transition was just really taken taking part. And I had
no interest in I had no interest in a band
at all. Okay, how did you meet your wife at

(01:30:07):
the whiskey to go go? We're in your tenure? What
were you doing when you were at the whiskey? Well,
we were playing no, I mean, was it Buffalo Springfield?
What was it. No, it was Buffalo Springfield and a
friend of um uh, well, her boyfriend. Uh he was
actually in a band I think called Leaves the Leaves.

(01:30:28):
His name was Bill Reinhardt, and he said, you gotta
hear this band at the Whiskey. They're a great band.
And so she came down. Listen if you know anything
about my wife today. Even then, I looked back on
it and I think, oh my gosh, man, this is
so the Whiskey A go go is so. I mean,
that scene was so out of character for Nancy. How

(01:30:49):
she ever met Bill, I I don't even know. But anyway,
she would stand right at the foot of the stage
and I can remember singing sit down and I think
love you, you know to her, you know. And another
friend of mine and who was actually Val Gray's pardner today.
His name's Michael Miller. Um uh. Michael was was a

(01:31:13):
friend of mine and a friend of the groups, and
he was really instrumental in helping you know, me get
to know or introduced it, introduced me to Nancy. And uh,
I remember when I finally got it together. You know
that that I'm that I'll see you tomorrow night, you know,
she said, no, I'm on my way to Hawaii with
my friend and was like, oh, no, you know. But

(01:31:36):
when she got over there and she she found out
you know that, um, because Dickie was actually dating the
friend that she went to uh to Hawaii with. And
when when she found out that I actually wanted to
start dating her, she actually left and came back, um,
back to California and uh and we started dating. How
many times did you come to the whiskey? I don't know,

(01:31:57):
it's more than once. It wasn't a one time deal. No,
you would come and and then she she would come
back because I would remember she had a friend and
her name was Nancy too, and they both stood right
at the front of the of the stage, you know,
and it's like I wore glasses, you know, and I
have my glasses on. I look around which one, you know,
and I decided, you know, I like this one better.

(01:32:18):
And I was right. So how did you get rid
of the old boyfriend? They broke up. I don't know
how they broke up, but they broke up. And so
once you started dating, it was pretty much clear sailing
onto marriage from there. Well, you know that there was
there was moments, I know, Buffalo Springfield was working at
the time, and um, you know, we were actually doing

(01:32:38):
some some of those gigs where there's three or four
bands on a on a on a show, and The
Turtles was on one show that we did at Redondo Beach,
and I had I didn't have a place to stay anymore.
And I remember Mark Vollman, you know, he said, hey,
come on man, Stad was right around Happy Together time.
He said, come on my house. Man, no problem, man,
you can got a room. But done a done this

(01:33:00):
and the other, and so did Dad and Nancy and
I actually stayed up there for a while and and
I thought, man, I had lost her at one point
in time because she and her she had a roommate
that they lived right around the corner at a little
school right on Lookout. And I remember they lived in
a little apartment. Man, I hope I'm not wandering too much. Man,

(01:33:23):
know this is great, Keep going, keep going. Okay, Well,
they had a little apartment, and I know that her roommate,
they both had. Nancy had a red Volkswagen and her
and her her her roommate had a green Volkswagen. And
I decided, you know, I'm gonna put some flowers on
my on my girl's car, you know. And little did
I know that her roommate had literally broken up with

(01:33:47):
her boyfriend at the time. So I sneak over early
in the morning, and I'm color blind or basically color weak,
and so guess what I put the I put the
flowers on the wrong color car. Man, and I found
him laying in the in the in the in the
road man run over and I thought, oh, no, man,
I have lost my I've lost my opportunity with my girl,

(01:34:09):
you know. And so that was a nightmare. I don't know, man,
it was crazy. But anyway, we got back together, Nancy
and I we started we started dating for real, and
I think we only knew each other maybe, I don't know,
six months before we actually said I do. And we
said I do and and um, it was really close
to a night we were doing some television show I

(01:34:32):
can't remember. I don't think it was Smothers Brothers, but
it was. It was one of the shows that Buffalo
Springfield did. I can't remember which one, but m yeah,
I mean, we we got married and the next night, man,
I do a television show and it was like, I mean,
it was like NonStop from there, you know. And what
was Nancy doing for work when you met her? She
worked a little club on not a club, a little

(01:34:54):
address shop on La Sienega Lasi Angego Boulevard called a
hole in the wall. And she was she was working
at that, at that club down that, that little dress
shop down there. And how did you end up living
in Colorado? Well, it was during the Poco days, and
it was that time, and think things were nuts. She

(01:35:16):
read something in the paper one time that a child
born in l A at the time would develop emphysema
by the time she was two years old, you know.
And so we decided that it was time to make
the move. And Rusty and and and George were from Colorado.

(01:35:37):
But interestingly enough, we also were looking at and don't
ask me how this happened, we were looking at San Francisco.
That was like going from the from the fire, from
the frying pan into the fire. I can remember going
up and telling George, now, George, we're gonna move to Colorado.
He's on a ladder painting, and I think he dropped
his paint brush. At the time, he had already rented

(01:35:57):
a place up there, you know. But so that's how
we we ended up in Colorado though we uh just decided,
you know, we're gonna make the move to Colorado. Nancy
and I came back here and found a place. You know,
Rusty was able to find a place, Paul and Timothy
found a place, and George finally found a place. But
it was because of it was because of that little
article that Nancy had read that said a child would

(01:36:21):
develop emphysema. You know by the time they were like
two years old, had they had. We stayed in l
A with all the smog and all that at the time,
and so we we decided that we're out of here,
we're moving. We're gonna find another place to go, and
ended up in Uh, we ended up in Colorado, and
I'm the only guy that lasted Okay, and you're still
alive unlike some of them. Man. Oh yeah, so maybe

(01:36:42):
that article was right. But in any event, you have
this marriage crisis, you sort of remove yourself from the
everyday music business. You have this gold record, the first
Southern Hillman Furay band. But then Timothy B. Schmidt goes
to the Eagles and Poco Chain just labels and starts
having hits. But at that time, I was so wrapped

(01:37:06):
up in what I was doing. I mean, not that
you know, Timothy going to the Eagles Man that was
that was a that was a fine thing, you know,
But Poco having hits, and and you know, Rusty never
failed to mention, you know, we didn't have any hits
as long as Ritchie was in the band. As as
he left the band, we start having hits, you know,
and so he never he never failed to rub it in.
But uh, I I really believe, Bob, in my heart

(01:37:29):
of hearts, we had hits, you know, I really do.
I believe good feeling, you know, it should have been
a should have been a hit. I believe that Paul
Cotton had some songs, you know that could have been hits.
I believe that a song called Just for Me and
You on our second uh uh well, uh the Steve
Cropper record, I believe that that was a hit, you know,
Besid mean, I believe we had hits. I just don't

(01:37:51):
think they ever never materialized. But that's the way it
happens in the business. Looking back from this great distance,
any regrets, any feeling like you know, you got screwed,
any issues of legacy, what's your perspective here, almost sixty
years off. I wouldn't change the thing. I wouldn't change

(01:38:12):
the thing. I've got a I've got a wife of
fifty five years, i got four daughters, I got three
great son in laws, I got thirteen grandkids. What what more?
I mean? And I'm still making music at this age. Man,
I can't even believe it. You know, the Lord has
allow me to make music. And I've got great friends,
you know, working with me and and I. The record

(01:38:33):
that I made with Val is just I mean, I
love it, man, I was. I can't even believe I
can still see myself standing the only thing I just
I don't like it. I was just taking three years
to get it out because of this COVID COVID deal,
you know, and and but I can still my see
myself standing in that in that vocal booth, looking over
seeing Victor and Drizzio and looking over here and seeing

(01:38:56):
Glenn Wharf, and seeing Dan Doug Moore, my good friend,
and Chris losing your and uh and then meeting Tom
Bucavic and Steve um um oh or give me Steve's name, man,
I don't know, like uh oh, I can't remember the keyboard. Oh,
this is terrible. I can't remember. I gotta I gotta
have Steve's name. Can you find? Can you get the album? Find?

(01:39:19):
I gotta find because we were cutting. Um uh is
it open? Can I can you open it? I'm sorry, Dan, um,
we we were cutting. I hope you dance and he
came back and you know I played on the original
of that. I love it. Man, Oh man, I know
Steve's name. I go, oh man, I'm terrible. I'm getting old,
but I can just see it, you know, man, going

(01:39:40):
down that wreck. This record is I don't even know.
The record business has changed so much. I don't know
what it means. But the record to me is a
most satisfying record. Um. I mean it's it's really great
to find Steve's name, Steve Nathan, Steve Nathan. Yeah. Now,
the business is riddle with musicians who have no money

(01:40:03):
and broke and terrible stories. You have a good story,
but how you're doing financially and do you ever get
any royalties? What's going on there? You know? Somehow I'll
know that they keep coming in and I'm thankful when
they do. Not great. I never had a hit record,
had I had to hit record, you know it'd be
would be even bigger. But you know, a little piece
of for what it's worth has helped me out along

(01:40:25):
the way. And you know, Nancy and I were frugal,
you know, we don't we don't overspend, but you know what,
we're able to do what we want to do when
we want to do it, and things been. It's it's
been good, you know. I mean, I'm not a I
don't have three houses and an airplane park someplace and
this not in the other. But you know what I got,
I got all I need. Man, that's fantastic. You've been fantastic, Richie.

(01:40:48):
I could listen to tell these stories all day long.
I think we got the general overview, so I think
we're gonna draw close to it in this chap All right, man, excellent,
that's a great storyteller. The personality not even know why
you have such success. That's Richard Furay. Until next time.
This is Bob left side,