Richie Furay - Buffalo Springfield & Poco

Richie Furay of Buffalo Springfield and Poco, rock ‘n roll hall of fame inductee discusses his career as a country-rock pioneer, songwriter and the importance of family and religion.

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Welcome back to What's at Risk.I'm Mike Christian stopped. Hey, what's
that? What's going okay? We'refortunate to be here with Richie Fure,
a pioneer of country rock movement,and he's a founding member of Buffalo Springfield
Poco and a Rock and Roll Hallof Fame and inductee. Richie, thank

(00:28):
you so much for being with us. We're really honored to have you.
Mike my pleasure. Thank you.So you're noted for being a pioneer in
country rock. When did you firstdiscover your talent and love for music and
who were your early influences. Iasked my parents for a guitar when I
was eight years old for Christmas,and you know, they ended up getting
me one. It wasn't exactly whatI was hoping for or wanting as an

(00:51):
eight year old little kid, buteverything worked out, worked out finding and
you know, my dad, heloved music. There wasn't really much of
a music influence in my house,but he loved music. He loved I
loved listen to the radio. Andif if we're going to go back to
the to the country, country rocktype music, it would have to be
people like Buddy Holly and and CarlPerkins and Ricky Nelson. I mean,

(01:18):
I kinda I got to tell youRicky Nelson watching him on the Ozzy and
Harriet Show was just It's like Isaid, if he can do that,
I'm going to do that, youknow, not knowing that he was in
a big music or a pediatrical familyand all that. But so you had
you had an attraction to what wouldbecome country rock, even even when you
first got into music. Then itsounds like, yeah, it was pretty

(01:38):
much the rockabilly stuff, you know. I mean, I really like that
kind of stuff. Gene Vincent,there's another one. How did you end
up in southern California in the inthe sixties? You were in I think
New York before that, and maybeyou're did I see that? Yep?
I went I went to I wentto Ohio with an a cappella choir tour

(01:59):
from college and talked to my twobuddies that were in the same choir to
go back in the summertime. Wethought we were gonna, you know,
be folk music guys and folk musicit actually it was really slowing down at
that time, but we managed todo an off Broadway Play, which was
off off Broadway in two weeks,and we did a record for Roulette Records,

(02:22):
and a supper club tour of Texasand a Rudy Valley on Broadway Tonight
TV show, all in about asix month period of time. Before I
actually went to New York, Imet Stephen Stills. He was in the
same little band when that band brokeup. Steven's the one that went off
to Los Angeles, and I wentup to work at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft
and he started for Connecticut. Mycousin he was an executive up there,

(02:45):
and I needed some money and neededto eat, so I asked him for
a job. I was also datinga girl, sister of one of the
girls that was in the band TheGo Go Singers at the time, so
it all seemed like a good thingto do until Graham Parsons actually brought the
Birds first record up to me andsaid, Hey, you got to hear
this record. He lived across thestreet from me in New York, and

(03:06):
he brought their first record up andsaid, you got to hear this record.
When I heard it, then Ireached out to Stephen through his dad
and went out to California and therewe were. Oh, that's awesome.
I didn't realize you knew Graham Parsons. That's an interesting story. Ray lived
across the street from me on ThompsonStreet. I lived on one side and
he lived on the other side,and we were we became friends back in

(03:29):
New York City. Yeah, Ilove the Flying Burrito Brothers, amongst other
things that he did. He wasa son little guy. Also, Yeah,
you were a founding member of BuffaloSpringfield. And I know this is
a story you probably told a milliontimes, but it was a pretty interesting
story about how you guys all gottogether, you and Neil and Steven sort
of randomly on I think on SunsetBoulevard or something maybe if you don't mind

(03:49):
telling that one. Yeah, ifyou would have tried to write the story,
it would have never happened. That'sall I can say. You know,
Stephen actually met Neil when the groupbroke up. When I went up
to Connecticut to work and he wentoff to California. He met Neil traveling
across Canada and told him, youknow that, Hey, come on down
to New York sometime. We hadan apartment down there that we were all

(04:10):
still kind of keeping and Neil happenedto come down one of the times that
I had come back down to NewYork. I think I was probably doing
auditions and things at the time,and so he stayed at one seventy one
Thompson Street with me and played mesome songs in this so we got to
meet Stephen. Of course, methim, and then traveled on to California.
And at one point in time afterI got in touch with Steven and

(04:32):
went up to California, Neil andBruce Palmer had had left Canada and we're
on their way down to actually tosee Stephen, to find him. And
now this was well beyond cell phonesand computers, well beyond you know,
that wouldn't happen at the time.And I think Neil had been there maybe
two weeks anyway, and Steven andI didn't get around much. We didn't

(04:55):
have much money to get around,we didn't have a car, so he
couldn't find us. And interestingly enough, I don't know where we were what
we were doing, but we hadgone down Sunset Boulevard with a friend of
ours, Barry Friedman, and Neiland Bruce were actually leaving Los Angeles.
They were. They were on SunsetBoulevard heading to the four h five to

(05:16):
head to San Francisco, and Stevenand I and Barry were all coming back
going the other way on Sunset Boulevardand we got stuck in traffic right in
front of Ben Frank's restaurant, whichis I can't remember the side street right
now, but we saw this hearsethat Neil was driving. He had a
fifty three I think Pontiac hears andit's crazy man, And we pulled off

(05:38):
into that into the parking lot thereof Ben Franks, And that was basically
the beginning of the band. Boytalk about something that was meant to be
Jeez, there's just no way toreally get around it. It Actually,
there's no way you could write thatstory that script. Yeah, that's amazing.
And then when you when you guysgot together, were you just bringing
all your own songs into band?I know, maybe Steven wrote many of

(06:01):
the songs on the first album,but then it seemed like a pretty collaborative
effort. You sang some of Neil'ssongs. And how did it all evolve
When I went out to California,when I got in touch with Steve.
He said, hey, come onout, I have a band together.
All I need is another singer.And when I got out there, there
was no band. It was justme and Steven. And so what we
did, Mike was we sat inthis little apartment that we had at the

(06:23):
time, and we learned all ofI learned all of those songs as Steven
had written that were on the firstBuffalo Springfield record. And it was really
a valuable time. Although at thetime it was like chaotic, you know,
I said, what in the worldhave I done? Well, I've
come out here and nothing's happening,and Mike guns, what have I done?
Had a good job? And bda da da da dah. But

(06:44):
it was all valuable time because Stephenand I learned how to to sing in
unison together, we learned how toharmonize together, we learned how to phrase,
and so it really became a reallyvaluable time. And then when Neo
join the band, you know,there's all kinds of different stories as to
why he didn't sing his songs,you know, but everybody said that,

(07:06):
you know when I joined the bandthat you know, well, I was
like the really the singer that theywere looking for. And so Nel had
some songs and I ended up singing, you know, through his songs on
the first album and a couple ofhis songs later on down the line.
But I mean, Steven and Neilwere definitely the more prolific, prolific writers.
I really didn't start writing, althoughI did have songs available, but

(07:29):
I really didn't start writing until SadMemory. I recorded Sad Memory on the
second Buffalo Springfield record. But weshared as much as we as we could
with Steven and Neil were definitely themore prolific writers. Right, Well,
you caught up I think over time. Well, thank you. So what
was it like? I grew upin southern California, so I was I
was there during that period of time, although I was younger, probably a

(07:53):
little younger, but I know youplayed at the Whiskey of Go Go and
a lot of dynamic places to playin southern California. What was it like?
I mean, just on a personallevel, it was an exciting time
and as it's proven to be overthe years, I think it was one
of the best times to be makingmusic period. But uh, you know,
there was a lot of friendships.I didn't notice a lot of competition.
You know, there may be competitionswithin a band, but I didn't

(08:16):
notice a bunch of competition between bandsor whatever. And there was just a
lot of you know, the LaurelCanyon scene. You know, people were
hanging out and coming and visiting peopleand going to other people's houses and and
and it was it was truly,it was truly an exciting Uh, it
was an exciting time. You know. There we were, you know,
we're doing what we thought we wantedto do, playing music, making a

(08:39):
little bit of money on the side, but you know, it was still
just a real exciting time to bemaking music. Yeah, that's awesome.
And did you guys think of yourselvesas an iconic You probably didn't think of
yourselves as an iconic band at thatpoint in time, right, which not
at that time, you know,I mean when we started the Whiskey Go
Go, there was really no Imean, nobody really knew who we were.
But we were like the house bandfor six weeks. And after that

(09:03):
six week period of time, andthey were lined up around the block to
come and hear us play. Fastforward a couple of years after, you
know, Buffalo Springfield really only lastedtwo or three years, right, which
is amazing for the years and theinfluence, Yeah, it is amazing influence.
What inspired you to start pocode?Was it right after Buffalo Springfield or
did you wait a little while?Well, it was you know, I

(09:24):
said, as long as Steven wasin the band, I would be in
the band, because I really feelit was his band and had we had
a strong friendship, and you knowthe history of Neil in and out of
the band, in and out andin and out, and I just really
feel that that Stephen was he wasthe heart and soul of the band,
and as long as he was there, I'd be in the band as well.
You know, there were nine peoplein and out of the Springfield in

(09:46):
that two year period of time,four extra people after the original five,
and Jimmy Massina and I just becamepretty good friends. He was the last
bass player we had, and Jimmyand I had made a good you know,
it was a good connection and webecame friends, and you know,
we kind of talked, you know, knowing, hey, look this isn't
the way this thing's going down.It's not going to be going on much
longer. And we were on abeach, boy tour, and Jimmy and

(10:09):
I just started talking about, youknow, hey, if something happens,
you know, let's just start anotherband, but let's kind of give it
this country edge. Let's kind ofyou know, see if we can fit
country music and rock and roll musicand bridge the gap. Yeah, so
you had that vision right from theoutset then, because basically, yeah,
you know, I mean, wellwith Kind Women and Child's Claim to Fame
and those two songs had a lotof country influence on them. And so

(10:31):
those were the songs that were kindof like that I was writing at the
time, and Jimmy had a lotof country influence too, So we just
it was calculated owned it only tothe point that we were going to continue
on. We wanted to kind ofhave a country you know, kind of
cross country and rock, and otherthan that, you know, it was
just music that we wrote. Yeah, that's awesome. And did you did

(10:52):
you have Rusty Young, the pellsteel player in the initial band in the
original band, He was in theoriginal band, but that was only after
he was invited out to play steelguitar on Kind Woman. And so we
invited Rusty out to record a steelguitar part. We were looking for a
steel guitar player, and one ofour road managers said, hey, man,

(11:13):
I know the best still guitar playerin the world. He lives back
in Denver, though, and soside unseen, you know, we we
brought Rusty out in a minute,Jimmy and I heard him. You know,
we were definitely this is the guy. And so from the beginning,
yes, Rusty was there, andhe suggested that we use his drummer,
who was in a band back herein Denver, in the Denver area,
in a band called Densey Creek,and he he suggested we used George Grantham,

(11:37):
and so, you know, theband was pretty much getting together.
We just needed a bass player.And interestingly enough, you know, we
auditioned both Randy Meisner and Timothy B. Schmidt for the job, and Randy
actually got it, and then youknow, there were some issues that he
didn't feel comfortable with and he leftthe band, and that's when Timothy joined

(11:58):
the band playing bass. And Pocowas a pipeline right up to the Eagles,
right we kind of furnished them theirbass players. Speaking of the Eagles,
Glenn Fry once said, if itwasn't for you, you Richie Fire,
we wouldn't be here, I think. And I also think Paul McCartney
said something about Poco being very influentialin seventies wings songs and music. That's

(12:22):
high praise. You know. Ijust heard that about Paul McCartney. I
haven't really seen the exact quote orwhatever that he did say, but I
mean, good inness sakes, ifsomeone like that did make mention of Poco,
that would be a very touching commentthat they made. When I was
rehearsing Poco, Glenn used to comeover and sit on my living room floor

(12:46):
while we were rehearsing, so hedid mention, you know, mentioned me
a couple of times that I knowof in concert. And we just went
to see the Eagles about two weeksago down here in Denver, and it
was really amazing. I mean,Don actually got up and I mean he
basically he gave a speech. Imean it wasn't like a ten minute or

(13:07):
ten second little well yeah and anyaudiences, but no, he made it
real. I mean it was veryhumbling. And I sat there and I'm
listening to it, and I said, I can't believe that he's actually,
you know, saying his words andthen Timothy, you know, he says,
well, don stole all my thunder. I don't have anything much else
to say, you know, exceptso all the three of those guys,
Timothy and Don and glennall have mentioned, you know, the fact that I

(13:31):
and Poco did have influence on theirband. Yeah, for sure. And
I think Poco was more influential.And this is just my personal opinion,
but a lot of people have echoedit more influential than probably their commercial success
might indicate. Well, no doubtabout it, Mike. We were definitely
the pioneers, and sometimes the pioneersdon't get the recognition that those that follow

(13:54):
after. I mean, I wrotethat in a song like we were the
Dreamers, you know, and said, hey, you know, others have
gone on and they've they've had theirday in the sun, but you know,
we just keep pressing on, youknow, speaking of that song we
were the Dreamers, which which I'veheard many times, and I think of
it now, and I think aboutthe sixties, and I grew up maybe
a little younger than you, butI grew up in the sixties and early
seventies, and think about the timethat it was a time of hope and

(14:18):
a time of dreaming and a timeof thinking about making the world a better
place. And it didn't necessarily workout that way. You know, if
you look at the world today,we're living in a very fragile time.
What are your thoughts about that?Having been there at that very optimistic time
when music was so influential, andthen you know, fast forward to you
know now, where it's just it'sa tough time. I really wanted to

(14:41):
make Poco be a band that allowedpeople to step away from the crisises that
were going on in the world atthe time, and and you know,
just step into a concert for anhour and a half, two hours however
long it was, and kind ofstep away from from what things maybe bothering

(15:03):
them or affecting their lives at thetime. Whether we actually accomplished that or
not, I don't know, butthat was one of the thoughts that I
really wanted to have. And yeah, today, my goodness, we are
walking a tight rope here today.It's a it's a it's a tight wire.
I'm sure that's the stuff going on. Man, it's heartsreaking to see

(15:24):
how how this world is. Youknow. I wrote a song called America
America. It hasn't been released ona record. I don't know if you've
heard that song or not, butit just talks about how the world has
just turned upside down, and Iactually bring a little bit of my relationship
with Jesus into it, you know, and talking about you know, when
you take your eyes off God,there's not much else to turn to man
when you you know, see allthis stuff going on. But anyway,

(15:48):
it's a It is a crazy worldthat we're living in right now. There's
no doubt about it. It isfor sure. Now, you took a
little bit of a detour from yourmusic career and became a minister. What
prompted that? And how did thatimpact the way that you look at the
music that you play? And didit did you incorporate spiritual sort of influences

(16:10):
into the music after that? Ialways look at music as spiritual anyway,
but on some levels. But howhow what are your feelings about that?
Well, even before I became abeliever, I I you can go back
and see different quotes and so,hey, we'll all be gone home soon,
you know. I mean, nowyou can take that any which way
you want to take it, youknow, But I think of home,
you know, as being home withthe Lord or whatever. Al Perkins is

(16:33):
the one that actually had the biggestinfluence on me. My life was going
through a crisis during during s HF, and Nancy and I had been married
for seven years and we were wewere on the verge of separation and divorce
and all that, and and Alintroduced me to some people down in Costa
Mesa, a place called Calvary Chapel, and so he led me to the

(16:56):
Lord and took me down there,and I started making music there. And
I kind of stopped making music foralmost almost ten years, and finally,
you know, it got to beyou know where it was just I was
going out and maybe doing some justsome solo acoustic folk type things with with
some of the pastors that were downthere at Calvert Chapel. And one thing

(17:18):
led to another, and the nextthing I know, I've got a group
of guys playing music with me again, you know, Mike and and and
the songs that I write. AndI understand what you say about being spiritual.
You know, songs are spiritual becauseI think every song kind of does
have that depth to it. Somewherealong the line, you know there's something
something down there. And and butI mean, I think there are the
specific songs in there, and thesongs that you can just kind of you

(17:41):
can read into them what you wantto read into them. And so I
write, I've written both kinds.You know, I've done two, actually
three what I would call devotional CDs. But even on my even on the
other secular projects that I've done,you know, you can you can certainly
hear, you know, the spiritualinfluence that the Lord's had on me.
He saved our marriage. We've beenmarried for fifty six years now, and

(18:03):
so a lot's happened since that sevenyear crisis way back when. Yeah,
congratulations, that's a that's a greatAnd I know you're I know you're you've
got four daughters or you've got severalchildren, right, and grandchildren, and
one of them, one of themsings with you, right, I saw,
Yeah, golly, it's so neathaving Jesse go out with me.

(18:26):
And and and I've often just thoughtabout doing music today at my age,
and at this day and age,it really wouldn't I don't think I could
be doing it if she wasn't goingout with me. You know. It
just really is very special. Wesing. I mean, people are always
commenting on our vocals together and harmoniestogether. We actually did our record project

(18:48):
with her several years ago when shewas kind of like trying to figure out
whether she wanted to go into themusic or whether she was going to have
a family. And the next thingyou know, she's we're having our or
she's having our first dog her andso that kind of changed the direction.
But you know, she goes outwith me still to this day, and
I think she gets her satisfaction fromas far as wanting to have maybe made

(19:10):
a career or something. She getsthat out of that just going back and
going playing with me, and andI sure love having her out there with
me. Yeah, well that's great. And she does have a beautiful voice.
I have seen her, And there'sworse people to be singing backup for
than Rich if you're dad, SoI don't even look at her as a
backup singer, and I try togive her as much opportunity. You notice

(19:32):
sing a few of her songs fromher record that she made as ever years
ago. And so it's it's allgood, but we have we have a
good time. But she's a realblessing to have her with me. Let's
talk about the Troubadour for a second. You know, I told you I
grew up in southern California and Iwent to the Truth Door a lot.
It was like the you know,the just the place to go, and
it wasn't the iconic place that itnow has become in retro you know,

(19:53):
retrospectively as people look back and said, that was a golden age of music,
country and rock and folk and everythingthing else that you played there.
In fact, I saw Polko therea long long time ago, but you
played there more recently, sort ofredoing your iconic live album. Isn't that
correct? Yeah, that is correct. I think it was twenty eighteen.
We went in and we recreated theDelivering album that actually was recorded in New

(20:17):
York and Boston, but we recreatedit. It was something that I really
I didn't know that we could actuallydo it. And then when I looked
at the set list, we wereplaying at one point or another, all
of the songs that were that hadbeen recorded in Delivering except for about you
know, two or three I thinkthree songs at the most, you know,
And so we started looking it overand lo and behold man, we

(20:42):
were able to make that project work, and so we went recorded it live
and we released it in twenty eighteen. Yeah, that's great. Did you
feel the old vibe there and theenergy of the Tributary? Oh, of
course, you know. I meanthat is one iconic place, and when
you walked into it, it isreally it's a It's a special place,
there's no doubt about it. Soit was really a lot of fun.

(21:03):
I think all the people in myGoodness, you know, the Troubadour that
I do remember though, had hadtables and and all right up right up
to the stage. And when weactually did the the re recording of Delivered,
there were no seats or tables inthere at all, and the place
was just jam packed. It wasgreat. I haven't been there in decades.
When you do walk into those placeslike the Whiskey you go go and

(21:26):
the Tribute door, they are alot smaller than you think when you were
there in the tie in the moment, you know, that's probably right.
I was at the Riemann a fewweeks ago for the very first time,
and that's the cathedral of country music. Of course I played there, but
that's a that's an awe inspiring place. Also, absolutely, Now there's a
documentary being made about your life andyour career right now. Through it all

(21:48):
the life and influence of Richie Fierre. You want to tell the listeners a
little bit about that, Well,this was the idea that David Stone and
Denny Klein had and that they wantedto tell my story. They thought my
story was worth documenting, and theyhave just been terrific about getting different interviews.
It's gonna be a little different thana lot of documentaries that come out.

(22:11):
I mean, it's gonna a lotof people just talking about their relationship
with me. It's pretty amazing.We've got Cameron Crowe who has done the
trailer. I was Cameron's first interviewway back when before he ever got almost
started, and it was so strangeon my social media page. I don't

(22:32):
know what the what the post was, but I looked down and see who
commented on this particular thing, andthere was Cameron Crowe. And I'm thinking,
no, no, this is thisis not Cameron. So I went
behind the scenes and I sent hima note and I said, hey,
if this is you, it's prettyamazing. I'm coming to California. I'm
going to be doing a show withmy friend Timothy, Timothy B. Schmid

(22:56):
at the Sabon Theater. And ifit's you, I want you to come.
And he me right back and saidit's me and I'll be there.
And we struck up a forty yearrelationship that had had that big gap while
he was making a lot of moviesAlmost Samous as a classic movie, one
of my favorite movies. And Iused to read his story. I had
Rolling Stone and read his stories allthe time. And that's great. He's
a great guy to have. Yeah, that's wonderful. We've been working on

(23:19):
this since before COVID, obviously,and COVID's COVID kind of shut the thing
down for a while. But it'sgetting into its final stages right now.
They've tell you, between David andDenny, they've got some tremendous interviews with
people, some that I've some thatI've worked with, and some just acquaintances
and all. And and it's Ithink it's I hope I'm around to see

(23:41):
it. I'm sure you will be. I'm sure you will be. It
will be a great legacy for you, though. Ritchie and Denny has told
me about it. Folks out therecan can actually go to your website and
maybe even donate to that film,right because you're still you're still raising a
little bit of money. And sowhat's the website, Richie? I think,
well, the website is Richie Furaydot com. It's R I C

(24:03):
H I E F you R AY dot com and you know, the
information is all there that they cananyone that would like to be a part
of it. It's been pretty interesting, you know, some of the things
that we've had to I've had towrite, had to write a song for
somebody for it, and we've donea couple just came back from San Diego
last week from doing a house concertout there. So a lot of different

(24:27):
ways for people to get involved andbe a part of it. And it's
just I hope it gets out herepretty soon. I know David and Denny
wanted to get out as well prettysoon. But perfect there's a perfect timing
for everything, and so it'll comeout when it's supposed to. Yeah,
that's a good way of looking atwhat. I wish you all the best
with that. And I know you'replaying Speaking of concerts, you are playing

(24:48):
up in the Northeast here in thenext week, right and be in Connecticut,
Rhode Island and up in Natick,Massachusetts. Yep. So it's for
the listeners out there. I thinkit's on October twenty six, twenty seventh.
Excuse me, the Center for Artsin Natick, Ritchie Fiery and band.
You have a band, are you? Actually it's going to be just
Jesse and Dan and myself. We'regonna it's gonna be a very intimate you

(25:10):
know, singing the songs and doingthe harmonies and telling some stories and so
it won't be a big rock androll concert, but it'll be it'll be
more intimate. And I like doingthese sometimes these are these are really special
to do. I think we cancommunicate because sometimes I'll just get into a
dialogue with the audience, you know, and it's really cool. Well,
Riggie, listen. I so appreciateyou doing this. It was really nice
of you do to agree to dothis. Anything. What's next for you?

(25:34):
What are you thinking about? Youknow, I'm slowing down, there's
no doubt about it. You know, I'll be eighty here in a few
months. And as much as Ilike to play in as much as I
like to get out and see folksand all. There's there's a time when
you just got to realize, Hey, it's you've done it. Now.
You got to let maybe around thetime the documentary comes out, it'll have
to be the legacy, you know, that's it. Yeah, you still

(25:56):
like playing, though, don't you? Oh? I do, I really,
i'd really you like playing. Ilike seeing the audience, like talking
to the people you know beforehand andafter, and it is a special part.
But there's a lot of demand onit and right now, economically,
you know, it's hard to geta full band at the level that I
can play, you know, togo out and take a full band.
Because I got some guys in SanDiego that played at the House concert with

(26:19):
me last week, and they've playedvarious shows with me about I've taken them
back to the East Coast. Ijust because I just love them so much.
They're just really really great players.But it's just it's just kind of
difficult. That's why Jesse and Danand I will just be the ones doing
it this time. Yeah, wellthat's great. Well, I hope you
can keep playing as long as youwant. And I really appreciate we've been
talking to Richie Fire. Just aniconic name in the music industry and so

(26:42):
much appreciate you spending some time withus. Richie, Thanks, Mike really
appreciate it. Man. Look forwardto seeing you again sometimes stop. What's
that? What's Going? A bigthank you to our producer Ken Carber of
Chart Productions. What's on your Mind? Send us your thoughts, comments and

(27:06):
questions to What's at Risk at gmaildot com. That's one word, What's
at Risk at gmail dot com.Thank you,