We Were the Dreamers

Album: Hand in Hand (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • Poco was formed by Richie Furay with Jim Messina and Rusty Young following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968. This autobiographical track is about the pioneering country-rock band. "It's the story of Poco," Furay explained to Billboard magazine. "Not that I sit around and dwell about Poco, but the lyrics began to tell that story and I just went with it. It was one of those natural things that just had a flow to it, and the (music) reminded me of what we were trying to do back in 1969."

    "We wanted to bridge that gap between country music and rock 'n' roll music," he continued. "The Byrds were doing it. The (Flying) Burrito Brothers were doing it. And Poco was certainly instrumental in creating that country-rock sound in southern California. So there was the song."
  • Furay notes in the song's last verse that he still hears plenty of Poco influence in today's country music. "It seems to me that what Nashville is doing today, at least a lot of the time, is very similar to what we were creating back then," he commented. "We were plowing some ground back then. As the songs says, we were pioneers. Somebody has to break that ground. There were people who got it on the Nashville side, Waylon Jennings and folks like that, but there were a lot of other people that definitely wanted to keep you at arm's length. So it feels cool that was part of my legacy, to pioneer the ground for the acceptance there."

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