George Grantham (born January 20, 1947 in Cordell, Oklahoma) is an American drummer and vocalist best known for his work with pioneering country rock band Poco. Grantham and pedal steel guitarist Rusty Young were members of the Denver-based psychedelic rock act Boenzee Cryque when Young left the band in mid-1968 for Los Angeles. There Young fell in with Buffalo Springfield members Richie Furay and Jim Messina as they wrapped up that band’s final album. Furay, Messina, and Young joined together to create a new band called Poco. The band needed a drummer, and Young recruited Grantham, who became part of Poco’s founding line-up. Grantham’s backup vocals were an important element of the band’s distinctive harmony sound. (More from Wikipedia)
When Last Time Around was being wound up, Stephen Stills and Neil Young had already exited Buffalo Springfield; and Richie Furay (guitar and vocals) and Jim Messina (bass guitar) were about the only ones left. For the final track laid down by Buffalo Springfield, Furay and Messina were joined by Rusty Young (pedal steel guitar); he was a rarity in that time period in being one of the few steel guitarists who felt comfortable playing rock music. The three stuck together; at Young’s suggestion, they added Randy Meisner (bass guitar and vocals), who had been in a band called the Poor, and George Grantham (drums and vocals), who had been in a psychedelic folk/rock band called Boenzee Cryque with Rusty Young.
The band first began calling themselves Pogo, but Walt Kelly, the creator of the popular comic strip Pogo objected, so they switched to Poco.
Poco's first album, Pickin’ up the Pieces is considered to be a classic of the country-rock genre, the leading sound emerging from Southern California in the 1970’s and into the 1980’s. But their internal problems began almost immediately: Randy Meisner played on the first album but was asked to leave the band after becoming angry at being left out of the final mixing and production of the tracks on the record. Poco went further than most in its acrimony: Although his instrumental contributions were left in, Meisner’s lead vocals were removed from the album (George Grantham sung new ones to take their place), and he was taken out of the cover painting and replaced with a dog.
(April 2014)
