The Richie Furay Band

Richie Furay has had a curious career. A co-founder of the Buffalo Springfield in 1966, he with Stephen Stills and Neil Young was one of the band's three main songwriters and vocalists. But the Springfield broke up before commercial success and Stills and Young went on to superstardom while Furay struggled for success with his next band, Poco, an innovative country rock band that helped pave the way for the Eagles and others. With Poco, Furay once again saw bandmates leave to find stardom: Randy Meisner left to form the Eagles, guitarist Jim Messina left to team up with Kenny Logins, and Timothy B. Schmit eventually left to replace Meisner in the Eagles.

Furay himself left Poco after six years and six albums to form a "super band" with J. D. Souther and Chris Hillman. Souther Hillman Furay released only two albums with only the first achieving some commercial success. Four disappointing solo albums followed for Furay during which Poco had their biggest hit with Legend in 1978, their first gold record. It was while with Souther Hillman Furay that Furay found religion, and, in 1982, he became pastor of a small church in Broomfield, Colorado, a post he still holds. Ever since, his music-making career has been sporadic, releasing country rock or worship albums every now and then. In 1989, however, he reunited with the original members of Poco to record Legacy, the band's second gold album.

Through the years, Furay would step out for a brief tour with his Richie Furay Band. Last year, Furay gained renewed interest when he, Stills, and Young reformed the Buffalo Springfield for a series of gigs. More dates are expected in 2012.

The Springfield reunion has seemed to reenergize Furay, who walked onto the stage at B. B. King's last Friday evening in a black cowboy shirt with white buffalo emblems under each shoulder and a slightly larger buffalo centered on the shirt's upper back. Furay led his band through a crisp 90-minute, 17- song set which spanned his career. His hair may have grayed over the years, but Furay still exudes an unusually optimistic, even buoyant vibe, one that allowed him to sing songs in the late 1960s without a trace of doubt or irony: "We're bringin' you back down home where the folks are happy-sittin', pickin' and grinnin'. ... Country music and company kind of makes it on a Sunday afternoon." But the music was so fresh and enticing, the vocals so assured, confident, and understated, that Furay never seemed sentimental, preachy, or pollyannaish. His cheerfulness comes across as sincere and grounded in the awareness that life doesn't always work out. Just consider "Kind Woman" or "Consequently So Long," for instance.

Furay began the set at B.B.'s with Neil Young's "On the Way Home" ("When the dream came..."), on which Furay sang lead back with the Springfield. It was a rousing start to the evening, which was followed by Jim Messina- Poco's "You Better Think Twice," a capable version but I missed Rusty Young's pedal steel. Similarly, later in the set, I would miss Timothy Schmit's background vocals on "You Are the One." The most ambitious moment of the evening came with "Crazy Eyes," the title track off Poco's 1973 album and Furay's last with the band. Never one of my favorites, "Crazy Eyes," at almost ten minutes and with lush orchestration, strives too hard to be epical. But I found the performance this evening to be both earthy and haunting, especially when Jesse Lynch, Furay's daughter, took over the lead vocals for the passages beginning with "Down among the South Carolina pines...." Never performed live, "Crazy Eyes" was suggested by the versatile Scott Sellen, Furay's long time sideman and collaborator who, for this song, switched effortlessly and without gimmickry from keyboards to banjo to lap steel, and, finally electric guitar. Throughout the night, Sellen would excel on all his instruments but perhaps never more so than on the reworked "Anyway Bye Bye," which featured his aggressively bluesy guitar work.

Another highlight of the evening occurred when Furay launched into three consecutive songs from the Springfield's 1966 debut album: "Flying on the Ground," "Do I Have to Come Right Out and Say It," and "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing." All songs were written by Young, but the latter two featured Furay's vocals on the original recordings. Furay, clearly enthusiastic about the Springfield reunion, said that when the members came together last year it was "just like 1965. No agendas. We just played the songs." The enthusiasm was contagious as bassist Aaron Sellen, Scott's son, sported a Springfield tee-shirt under his partially buttoned collared shirt. Throughout the night Aaron and drummer Alan Lemke fired the band forward with pulsating beats and rhythms.

The momentum slowed a bit whenever Furay handed lead vocals over to his daughter Jesse who sang three songs during the set. An experienced and accomplished vocalist, Jesse delivered an especially soulful rendition of "Baby Why," but her songs were no match for Springfield and Poco classics and for an audience that could not get enough of her dad.

Among other strong moments was "Go and Say Goodbye," a Stephen Stills song which Furay recorded first with the Springfield, then Poco, and live with his current band. Featuring Scott on banjo, the song closed with a breakdown reminiscent of Poco. Furay also sang lesser known songs from his catalogue, including outstanding versions of the title track of 2006's The Heartbeat of Love and "Wake Up My Soul" from one of his devotional album, 1997's In My Father's House. The set concluded with "A Good Feelin' to Know" and an encore of "Kind Woman," perhaps his best known song, and a new song, yet to be recorded, "Still Fine After All These Years," an up-tempo country rocker in the spirit of "And Settlin' Down" And "Good Feelin.'"

The Richie Furay Band delivered a very solid and, at times, exhilarating performance. The energetic and inspiring Furay has long been underrated and in need of reassessment. For too long, his contributions, even those with Buffalo Springfield, have been overshadowed by his better known collaborators.