Ticket 2 Ride

This has been a hard year, with the passing of Rusty Young earlier this year, and most recently, Paul Cotton. These two guys were the band POCO, more than anyone else over the band’s 50 year career.

Paul joined POCO in the early 1970s and stayed with Rusty until the early 2000s, then Rusty carried on until he passed. POCO arguably invented country-rock; they certainly popularized it and kept it going for decades.

At the end of the 1970s, POCO had seemingly reached a dead-end, Rusty and Paul were the only ones left, and the musical landscape had changed so much. They set out to make an album as a duo and it turned into the album Legend. Instead of being released as the planned duo’s album, it bore the POCO name and became a smash hit.

As I myself am part of the gray-haired generation, I see a lot of people passing and the end of many things I embraced along this journey of life. I joke that the first thing I do in the morning is read the obits to make sure my name is not listed. It has not been thus far, but I find far many recognizable names listed.

Rusty and Paul left behind a beautiful legacy of music. They played concerts for us and filled out heads with great memories.

Taking the dream how we ran
In the rage of another plan
Heading for the mountain wall
Where it all began to fall
When we heard the wind call

Take your homes in the sun
There ain’t any need to run
You’ve been here you’ve been there
You’ve been everywhere
And the time has come to really care

And the time has come to really care

Catch up don’t you stray too far behind
Tell me now, would you trade me your dream for mine?

“Faith in the Families” by Paul Cotton