Today is the 76th birthday of Poco’s original drummer, George Grantham. When I was doing the research for my book on Poco back in the late 1990s, George was the first member of Poco to agree to an interview. He was an easy interview – very friendly, and eager to talk. I did two over-the-phone interviews with him and went away pleasantly surprised at how humble he was. I was struck with how dismissive George was of his lead vocals. I had envisioned that he felt stifled with only a few of them. Nope. He told me that he was more than happy with drumming and doing backing vocals.
I also got two very nice tidbits from George’s pre-Poco career – His high school rock band, The Police, used an actual light off a police car as part of their stage gear! I also learned that one of the other members of The Police was Randy Naylor, who would later become band mates with Randy Meisner in The Poor. The other was that after Boenzee Cryque broke up and before Poco called, George did some recording with Boenzee Cryque’s final guitar player Malcolm Mitchell. He played drums on ‘Sightseer,’ ‘Feather’ and ‘Candy Coated Lady.’ The first two songs were released on Dot Records under the name Malcolm Mitchell. The third song was later released on a CD compilation as a Boenzee Cryque track. Here’s ‘Feather’ from YouTube.
Richie Furay has always called George “the backbone” of Poco. His steady, dependable drumming and soaring vocals were foundational to Poco. Once Richie departed the group, George became a cornerstone of the Fab Four lineup. When we spoke, George’s only regret was that things didn’t work out so that he could have remained with Poco when they recorded LEGEND and experienced that success. Neither of us knew when we had those conversations that George would get another chance to play with Poco. Thankfully, that happened in 2000.
He remained Poco’s drummer for four years in the new millennium, before he suffered a stroke onstage. Thankfully, George survived and remains an important part of Poco’s legacy. To Poco’s backbone…Happy birthday, George!