Rusty Young
Rusty Young (born Norman Russell Young on February 23, 1946, in Long Beach, California) is an American guitarist, vocalist and songwriter best known as one of the frontmen in the seminal country rock band Poco.
A virtuoso on pedal steel guitar, he is celebrated for the ability to get a Hammond B3 organ sound out of the instrument by playing it through a Leslie speaker cabinet.
Rusty was raised in Colorado. He began playing lap steel guitar at age 6, and taught guitar and steel guitar lessons during his high school years. During that time, he also played country music in late night bars. Rusty played in a well known Denver psychedelic rock band "Boenzee Cryque"
he started to play the pedal steel guitar. This was probably due to the lingering popularity of Hawaiian music after the second World War, but as far as Young's parents were concerned, playing country music was the goal for their son. He started gigging in bars in Colorado when he was only 12, sticking to Sunday afternoon gigs, still playing steel. By 16 or 17, he was keeping a schedule that would have left adult professionals panting. He taught lessons in a guitar studio in the afternoons and then played country music in bars until the wee hours of the morning. Then he would pack up and head to jam sessions, catching a few hours of sleep before it was time to go to high school. In 1966, he was surprised to get a call from a local rock band, the Boenzee Cryque. "Are you sure you want him?" Young's mother apparently asked, "He's in a country band you know." Boenzee Cryque was about the most popular Denver rock band at that point and had done fairly well with several locally produced singles that had been picked up by the psychedelic-obsessed Uni label. He worked with this band for two years, incorporating the pedal steel and utilizing some of his strange effects for the first time. In the meantime, a former student who had become road manager for Buffalo Springfield brought Young in contact with the hit group when the members were looking for a pedal steel track for their song "Kind Woman," and didn't want to hire any of the Los Angeles session men. Young was flown out to L.A. to do the session. After he hit it off particularly well with Messina and Furay, it was only natural that Young would become part of a new band that formed in the aftermath of the Springfield collapse.
Originally, the band was to be called Pogo and even used pictures of a similarly-named cartoon character in early promotion. The author of the Pogo strip, Walt Kelly, promptly sued. One letter was changed and Poco was born. Young wrote more than a dozen of the group's most well-known songs. The band was active until the end of the '80s, but seemed to make less and less use of Young's instrumental talents as the years went on.
Although based out of Nashville, Young avoids the recording session work that is the bread and butter of most pedal steel players in that area, due to the lack of space for experimentation. He can sometimes be heard playing solo at that city's Bluebird Cafe. His main venture since the late '90s has been a trio with John Cowan and Bill Lloyd, called Sky Kings.
A virtuoso on pedal steel guitar, he is celebrated for the ability to get a Hammond B3 organ sound out of the instrument by playing it through a Leslie speaker cabinet.
Rusty was raised in Colorado. He began playing lap steel guitar at age 6, and taught guitar and steel guitar lessons during his high school years. During that time, he also played country music in late night bars. Rusty played in a well known Denver psychedelic rock band "Boenzee Cryque"
he started to play the pedal steel guitar. This was probably due to the lingering popularity of Hawaiian music after the second World War, but as far as Young's parents were concerned, playing country music was the goal for their son. He started gigging in bars in Colorado when he was only 12, sticking to Sunday afternoon gigs, still playing steel. By 16 or 17, he was keeping a schedule that would have left adult professionals panting. He taught lessons in a guitar studio in the afternoons and then played country music in bars until the wee hours of the morning. Then he would pack up and head to jam sessions, catching a few hours of sleep before it was time to go to high school. In 1966, he was surprised to get a call from a local rock band, the Boenzee Cryque. "Are you sure you want him?" Young's mother apparently asked, "He's in a country band you know." Boenzee Cryque was about the most popular Denver rock band at that point and had done fairly well with several locally produced singles that had been picked up by the psychedelic-obsessed Uni label. He worked with this band for two years, incorporating the pedal steel and utilizing some of his strange effects for the first time. In the meantime, a former student who had become road manager for Buffalo Springfield brought Young in contact with the hit group when the members were looking for a pedal steel track for their song "Kind Woman," and didn't want to hire any of the Los Angeles session men. Young was flown out to L.A. to do the session. After he hit it off particularly well with Messina and Furay, it was only natural that Young would become part of a new band that formed in the aftermath of the Springfield collapse.
Originally, the band was to be called Pogo and even used pictures of a similarly-named cartoon character in early promotion. The author of the Pogo strip, Walt Kelly, promptly sued. One letter was changed and Poco was born. Young wrote more than a dozen of the group's most well-known songs. The band was active until the end of the '80s, but seemed to make less and less use of Young's instrumental talents as the years went on.
Although based out of Nashville, Young avoids the recording session work that is the bread and butter of most pedal steel players in that area, due to the lack of space for experimentation. He can sometimes be heard playing solo at that city's Bluebird Cafe. His main venture since the late '90s has been a trio with John Cowan and Bill Lloyd, called Sky Kings.
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