George Grantham

George Grantham (born Cordell, Oklahoma, 20 November 1947) is a drummer and vocalist best known for his work with pioneering American country-rock band Poco.

Grantham and pedal steel guitarist sensation Rusty Young were members of a Denver-based psychedelic rock act Boenzee Cryque when Young left the band in mid-1968 for Los Angeles. There he fell in with Buffalo Springfield members Richie Furay and Jim Messina as they wrapped up that act's final album.[1]

With Buffalo Springfield disintegrated, Furay, Messina, and Young joined together to create a new band, Pogo, shortly rechristened Poco after copyright concerns forced a change.

Needing a drummer, Young recruited Grantham, who shortly became part of Poco's founding line-up. A talented singer, Grantham's backup vocals were an important element of the band's distinctive harmony sound.

Grantham remained a member of various Poco line-ups through 1977, a span of ten studio albums and two live releases. He returned in 1985, and was part of four of five band incarnations before departing again 1990. Reunited once more in 2000, he suffered a debilitating stroke in 2002 and was unable to rejoin the band again until some vocals-only appearances in 2009.

Grantham also found time to play most of the drums on Neil Young's self-titled 1969 debut solo album, and later worked on recordings by Rick Roberts and the self-titled album by Gunhill Road, as well as on Furay's first solo album after his exit from the group in the mid-'70s. Poco's constant near-misses with success wore the membership down across a decade of hard work, however, and Grantham left the band in 1978. He subsequently played and sang on a string of Ricky Skaggs releases, as well as recording with Richie Furay, Ronnie McDowell, and Steve Wariner. He returned to Poco as a guest musician in the early '80s, and as a full member of the band for the reunion of the 1968 lineup on Legacy (1989), and the tour that followed. He later resumed working alongside Young and Paul Cotton in a revived version of Poco, which included the album Running Horse (2002). On July 29, 2004, however, Grantham suffered a crippling stroke in the middle of a show. He was forced to leave the group and give up performing. He has since made major strides to recovery, and in a statement in 2007, said that he hopes someday to resume performing.

George is far left