Dewey Martin

Dewey Martin

Dewey Martin (September 30, 1940 – January 31, 2009) was a Canadian rock drummer, best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield.

Martin was born Walter Milton Dwayne Midkiff in Chesterville, Ontario in 1940. He was raised there and the surrounding Smiths Falls and Ottawa. In Ottawa, he attended Glebe Collegiate Institute, where he was elected head boy.

Martin started playing drums when he was about 13 years old. His first band was a high school outfit, The Jive Rockets, which also featured guitarist Vern Craig, later a member of the Staccatos. He soon progressed and played with various dance and rockabilly groups in the Ottawa Valley area, including Bernie Early & the Early Birds. Through rock and roll singer Andy Wilson, a veteran of the Ottawa-area scene, he was allowed a short guest appearance singing "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" backed by Wilson's group, Larry Lee and the Leesures, during the Leesures' appearance as part of on a package C&W show in Ottawa in 1960. A Nashville producer was sufficiently impressed and agreed to record him in Martin was born Walter Milton Dwayne Midkiff in Chesterville, Ontario in 1940. He was raised there and the surrounding Smiths Falls and Ottawa.[2] In Ottawa, he attended Glebe Collegiate Institute, where he was elected head boy.

Martin started playing drums when he was about 13 years old. His first band was a high school outfit, The Jive Rockets, which also featured guitarist Vern Craig, later a member of the Staccatos. He soon progressed and played with various dance and rockabilly groups in the Ottawa Valley area, including Bernie Early & the Early Birds. Through rock and roll singer Andy Wilson, a veteran of the Ottawa-area scene, he was allowed a short guest appearance singing. Martin became the last member to join the legendary group at its founding. Along with Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, he was one of only three musicians to stay with the group from its inception in April 1966 to its disbandment on May 5, 1968. During his time with the group, Martin also did session work for The Monkees.

In concert, he sang covers of Wilson Pickett's In The Midnight Hour and Richie Furay's "Nobody's Fool" and "Good Time Boy". The latter appeared on the band's second album, Buffalo Springfield Again. He also sang Neil Young's "Mr Soul" as the introduction to Young's "Broken Arrow" on the same album and backing vocals on the band's biggest hit, "For What It's Worth".

Bruce Palmer

Bruce Palmer

Bruce Palmer (September 9, 1946 – October 1, 2004) was a Canadian musician notable for playing bass guitar in the folk rock band Buffalo Springfield.

Neil Young and Palmer ran into Stills while stuck in traffic in Los Angeles, Stills having recognized Young's distinctive hearse. It was not long before the trio, along with Richie Furay on rhythm guitar and Dewey Martin on drums, formed Buffalo Springfield. The band only had one major national hit, "For What It's Worth" (written and sung by Stills), but locally their popularity was rivaled only by The Byrds and The Doors.

Palmer was arrested on numerous occasions for drug possession. These legal problems, compounded by his predilection to sit at home reading mystical texts, led to him being shunned by most of the group.[citation needed] Another arrest led to his deportation from the United States in early 1967; Palmer was replaced in the band by a rotating group of bassists that included Jim Fielder and Ken Koblun. Shortly thereafter, Young left the group due to tensions with Stills, and Buffalo Springfield played its most prominent concert at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967 with Doug Hastings and David Crosby filling in for Young. During his time back in Toronto between January–May 1967, Palmer had gigged briefly with the Heavenly Government.

In late May, Palmer returned to the United States disguised as a businessman, and rejoined the band (Young eventually returned as well). However, the group continued to rely on session bassists. Meanwhile, Palmer continued to rack up a lengthy arrest record, which included yet another drug possession bust and speeding without a license. In January 1968, Palmer was removed from the band and officially replaced by Jim Messina. Then, after embarking on a tour opening for the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield disbanded on May 5, 1968 after a final hometown concert at the Long Beach Sports Arena.

Palmer was inducted with his bandmates into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. He died of a heart attack on October 1, 2004 in Belleville, Ontario, Canada.

Buffalo Springfield

Buffalo Springfield

Buffalo Springfield is a North American folk rock band renowned both for its music and as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Among the first wave of North American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion, the group combined rock, folk, and country music into a sound all its own. Its million-selling song "For What It's Worth" became a political anthem for the turbulent late 1960s.

Formed in April 1966, Buffalo Springfield was plagued by infighting, drug-related arrests, and line-up changes that led to the group's disbanding after just two years. Three albums were released under its name, but many demos, studio outtakes and live recordings remained and were issued in the decades that followed.

Despite the band's short tenure and limited output it was one of the most influential of its era, earning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recognition and spawning fellow Hall honorees Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Poco, as well as popular acts Loggins and Messina and Crazy Horse.

Despite their popularity, Buffalo Springfield was never a major commercial success. "For What It’s Worth" was a significant hit and the group's legend grew stronger after the breakup, increasing with the later successes of its members.

Stills went on to form Crosby, Stills & Nash with David Crosby of The Byrds and Graham Nash of The Hollies in 1968. Young launched a solo career, but in 1969 also reunited with Stills in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, which saw the beginning of his sporadic relationship with that trio. Furay and Messina were founding members of Poco. Furay joined J.D. Souther and Chris Hillman to form the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, and Messina teamed with Kenny Loggins in Loggins & Messina.

Jim Messina

Jim Messina

Jim Messina (born James Melvin Messina, December 5, 1947, Maywood, California) is an American musician, songwriter, singer, recording engineer, and record producer. He was a member of folk rock legend Buffalo Springfield, a founding member of country rock pioneer Poco, and half the popular soft rock duo Loggins and Messina.
Buffalo Springfield

While with Buffalo Springfield Messina served as a recording engineer, producer, and musician, replacing bass player Bruce Palmer on their last album.
Poco

Messina and Richie Furay, another Buffalo Springfield member, formed Poco after Buffalo Springfield broke up. Messina played lead guitar and supplied vocals and some songwriting to the band. After recording two studio albums and one live album, he left Poco.

In 1989, Messina joined in with Poco's original lineup, consisting of Jim Messina, Richie Furay, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner, for a successful reunion tour. The group released the album entitled, "Legacy." Messina played guitar and mandolin on the album and wrote or co-wrote four of the songs. Those songs he wrote and sang on were, "Follow Your Dreams," Look Within," and "Lovin' You Every Minute". The song Messina co-wrote was, "Call it Love" wherein Rusty Young sang the lead vocal on that song.

Website

www.jimmeessina.com

Richie Furay

Richie Furay

Paul Richard "Richie" Furay (born May 9, 1944, Yellow Springs, Ohio) is an American singer, songwriter, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member who is best known for forming the bands Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin, and Poco with Jim Messina, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner.[1] His best known song (originally written during his tenure in Buffalo Springfield, but eventually performed by Poco, as well) was "Kind Woman", which he wrote for his wife, Nancy.

In the late 1960s he formed the country-rock band Poco with Jim Messina and Rusty Young. This band, while influential to many future country-rock acts, experienced uneven commercial success. Furay's best known songs, "Pickin' Up The Pieces" and "Good Feelin' To Know", however, have reached classic status and appear on many country rock compilations. Furay left Poco in 1974 to form the Souther Hillman Furay Band. It was during this time that Al Perkins, the band's pedal steel guitar player, introduced Furay to Christianity. His newfound faith helped him rebuild his troubled marriage.

Although Souther, Hillman, Furay's self-titled first album was certified Gold and yielded the top thirty hit with "Fallin' in Love" in 1974, the group could not follow up on that success, and poor record sales eventually led to its demise.

After moving from Los Angeles to Sugarloaf Mountain near Boulder, Colorado, Furay formed The Richie Furay Band with Jay Truax, John Mehler, and Tom Stipe, releasing the album I've Got a Reason in 1976, which reflected Furay's newfound beliefs. To support the release of this album Furay formed an alliance with David Geffen and Asylum Records. Furay assured Geffen that his album would be Christian influenced but would not be an attempt to preach his newfound beliefs. "I've Got a Reason" did, however, establish Furay as a pioneer in Christian Rock. The title track of his third album, the secular "I Still Have Dreams", became a mild radio hit in 1979.

Overall, his albums charted unsatisfactorily, and, compounded with the strain of touring wearing on him and his family, he hung up his rock and roll shoes in favor of a call to the ministry. In 1983 Furay became senior pastor of the Calvary Chapel in Broomfield, Colorado, a non-sectarian Christian church in the Denver area. He continues to perform as a solo artist, and very occasionally with Poco. He toured as an opening act for America and Linda Ronstadt during the Summer of 2006. The 2006 release of his latest CD The Heartbeat of Love returns Furay to his early country-rock roots with a contemporary flair.

In 2007 he toured with a new formation of the Richie Furay Band. At the Boulder and Bluebird Theatres in Colorado they recorded a double live CD ALIVE. The ALIVE set covers 29 songs of Furay's career. The Richie Furay band continued to tour through 2008 and 2009. Furay appeared with Poco for several shows in early 2009. At the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California in the Spring of 2009, Furay and the current Poco lineup were joined onstage by original members Jimmy Messina and George Grantham and former bass player Timothy B. Schmit reuniting the Poco lineup that achieved the most critical acclaim.

On October 23, 2010, he reunited with surviving Buffalo Springfield bandmates Stephen Stills and Neil Young for a set at the 24th annual Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California.

Richie is currently performing with the Richie Furay Band and regrouped with Buffalo Springfield for a 2011 tour, headlining 2011 Bonnaroo with them. In July 2011, Furay announced on his Facebook page that he would be touring with Buffalo Springfield in early 2012, ending speculation there would be a 2011 fall tour with them.

WEBSITE
http://www.richiefuray.com/

With Buffalo Springfield

Buffalo Springfield - Again

Again

The Byrds gave us chiming guitars and then, with the addition of Gram Parsons, a pure Country sound that was better than 90% of what Nashville was then cranking out. Buffalo Springfield gave us a rock 'n' roll band that grew from the folk circuit, from Stills, who brought Country and the oldest, most traditional folk, from the South, meeting with Furay, who brought a mild Country sensibility. Richie had met Neil Young, who had been part of the Canadian folk scene, briefly in New York. The Country roots origin of Buffalo Springfield were completed with Dewey Martin, who'd played with The Dillards. Along with Neil's friend Bruce Palmer, this quintet was a rock band simply trying to make the best music, which meant it must avoid teeny bop pop and Tin Pan Alley cliches, musically and lyrically, and that had them reworking Country and folk sources with a rock 'n' roll heart and attitude.

This is the best Buffalo Springfield album, and its importance merits 5 stars. My down ranking to 4 stars is because this should be a remastered version with at least one added cut: the 9 minute jam version of 'Bluebird' that apparently is not available anywhere today. Yes, all things considered, I prefer the 4 minute, originally released version and rank it a Classic, but the 9 minute version is perhaps more important to rock history, for it was an indispensable source for especially Southern rock bands as they forged long, jamming epics such as 'Free Bird' and 'High Tides and Green Grass.'

Beyond that, this album is loaded. In addition to 'Bluebird,' 'Mr. Soul' is an all-time Classic, and 'Broken Arrow, 'Rock 'N' Roll Woman,' and 'Expecting to Fly' are all brilliant. Richie's 'A Child's Claim to Fame' is nearly as good. No song is a throwawy.

Buffalo Springfield 1st

Buffalo Springfield

Their first production portrayed, more than any other album, the folk-rock style of music that Buffalo Springfield was accustomed to (and excellent at making). It is full of easy to listen vocals and guitar playing. During this first phase of the band, Richie Furay was the lead singer in most of the songs. This was at a time when Neil Young was unsure about his voice, so of Young's four songs on the album, ("Burned", "Out of My Mind", "Flying on the ground is Wrong", and "Do I Have to Come Right Out and Say It") Richie Furay sang the latter two of them. Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth" is no doubt the group's most popular song, rated the 63rd greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine. There are also a few other great songs by Stills on this record. Since this album was their first, it was an ambitious piece. It was also made during a time when the group was going strong; this is not the case in the group's last album. This piece of work is full of awesome guitar playing, as one would think from a band with four guitar players. Four songs from this album were included in the greatest hits album, but a few others could have been added without question. Many people compare Buffalo Springfield with the more popular Byrds. These two groups were both very successful pioneers of folk-rock music. Buffalo Springfield succumbed to internal conflicts when they broke up in 1968. The group made only three LP's and later a greatest hits album. If you haven't heard of Buffalo Springfield, you have probably heard of a branch of them. Richie Furay went on to be the lead singer in the folk-rock group Poco and later in the Souther, Hillman, and Furay Band and The Richie Furay Band. Steven Stills joined Graham Nash and David Crosby in Crosby, Stills, and Nash. He also had a successful solo career. Neil Young joined Crosby, Stills and Nash to form Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and had probably the most successful solo career of all the members. Dewey Martin and Bruce Palmer were not heard of much afterwards, and did nothing really significant after Buffalo Springfield. When mentioning folk-rock music, Buffalo Springfield cannot be excluded, as they were one of the most talented of their time. This album surely will not let you down if you are a true classic rock fan.

Buffalo Springfield- Box set

Box Set

My first advice, is dont go and buy this, unless you are true fan and needs completion.

Two years. Three albums. A four-disc retrospective. It wouldn't seem possible to get a more comprehensive treatment of a band's career than that promised by Buffalo Springfield's unimaginitively titled BOX SET. But in fact the producers of this gorgeously packaged, extensively annotated and beautifully remastered misfire have achieved the impossible by crafting an anthology at once bloated and incomplete.

Far more legendary as the incubator of the careers of Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Richie Furay than for its own output - which included exactly one hit ("For What It's Worth") and a lot of highly influential but woefully underappreciated material besides - Buffalo Springfield could and should have had the mother of all box sets, one containing every note the band ever released as well as plenty of alternates, outtakes and demos. Instead, BOX SET gives us, in the course of its first three discs, all but FOUR of the group's released numbers (these being the original, seven-minute version of Stills' "Bluebird" as well as three tracks from the 1968 LAST TIME AROUND LP). Since none of the CDs runs much over an hour, this is absolutely inexcusable. Alternates and outtakes are fine; but when a band's entire catalogue could easily be fit on three discs, to have a handful of songs left out of a four-CD anthology is just...well, choose your favorite adjective.

Padding things out instead is a wealth of previously unreleased material, including arguably too many solo demos by Young and transitional recordings which document the Springfield's disintegration into its various member's subsequent careers. Much of this is great stuff, though some of it is rather difficult to call Buffalo Springfield.

The crowning irony, however, is disc four, whereon the first two Buffalo Springfield albums are presented in release order - even though every single one of these tracks with the sole exception (no pun intended) of "Mr. Soul" appears somewhere on the first three discs. This blatant bit of price-gouging, absurd enough in itself, is doubly awful in light of the tracks left missing from this "definitive" compilation.

Given that fully half the material on BOX SET consists of rarities, and that all three Springfield albums are easily and cheaply available on CD, this box is clearly aimed at hardcore fans - which is to say, people who want to hear everything. That we don't is, alas, a tragic blight on a potentially (and largely)wonderful collection of music.

Last Time Around

This final Springfield album was a jumping off point into the solo careers of Steve Stills and Neil Young. It also marked the debut of what was to become the country-rock group Poco. Though generally an average album overall, a few of the songs are outstanding. 'On The Way Home' and 'I Am A Child' are Neil Young masterpieces. Driven by Richie Furay's delectible lead vocal and a perfect horn arrangement, 'On The Way Home' has a great pop feel. 'I Am A Child' is just plain elegant - a simple arrangement, a lovely acoustic guitar and Neil's understated voice make you want to keep hitting the repeat button on your CD player. Still's 'Pretty Girl Why' is an example of his mastery of musical styles - a pretty song with excellent harmonies and a nice trade off of guitar licks from Neil and Steve. When you listen to 'Questions' you'll swear you've heard the song before. Well, you have - if you bought 'Deja Vu', Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's first collaboration, Stills used the song as the second part of 'Carry On'. 'Kind Woman', a Richie Furay penned tune was actually the first Poco song. The song was performed by Furay, Jim Messina (the Springfield's new bass player)and Rusty Young (a pedal steel guitar player who was shipped in from Colorado for the session), these three went on to become the core of Poco - Stills and Young weren't even in the recording studio when the song was cut. The Springfield had already broken up prior to this album's release. As witnessed by this album, Furay, Stills and Young were already discovering their future musical directions.

Buffalo Springfield planning a tour



David Crosby has revealed that Buffalo Springfield will embark on a reunion tour later this year. Crosby said that the ’60s folk-rockers, which include Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, will perform some dates in the Fall. It will be the band’s first tour since 1968.

The three surviving Buffalo Springfield members reunited last fall for performances at Young’s Bridge School Benefit. Crosby said his Crosby, Stills and Nash bandmate is definitely up for doing more.

“I think he is excited,” Crosby says of Stills. “And I’ve got to tell you, I didn’t get to see them live, but I watched clips and Richie [Furay] – I got to tell you, man, he is so happy onstage and is such a joyful energy.”

According to Crosby it was Furay who made the reunion happen.

“He really sparked that thing, and I think it was a very pleasant experience for Neil and Stephen both,” Crosby said. “I know they’re going to go out for at least some dates in the fall. Personally, I’d like to go watch. They’re one of my favorite bands.”

Furay’s manager confirmed that the group is making plans to tour. Crosby said he wishes the tour could be even more special and include a Byrds reunion, too.

“I wish I could throw it in with the Byrds,” he said, referring to his pre-CSN band. “That would be my dream, because everybody and their uncle would come to see the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. But that’s not going to happen. Roger [McGuinn] is pretty adamant about that. He’s very happy about being a folksinger; he likes it, and wants it that way.”