Poco ended up recording their debut album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, as a quartet, with Messina handling the bass parts. Whatever the circumstances, Meisner went on to play with Rick Nelson for a few months before gravitating toward a country-rock outfit that eventually christened themselves the Eagles. But the basic disagreement concerned the fact that Messina, who had experience as both an engineer and producer, would not permit Meisner (or anyone else) to participate in the mixing of the album. During the recording of their debut album, Meisner suddenly left the band - accounts vary as to precisely when this took place he left either at the outset of the recording, or after finishing the album. The group's lineup problems, which proved to be perennial, started almost immediately after Poco were signed to Columbia Records' Epic label in early 1969. With Geffen acting as catalyst between Atlantic chief Ahmet Ertegun and Columbia president Clive Davis, Messina and Furay had their contracts traded to Columbia in exchange for Crosby and Nash going to Atlantic. He, in turn, was trying to sort out the contractual situation surrounding ex- Springfield guitarist/singer Stephen Stills, and his new association with ex- Byrds singer/guitarist David Crosby, and Graham Nash, formerly of the Hollies, who wanted to record together but had the reverse problem Stills was signed to Atlantic by way of Buffalo Springfield (which very much wanted Crosby, Stills & Nash), while Crosby and Nash, through their previous memberships in the Byrds and the Hollies, respectively, were both contractually bound to Columbia Records.

As it happened, Columbia Records was interested in the group - and hovering somewhere around this situation was David Geffen, then a young talent agent who was fast on his feet and persuasive in his manner. They impressed everyone who heard them, but getting them a recording contract was itself a difficult proposition - Meisner, Young, and Grantham weren't a problem, as they were essentially unsigned to any label, but as members of Buffalo Springfield, Messina and Furay were most definitely tied to Atlantic Records. Not wanting to lose all of the recognition and goodwill they'd built up locally over the previous five months, the result was a change of just one consonant, to Poco. Walt Kelly, the creator of the comic strip Pogo, from which they'd freely admitted borrowing the name, didn't appreciate the group's choice and filed a lawsuit. A month later, they made their first appearance at the Fillmore West on a bill with the Steve Miller Band and Sly & the Family Stone.ДЄt the time, they were using the name Pogo, but that didn't last. This lineup rehearsed for four months before making its debut at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in November of 1968. Auditions followed before the fledgling group reached out, at Young's urging, to ex- Boenzee Cryque drummer/vocalist George Grantham, and also to bassist/singer Randy Meisner, who had previously played with a band called the Poor. Young stuck with Furay and Messina, in the process skipping a scheduled audition for a new group that ex- Byrds member Gram Parsons was putting together. The final Springfield track, 'Kind Woman,' included only Furay and Messina, with a guest appearance on steel guitar by Rusty Young - at the time, he was something of a rarity as a talented lap steel guitarist who was comfortable working in a rock idiom, and had previously belonged to a folk-rock-turned-psychedelic band called Boenzee Cryque. After Neil Young and Stephen Stills, the co-founders of that group, exited in the spring of 1968, only guitarist/singer Richie Furay and bassist Jim Messina remained to complete the group's swan song, Last Time Around. One of the first and longest-lasting country-rock groups, Poco had their roots in the dying embers of Buffalo Springfield.

Members of the band poco