It’s fair to say that Poco are mostly a forgotten name today, but here they are out-Eagling The Eagles with their country-fried vocal harmonies.

Hardly surprising since two of the California country-rockers, including Timothy B Schmit here – and his predecessor Randy Meisner – would end up in The Eagles.

Somewhere deep in my album collection I have an album called Rose Of Cimarron by Poco that I probably last played about 45 years ago. Despite that, I can remember the title track as if it was yesterday. But I didn’t realise til now that Poco had their roots in Buffalo Springfield.

When Neil Young and Stephen Stills left at the end of 1968, co-founders Richie Furay and Jim Messina formed a new outfit (originally named Pogo, punk fans!) with Rusty Young, who had played pedal steel on their last album.

Furay (guitar/vocals), Messina (bass) and Young (pedal steel) were joined by new rhythm section of Randy Meisner (bass/vocals) and George Grantham (drums/vocals), though by the time they recorded this album – their ninth – in 1976 only Grantham and Young were left from that original line-up.

Meisner famously formed The Eagles (later recruiting his replacement Timothy B Schmit) while Furay formed Souther-Hillman-Furay, Messina became half of Loggins-Messina, and Young joined Ricky Scaggs’s band.

Anyone thinking of investigating Poco could do worse than start with their rootsiest album From The Inside, produced in 1971 by Steve Cropper of Booker T and the MGs.

But be sure to listen to the full nearly-seven-minute version of Rose Of Cimarron – and this cover version by the incomparable Emmylou Harris.