RICHIE FURAY: Hooked On The Holy Ghost

In the spring of 1966, the Buffalo Springfield was building a fanatical Los Angeles following and had virtually unseated the Byrds as the ultimate Southern California house band. The Whiskey was their roost and the faces in the crowd were more than repeaters, they were season ticket holders.

One fan was a 19-year-old blonde from nearby Granada Hills. Just a few weeks after she finally had the nerve to approach Richie Furay, she abruptly became Nancy Furay. Nine years after that particular apocalypse Nancy, who still could pass for 19, reminisced “I used to go down to the Whiskey every night and just stare at Richie. I even brought my mother with me to stare at him too. We couldn’t take our eyes off him.”

What Richie Furay has gone through since then can only be described as a mixture of professional ecstasy and frustration. The magic of the Springfield was diluted by managerial mishaps and visa problems with the band’s Canadian element. Bruce Palmer had to leave the States, Neil Young soon quit the band and Stephen Stills became intolerable. The band finally folded. “No matter what you may have heard about the Springfield being a band of many voices, the truth is that it was Stephen’s band,” Furay offered. “I had a hard time getting a song recorded.”

Then came Poco, a band Richie formed with ex-Buffalo Jim Messina. The band achieved astounding success in concerts and recorded consistently appealing albums. But the hit single never happened and the band never scheduled tours in conjunction with their album releases. “I think Poco made great music and I think they still do,” Richie opined. “But I got to the point where no matter what I tried, nothing worked for me anymore, so I had to move on. I still love those guys and I hope their new label [ABC] works out for them.”

Then came the ill-conceived Geffen experiment, the Souther, Hillman, Furay Band. “SHF had all the ingredients. But for all the personality there was in that band, there was no personality at all. I think J.D. is a super-talented guy but I disagreed with his attitude about everything. I think our band could’ve played with a lot less guitar and we could never get sorted out. J.D. started out as a drummer and we could have used him on percussion. He just didn’t seem to -fit into a band context. He’ll probably form a John David Souther Band and that’s what he should do.”

Despite all the company leaked reports that the SHF summer tour was cancelled due to Hillman hepatitis and the fall tour has been delayed by Furay’s swollen finger, Richie claimed that the SHF Band was a thing of the past before they recorded their second album last December. “SHF was not an enjoyable musical experience,” he began. “You can never believe what you read in Rolling Stone. There was never a possibility of another SHF tour and there never will be. For me the experience is over.”

Furay in no way regrets his decision to leave Poco and pursue SHF. “Every band has disagreements but I can’t imagine any band being closer than Poco and for that reason alone I miss the security of a ‘home’ band. But joining up with SHF really helped me get my spiritual thing together. Meeting A1 [Perkins] was very important to me.”

A1 Perkins introduced Richie Furay to the Lord, which Richie believes has saved his family. “Believing in the ressurrection of Jesus Christ.. .that he was here and he is God...has been a revelation to me, My marriage and family life was in a shambles because of my relentless drive to become a rock ‘n’ roll star. I’ll tell you, it just isn’t worth it. My family will come first from now on and I’ll play music and get that together at my own pace from now on.”

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FURAY

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Furay hasn’t played a concert since November, ’74 and probably won’t v play untij the spring of next year. “This is the longest I’ve had off in 10 years and it’s been so good for me. I’ve had a chance to sort everything out and I’ve got it all together; SHF was good because I met A1 and I met the Lord. Otherwise 1 never would have.realized ' fhat everything is driving me. Now I know I can’t do anything on my own. The Lord directs my path.”

Nancy Furay, who just gave birth to \a second daughter, Kqtie, echoed Richie’s sentiments even more passionately. “The Lord tpre us apart and* patched us up again. Everything that happens to you is because of the-Lord.”

Richie’s immediate plans were to go on a week long backpacking and trout fishing expedition and to continue making music when he returned. He met “three incredible musicians” at the church he and Perkins attend regularly in L A. and he hopes to be ready to record an album by November. NHi§ back-up unit will consist of Tom Stipe (keyboards), John Mehler (drums) and Jay Truax (bass).

“They’re all unknowns,” Furay said, adding that they used to call themselves A Wing and a Pr&yer, “but can they ever sing and play.” The band lacks a lead guitarist at the moment after failing to land Perkins for that slot. “I tried to convince A1 to play, but he got impatient as he needs to make some money and I wasn’t going to be rushed this time. When my band comes out, we are going to be well rehearsed and ready, not like SHF.” Perkins^ has linked up with the Talbot Brothers (Mason Proffit) and attempts to get Furay to join werefutile. “I like all those guys, but it would have been another situation that put too much responsibility on rhe and I just couldn’t do it.”

When confronted with the inevitable question about a Buffalo Springfield reunion, Richie laughed. “I’dh^te to be the guy who had to put it together, but if someorVe does I’j be interested. It couldn’t be like the Byrds though. I’d want to rehearse for A few months before we recorded or played, It would have to be well thought out and tight or I wouldn’t do it. I’m curious lik/e Neil to see if Ithat old spark is still there.’ ”

As far as using his new music to preach the gospef, Furay got mildly defensive. “The music won’t change that much. We want to be a rock ‘n’ roll band and we just happen to be Christians. Wfiat’s gonna change is .when the hangers-on start hanging out aften the show. They always want something and now I have something to give them.”