Neil Young - vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica
Stephen Stills - vocals, guitar, keyboards
Richie Furay - vocals, guitar
Dewey Martin - vocals, drums
Bruce Palmer - bass
Jim Messina - vocals, bass, producer, engineer (replaced Palmer in 1968)
A reunion of surviving members of Buffalo Springfield today has a distinct supergroup aura. But that was far from the way it was when the band's short life began back in 1966.
At the time, Stephen Stills was working as a studio musician in Los Angeles, Richie Furay was performing at a Greenwich Village night club, Bruce Palmer and
Neil Young were playing in a local Toronto band, and Dewey Martin was drumming for various country artists.
Young and Stills had first met when each were members of bands playing a club in Ontario. Stills and Furay had met as members of the Au Go Go Singers. Martin had been recommended to the others by the manager of
The Byrds, for whom Buffalo Springfield opened shortly after they began performing together in April 1966.
Things started going wrong almost from Day 1. Band members were unhappy with the way producers handled their first single, and started their own re-working of some of their earlier demo recordings for inclusion on their debut album.
Buffalo Springfield was released in December 1966.
Just before the album's release, Stills wrote "For What It's Worth," which was released as a single, and became an immediate hit, bringing the band to the attention of the world outside Los Angeles for the first time. It was so well received, they quickly replaced one of the tracks on their first album with the new song, and released a revised version of the debut album a few months later.
In the midst of nearly constant recording sessions and live performances, Palmer was arrested on drug charges (marijuana possession) and deported to Canada. At the same time, Young and Stills were disagreeing not only with the producers but with one another over the way their next album should be produced.
Buffalo Springfield's Revolving Door
About the time Palmer returned in June 1967, Young left. His replacement for the Monterey Pop Festival was a future band mate, David Crosby. Young returned a few months later, in time to finish the band's second album,
Buffalo Springfield Again. This time, Atlantic Records chief
Ahmet Ertegun himself stepped in to produce the album, which a good many critics and fans consider to be the best of the band's three releases.
With the success of the second album, things were looking bright again. There was an appearance on a popular prime time network show,
Mannix and an invitation to tour with the
Beach Boys.
But it wasn't long before the train ran off the tracks again. In January 1968, Palmer was busted and deported again. This time, he was replaced by Jim Messina, then better known as a producer and recording engineer than as a musician. In addition to playing bass, Messina produced and engineered the final Buffalo Springfield album, the aptly titled
Last Time Around.
The decision to call it quits came after yet another drug bust, but this time it involved Young, Furay, Messina, and
Eric Clapton. Buffalo Springfield made their final concert appearance in May 1968, barely two years after their first performance.
The Buffalo Springfield Legacy
Except for a handful of songs -- "On the Way Home," radio staple "For What It's Worth" and concert staple "Bluebird" -- the band is best known as serving as a launch pad for many of its members.
Stills and Young joined forces with David Crosby from The Byrds and Graham Nash of
The Hollies. Various groupings of
Crosby Stills Nash & Young members are still performing today.
Furay and Messina hooked up with Rusty Young to form
Poco. Later, Furay teamed with J.D. Souther (songwriter for artists like
Eagles and
Linda Ronstadt) and Chris Hillman (The Byrds,
Flying Burrito Brothers and Stills' band, Manassas) to form the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. Messina later hooked up with Kenny Loggins to launch Loggins and Messina.
Life After Buffalo Springfield
In September 1968, Martin put together New Buffalo Springfield, though he was the only member of the original band in the lineup. Young and Stills filed suit over the use of the band name, and the project folded after a few months.
In 1984, Martin and Palmer formed Buffalo Springfield Revisited (with the blessings of Young and Stills this time) and toured for more than four years. Palmer died in 2004, Martin in 2009.
A one-off performance at Young's annual Bridge School Benefit concert in 2010 grew into a successful tour in the summer of 2011 for surviving original members Young, Stills and Furay.
In spite of the internal acrimony and lack of blockbuster commercial success, Buffalo Springfield left one other legacy. Through it all, they were consummate professionals in the studio and on stage, and produced work of consistently high quality.
