Cimarron 615 will honor the legacy of Rusty Young, the legendary guitarist, songwriter and co-founder of Poco, with the album Circle of Friends – A Rusty Young Tribute, arriving February 23, 2027, on what would have been Young’s 81st birthday. The album captures a special live tribute concert recorded June 18, 2021, at Rimrock Ranch in Pioneertown, just outside Joshua Tree National Park, two months after Young’s passing.

The first single, “Legend“, written by Young and featured on Poco’s first platinum album, is out now. A full video recording of the concert, along with documentary interviews, will also be released online February 23, 2027.

Young was a driving force in Poco and Californian Country-Rock. His songwriting, musicianship and pedal steel guitar playing remain an enduring part of that legacy.
 
The tribute brings together a collection of Young’s songs and Poco favorites, performed by Cimarron 615 alongside a lineup of friends and fellow Blue Élan labelmates.
 
Cimarron 615 grew out of the musical connections forged during the tribute concert and the recording projects that followed. The band’s original lineup included Jack Sundrud, Michael Webb, Rick Lonow, Bill Lloyd and Tom Hampton. Sundrud, Lonow and Hampton were members of Poco at the time, while Webb had previously spent eight years with the band. Lloyd also shared a history with Young as a member of the Sky Kings, the group they formed in the 1990s following a Poco hiatus.

Following the tribute concert, Cimarron 615 continued as a band, eventually settling into its current four-piece lineup of Sundrud, Webb, Lonow and Ronnie Guilbeau. The group has since released three albums, building on the shared musical history and California country-Rock roots that brought them together in the first place.