I expected to see a good performance from Richie Furay Friday night at Stage One in Fairfield, but I was taken back by just how good.

With a five-piece band that includes multi-instrumentalist Scott Sellen and Furay’s daughter Jesse Lynch, Furay played a set that traveled from his past to the present, playing many songs that helped lay down the country-rock tradition, leaning heavily on rock, and are rarely played by any band today.

This is not just an aging musician running through songs with which he is associated. This is an extraordinary band.

When the opening song started with drummer Alan Lemke laying down a beat on his tom toms, I asked myself is that what I think it is? It was. This little band was playing Crazy Eyes, a Poco epic from the album of the same name from 1973. And the arrangement didn’t lack one bit.

Furay’s voice was full, clear and able to scale the heights he has always been known for on a song that demands it from the start. Every time I looked to the left of the stage Sellen was playing a different instrument. First electric piano, then banjo, then lap steel guitar and electric guitar.

It was a truly remarkable rendition that lasted 10 minutes and it was one of the first times in many concerts I saw an audience give a performer a genuine spontaneous standing ovation following the first tune that was for that tune and not just an obligatory one you often see to acknowledge a performer’s legacy.

The musicianship of the band, which also includes Sellen’s highly proficient son Aaron on bass, is remarkable. In the beginning of the set Furay went out of his way to give deserved praise to Scott Sellen, who drives the band with his electric guitar, including a number of tasty leads, as well his other instruments. Furay — who in a recent inverview said Crazy Eyes had never been performed live by anyone, including Poco — said Sellen was the one who convinced him the band could play it live and he was obviously right.

Furay has been part of seminal bands that paved the way in the 1960s for the future of rock and country-rock with Buffalo Springfield and Poco as well as the Souther, Hillman Furay Band. But it’s easily forgotten that he didn’t write a single song on the first Buffalo Springfield album, yet he was the voice of the band more than Stephen Stills and Neil Young, notwithstanding Still’s For What It’s Worth.

Furay sang many of Young’s early songs because the producers didn’t like Young’s voice and those tunes have always been tied to Furay. He doesn’t turn his back on that in concert. The second song of the night was a driving arrangement of Young’s On The Way Home, more in the tradition of Spencer Davis’ Keep On Running than the original from the Springfield’s Last Time Around. And later in the set Furay played a young medley of  Flying On The Ground Is Wrong, Do I Have To Come Right Out And Say It and Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing.

Although Young’s various vocal versions of these songs have trickled out over the years, particularly on his Archive Box this year, and they hold their fascination, there’s no denying Furay makes these songs his own with his vocal stylings.

Furay ran through several Poco numbers as well, including Pickin’ Up The Pieces after which he said “Forty years on, singing that song. Did I just say forty years on?” 

Furay is comfortable, genial and talkative on stage. He made his audience feel right at home as he talked about the recent reunion with his band, Poco and Loggins & Messina at a concert in Woodstock. He also told a story of how Poco’s manager turned down a spot at Woodstock in 1969 to book the band into a high school gig. “I’m not even sure where it was. Anyways, what a deal that was!”

He played the title track from his latest album Heartbeat Of Love and Believe Me from the Souther, Hillman Furay Band album before launching into the Springfield medley and then Jessie took a solo turn on Baby Why from Alive, a concert album recorded in 2007 in Colorado and released last year. Jessie’s voice is crystal clear like her father’s with an extended range and charismatic quality. They have a beautiful and powerful vocal blend, particularly when Sellen is added to the mix for three-part harmony.

More Springfield included Go And Say Goodbye, with an original arrangement that saw Sellen on banjo, and Child’s Claim To Fame, from Buffalo Springfield Again. A rousing Wake Up My Soul was followed by the early ’80s tune Through It All, then another medley this one with three Poco songs and another SHF Band number: And Settlin’ Down, Hurry Up, Fallin’ In Love and the driving, stomping conclusion in C’Mon.

After yet another Furay original from Again, Sad Memory, and Callin’ Out Your Name from Heartbeat, Furay closed with Good Feelin’ To Know, which had the audience not only on its feet but singing the choruses. Furay returned to play the classic Kind Woman from Last Time Around and Just For Me And You, a Poco tune on From The Inside.

I’ve always liked and appreciated Furay and his music. His performance with this collection of musicians though is something special and like the lyric in Pickin’ Up The Pieces, a little magical. A must see.