Norman Russell “Rusty” Young, the guitarist and singer-songwriter best known as one of the leaders of the country-rock band Poco, has died. A press release from Young’s team confirms he died Wednesday at his home in Davisville, Missouri after suffering a heart attack. He was 75.

Young was born in Long Beach, California and raised in Denver, Colorado. He started playing the lap steel as a young child, developing what would become a world-renowned skill with the instrument. In particular, Young was known for his ability to re-create the sound of a Hammond B3 organ by running the lap steel through a Leslie speaker cabinet. As a teen in the ’60s he began playing in the Colorado psych rock band Boenzee Cryque. A fortuitous connection with Buffalo Springfield led to the band hiring Young to play lap steel on “Kind Woman” from their 1968 album Last Time Around.

Buffalo Springfield soon broke up, after which band members Richie Furay and Jim Messina formed Poco with Young plus Randy Meisner and George Grantham. Meisner was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit in 1969, and Paul Cotton subbed in for Messina in 1970. Despite a frequently shifting lineup, Poco released 19 albums between 1969 and 2013, peaking in popularity with 1978’s Legend, which spawned the top-20 hits “Crazy Love” and “Heart Of The Night.” All told, the band landed more than a dozen singles on Billboard‘s Hot 100, forging a place in history as one of country-rock’s formative bands. They erred on the genre’s softer side, maintaining a presence at adult contemporary radio for the better part of two decades.

Young announced his retirement from Poco in 2013 after serving as the band’s only constant member for 45 years, but today’s press release indicates that Poco still played as many as 100 shows a year around the US up to the time of Young’s death. Young is survived by his wife, Mary — with whom he lived in a log home overlooking the Huzzah Creek in Mark Twain National Forest — as well as a number of children and grandchildren. Rick Alter, Poco’s longtime manager, offered this statement: “Rusty was the most unpretentious, caring and idyllic artist I have ever worked with, a natural life force that he consistently poured into his music. To fans and fellow musicians alike, he was a once-in-a-lifetime musician, songwriter, performer and friend.”

Below, revisit some of Young and Poco’s hits.