America (the Band) in Atlanta (04/01/16)....

Disclaimer: I wrote this thing on April 2nd. Just forget to post it. LOL. So it was 4 weeks ago tonight. LOL.

Last night was another one of BBG's concert road trip nights. I had the opportunity to finally see America (the band) in concert. If memory serves me correctly I wrote about their music a couple of years ago and now the circle is complete with this blog. I bought a great seat for this show on one of my concert buying search and buy soirees. You know one of those nights where I've had the opportunity to indulge in my liking of hops and I am looking for concerts in my backyard. LOL. Atlanta is my backyard. I only drove 300 miles round trip for this show. It's like going to the grocery store for regular humanoids.

So anyways I left work a little bit early as the show had a start time of 730pm. At the best of times the drive into Atlanta from the Upstate can be a dicey timing adventure. I'd say about 60% of the drive is on a portion of I85 that is only two lanes wide in both directions. It's truly hit or miss whether or not it will be a smooth drive. Tons of truck traffic on this 225 mile stretch of highway between Charlotte and Atlanta. I kind of lucked out as the weather was pretty much overcast with no rain and miracles of miracles there was not a single wreck or stalled car on the drive south. My trusty Google Maps app was bang on giving me an ETA of around 645pm to cover the 149 miles from HNA. I ended up at Atlanta Symphony Hall as planned and had no issues finding parking. Harrison had given me a heads up on where to park as he had been to the same place for a comedy show a couple weeks prior. Jeune Homme and I both have a penchant for taking semi-long drives to see shows. LOL. We don't only share the height thing it seems. Cool thing was parking was only $10 in one of those mega parking structures that they have in Atlanta. I am used to the usual $20 rate when in the big city.

So I made my way into Symphony Hall which as the name describes it is not a typical concert barn. Jeepers the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is the main tenant of this venue. No frozen margarita concoctions or Fireball shots are to be had at this venue. LOL. I had to settle for a $6 bottle of Beck's beer being served to me by someone dressed as an usher at a formal black tie wedding. Me in my standard canvas cargo shorts was an anomaly here. LOL. There were more than a few blue-haired ladies and yellow pants wearing men that maybe thought that tonight's performance was going to be all about Neil Diamond's song "Coming To America" as opposed to a performance of two of the three original voices of the the 2nd most popular 3-part harmony acts of the early 70s. The 1st band I guess was Crosby, Stills and Nash but for the 4 year period starting in '72 and ending in '75, America had 11 Top 100 hits of which 6 songs hit the Top 10 and 2 of them hit #1 and they could lay claim to being the top American folk rock band of the land.

As I mentioned I had a seat 4 rows from the stage which was totally awesome. I was ready to be entertained and I was not disappointed. America formed in 1970 when three sons of Americans stationed near London met in university. The original band was the triumvirate of Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and the late Dan Peek. Dan Peek was an integral part of the band from 1970 to 1977. He co-wrote and sang lead on 4 of America's hits. These being "Don't Cross The River", "Woman Tonight", "Today's The Day" and the beautiful "Lonely People". Dan left the band in 1977 after going through some health and addiction issues. Gerry and Dewey have been performing together for 46 years. Yikes. That's amazing. You can see and sense their friendship and camaraderie even after all this time as they gently teased each other throughout the evening about the types of music they perform. Gerry does the mushy love stuff ("I Need You" and "Daisy Jane") as Dewey mentioned and Dewey does the spacier druggy songs ("Sandman" and "Green Monkey") as Gerry mentioned. Dewey did mention that his daughter and grandchild were sitting exit stage left as they live in the Atlanta area. He said it was a bit like a homecoming for him visiting his daughter and family.

The setlist contained 19 songs from 8 albums and 1 soundtrack. It featured all of their popular hits throughout the years except for "Muskrat Love". I never did get that song. I for one always thought it was a Captain and Tennile song. LOL. I never got a good vibe just from the title of the song. Muskrats really? Throughout the evening Gerry and Dewey talked about their songs and where they were when they were writing them and what they meant to them. They also talked about the 3 covers that they performed ("California Dreaming", "Woodstock" and "Til I Hear It Again"). The story about being on a triple bill with the Mamas and the Papas and the Beach Boys and all bands performing "California Dreaming" was amusing. America was the first act to hit the stage and as they said they set the bar pretty high with their version of the song. LOL. Dewey and Gerry tour with the bass player Richard Campbell formerly of Three Dog Night who joined the band in 2003 and two relatively new additions since 2014 being drummer Ryland Steen formerly from Reel Big Fish and lead guitarist Bill Worrell who as Gerry put it is in the band to attract cougars to the shows. LOL. Bill is in early to mid-30s and is a great rock guitarist. Dewey and Gerry are very generous and let their band do some solos and have some fun on stage.

Anyways here's the setlist:
1. Tin Man
2. You Can Do Magic
3. Don't Cross The River
4. Daisy Jane
5. Riverside
6. I Need You
7. Ventura Highway
8. Woodstock (Joni Mitchell cover)
9. Cornwall Blank
10. Til I Hear It From You (Gin Blossoms cover)
11. The Border
12. Green Monkey
13. Woman Tonight
14. Only In Your Heart
15. California Dreamin' (The Mamas and the Papas cover)
16. Lonely People
17. Sandman
18. Sister Goldenhair
19. Horse With No Name (encore)

All in all it was a super enjoyable show and a trip down memory lane. Definitely would see them again and again in concert. As Gerry mentioned "we have been doing a 100 shows a year for 46 years and as long as you continue coming to our shows, we will continue to visit your towns". The Kinks released a live album in the early 80s called "Give The People What They Want". America definitely does that!

America - I Need You ('74)

So the other night in another one of those "I can't sleep once again" so I may just was as well get up and putter around for a bit. So the TV comes on and I am off to the races trying to find something that will occupy my time and mind for a little while until I can get back to sleep.

One of the channels was running a Time-Life 30 miniute promo show on singer-songwriters from the 70s and it was hosted by Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley. Unless you grew up listening to their music on CKGM back in the day; you probably know them better as America.

As I was listening and watching to the show which has a pretty amazing setlist by the way, I started thinking about the band and their string of hits back in the early 70s.

My older stepbrother M had their eponymous 1st album "America". At least I think he did. LOL. Memories get a little hazy when they are nearly four decades old. I know that he had Jethro Tull's "Thick As A Brick". I'm pretty sure that he had the "America" album as well. I was in grade three back then living on the corner of Notre Dame and 100th in Chomedey, Laval.

Anyways the first hit off the album was "A Horse With No Name" which has the unforgettable "la la, la, la la la la, la la la, la, la" chorus which became a million seller when actual 45s were released in a format that you see and touch. This first hit became a precursor to the signature "America" sound. The accoustic guitars, the harmonies, the catchy choruses and the story song.

You'd be surprised at how many words you know to their songs. It's as if the lyrics seeped into your subconscious to be promptly remembered when you hear an America song on the radio or TV somewhere.

The second hit off the album was this beautiful and sad ballad written by Gerry Beckley that inspired this blog. I've noticed that it always seems to be the sad songs that affect me or touch me. Does that mean that I suffer from melancholia or some other affectation? Or does it just mean that a song like this triggers a memory? You know even a sad memory typically is rooted in a good memory. Take this song. It talks about losing or having lost one that you loved. You wouldn't have the sadness without having experienced the happiness. As the lyric goes " I need you like the winter needs the spring". The good and the bad.

Another track that got airplay was "Sandman" which is one of the heavier songs that the band released. This song was tailor-made for album-oriented rock stations.

Less than a year later, America released "Homecoming" which featured Dewey Bunnell's "Ventura Highway" which featured the accoustic sound, the catchy chorus, the harmonies and the story. I think I see a pattern here. LOL.

Their third album "Hat Trick" was released in 1973. Three albums released in 33 months. That is prolific. This one though didn't do as well commercially as the first two. They had a minor hit with a song written not by a bandmember called "Muskrat Love". That song was remade and was a bigger hit by The Captain and Tennile. The less said about this song the better. It's actually about muskrats. Ranks right up there with Michael Jackson's "Ben" as an ode to a rodent. The hallucigenics in the 70s must be the reason for these songs dedicated to rodents. LOL.

Less than a year later, America released "Holiday" which found them near the top of the charts once again. They had brought in the Beatles producer George Martin to help out and this resulted in the top ten hit "Tin Man" which had the "America" formula down pat once again. This album also had the inspirational "Lonely People" which was also was a top ten hit. This one was written by the third key member of the band Dan Peek. This was the first song that featured him singing as well and becoming a hit.

America had a unique way of writing for their albums. Their albums typically had ten songs. Three written solo by each member. Sometimes credit would be given to the other members if they added to the song when it was being recorded. They would also bring in a song from a non-band member to round out the album.

In the spring of '75, America released another George Martin produced album named "Hearts" which featured another huge hit. This being "Sister Golden Hair". Another one of those super-catchy singing along songs.

They tried to repeat the formula a couple more times with George Martin but the albums didn't last long on the charts. They hit the top twenty on Billboard album charts with songs being played on AOR stations but they only had minor radio hits so these didn't generate huge sales for the band.

They underwent some changes as bands do when things slowdown with Dan Peek leaving the band to become a fulltime Christian-themed artist. Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley kept releasing albums and they made it back to the charts in 1982 with the Russ Ballard penned "You Can Do Magic". Listening to that song is as if Ballard wrote it specifically for them to sing. It has that "America" sound.

About a year ago, we used to drop in on a pretty regular basis on Friday nights at Fitzpatricks on Laurens Rd. for sweet potato fries, Harp or Gaelic ale on tap and to listen to the 2 or 3 person bands that they would bring in to entertain on Fridays. One of the bands was a couple of guys a little older than I that would always have a couple of America tracks in their set. As I mentioned above, immediately the words would come back as they would play the songs.

A good remember when. Smiles.