www.coachellavalleyweekly.com

AMERICA CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF FOLK-ROCK HITS AT FANTASY SPRINGS RESORT CASINO G

BY MICHAEL FELCI

rammy Award-winning folk-rock duo America is currently on tour in celebration of its 50th anniversary, including a stop at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino on Saturday, May 11 at 8 PM. Tickets are on now on sale at the Fantasy Springs Box Office, via phone (800) 827-2946 or online at www.FantasySpringsResort.com. Founded by singer-songwriters Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell (along with the late Dan Peek), the group is best known for its catalog of ’70s classic rock staples, including “A Horse With No Name,” “Ventura Highway,” “Sister Golden Hair,” “I Need You,” “Lonely People,” and “Tin Man.” Bunnell reflected on the group’s legacy in a recent interview. FELCI: America is associated with the California sound of the early 1970s, but the group has a myriad of influences. Can you talk about who those influences were, and tell us how your shared upbringing as the sons of Air Force personnel stationed in London shaped your sound? BUNNELL: “Being part of a military family involved moving to several bases around the country and the world during my youth, which exposed me to different cultures and lifestyles. In the early ’60s we lived in California and I discovered the surf music of the day — Dick Dale, the Ventures, the Surfaris and ultimately, the Beach Boys. That’s when I first picked up a guitar and began to teach myself the surf music instrumentals. By 1964, the Beatles arrived and the British Invasion music became a huge influence —I formed a band in the 8th grade playing songs like “House of the Rising Sun.” Then in 1966 my father was assigned to a base in England, where I spent my sophomore year of high school and continued to strum my guitar, and then we ultimately moved to London where I met Gerry and Dan and we graduated from high school together in 1969. During that time we shared our musical influences and sought out the live music and records of the day in London, seeing most of the great bands live like the Who, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones. Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. We absorbed the British music scene while also getting the American releases at the base. Our influences ranged from the Beach Boys and Beatles to Simon and Garfunkel, the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield and more.” FELCI: Take us back to 1971. You’re fresh out of high school and you’re making your first record for Warner Bros. What were your expectations at the time? BUNNELL: “It was the era of singersongwriters like Crosby, Stills & Nash, James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, and after high school we began writing our own songs. We spent a lot of time honing those early songs, working out the instrumentation and vocal harmonies. The idea that we might get a record deal became a reality and we were fortunate to meet Jeff Dexter and Ian

Samuel, who exposed our music to some label executives and we ultimately were signed to Warner Bros., recording and coproducing our first album at the ages of 17, 18 and 19. It was fast moving, exciting times as we built a local following and our music began getting airplay on the BBC, and before we knew it we were on the charts and doing shows with Elton John, Cat Stevens, the Who, Traffic and touring in Europe… Ultimately an important U.S. club tour broke the album back home.” FELCI: America’s debut album is now recognized as a folk-pop classic, but at the time it received a tepid reception from both fans and critics. It eventually shot to No. 1 when it re-released with the single, “A Horse With No Name.” Tell us about the mystery behind that song’s lyrics and how it became associated with Neil Young. BUNNELL: “Neil Young was certainly a big influence at the time and his first three solo albums made a major impact on me. He is an undeniably great songwriter. Nature has always been another interest in my life and I missed the times spent as a kid in different states hiking around the cornfields in Nebraska, the swamps in Mississippi and the deserts of the Southwest with my brother Chris. “Horse With No Name” was an attempt to recreate the sights and sounds of the desert in song on a rainy day in England. As it happened, we had finished the first album and the label asked if we had more tunes, so we offered up four songs between the three of us and that song was selected. It took off immediately upon its release on Nov. 12, 1971 in the U.K., which was in fact before “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young was released. Who knew it would bump “Heart of Gold” out of the top

position on the Billboard charts when it was released in the U.S. in January 1972!” FELCI: America eventually relocated to L.A. and expanded its sound by adding session musicians such as drummer Hal Blaine of the famed Wrecking Crew. A new documentary, “Echo in the Canyon,” explores that period — what do you recall about this golden era for singersongwriters? BUNNELL: “After doing a week at the Whisky A Go Go, our first club tour of the U.S. ended. We were barely back in England when we were approached by David Geffen and Elliot Roberts of Lookout Management for representation, and we jumped at the opportunity to join the L.A. music community. It was a special time to find ourselves befriending both our heroes like Brian Wilson and his brothers and the rest of the Beach Boys, CSNY and Joni Mitchell, and the newly formed members of the Eagles, as well as Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther and Joe Walsh. We hung out at the Troubadour and saw great shows around town while working on our second album.” Even though Gerry and Dan played bass, we were basically an acoustic trio so we needed a rhythm section. That’s when we became aware of the so called “Wrecking Crew” and were able to bring Hal Blaine and Joe Osbourne into the studio to help on drums and bass respectively, while we looked for a permanent musicians for the live show. It was “on-the-job training” at that point! FELCI: The song “Ventura Highway” has come to epitomize the warm Southern California sound of the era. Talk about the spirit of the lyrics and why it continues to resonate with so many.

April 25 to May 1, 2019

MUSIC

BUNNELL: “That’s another song that was written in England and inspired by my memories of living in California as a kid. I remembered being in the car with my family driving south into L.A., and watching the ocean out of the window and seeing the surfers and beach life going by. I saw the freeway signs showing the way to Ventura and we drove through the town and it stuck in my head in a very idealistic way. It didn’t hurt to also have Beach Boys music in my head as well!” FELCI: In the mid-’70s, George Martin was brought in as producer. As Beatles fans, how thrilling was it to work the man at the helm of “Sgt. Pepper’s,” “Revolver” and “Abbey Road”? Did you feel intimidated initially? BUNNELL: “The ‘George Martin Years,’ as we refer to them, were terrific. We ultimately released seven albums with George producing, including five studio albums, “History: America’s Greatest Hits” with earlier hits re-mixed by George, and “America Live.” He was a wonderful man and we had such a good time making all those albums in various locations like Hawaii, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Colorado and even working at George’s AIR Studios on the island Montserrat in the Caribbean. For the first album, “Holiday,” we were a bit concerned about how the experience would be with the great George Martin so we were as well rehearsed as possible before we headed over to London. But it went incredibly well and we got along very well with George producing and Geoff Emerick engineering. We remained life long friends with both of them. Sadly they are both gone now, but we will never forget those wonderful projects and the fun we all had.” FELCI: How did Dan Peek leaving in 1977 affect the band? Aside from the logistical challenges it presented, what was the emotional fallout? Did you ever consider disbanding the group all together? BUNNELL: “It was a rocky time for the band at that point. We had been together for seven years and had great success together. We had been pals in high school before that and it was sad to realize the trio would become a duo. There were no thoughts of disbanding or actually replacing Dan as such, but our longtime guitar tech, Michael Woods, took over Dan’s position as lead guitarist and we added two other players: Jimmie Calire on keyboards and saxophone, and Tom Walsh on percussion and vibes. It was a new sound for the live band at that time as we moved on. Meanwhile, Dan did very well with his solo continue to page 26

25