Published: June 19, 2008 09:55 am         

MUSIC: America rolls into Artpark

Dewey Bunnell of America admits that he thought the group by the end of the 1990s was probably entering a phase of being a touring-only act.

He and bandmate Gerry Beckley were still writing songs and had released two albums earlier that decade, “Hourglass” and “Human Nature.” But both came and went with little notice, largely because they were on independent record labels with limited resources for promotion and distribution.

“I really did sort of in my own mind resign myself to the fact that the recording career was all but finished,” Bunnell said in a recent phone interview. “We had some good innings, and then there are younger fans and different formats on radio, and that’s the nature of the beast.”

But Bunnell’s thinking just might be premature. America is now back with a two-CD set, “Here & Now,” which features one disc of new studio material and a second disc that comes from a concert recorded for XM Satellite Radio that features Bunnell, Beckley and their touring band playing the group’s classic hits.

Part of what’s interesting about the studio recordings for “Here & Now” is they involve some unlikely collaborations. The CD, which was released about a year ago, was co-produced by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and James Iha, the former guitarist with Smashing Pumpkins – two artists associated with modern rock, not the kind of relaxed country pop for which America is known.

In addition, the group covers a tune by Nada Surf (“Always Love”) and My Morning Jacket (“Golden”) and guest musicians on the CD include Ryan Adams and Ben Kweller.

The beginnings of the collaboration can be traced to Beckley, who along with Bunnell had become fans Fountains Of Wayne. Beckley struck up an e-mail correspondence with Schlesinger.

“It turned out he was a fan of the band,” Beckley said in a separate phone interview. “As that kind of developed, we were swapping songs and sending things back and forth, and he said why don’t you come to New York and we’ll try a couple of things? So it all developed very organically, and to tell you the truth, that vibe, kind of just followed through the whole project.”

The involvement of the notable names from the alternative rock scene, Bunnell said, helped America get its deal with Burgundy Records, which has major label distribution through Sony.

“We had been striking out to some degree with labels, major labels, for quite awhile,” Bunnell said.

Despite the involvement of Schlesinger, Iha and the others, the new songs on “Here & Now” sound very much like America

“Those guys were so sympathetic, Adam and James,” Beckley said. “It really wasn’t a case of let’s bring these guys into the new millennium.”

Melodic, easy-going country-tinged songs like “Love & Leaving,” “Indian Summer” and “Chasing The Rainbow” all sound like they could have been on one of America’s early records. That’s not to say the songs sound dated. Instead, it’s more a reflection of the timeless consistency of the group’s music.

The group began as a trio -- with Dan Peek as the third member -- after meeting while attending London Central High School (each was born to an American father and British mother). Using acoustic instruments as a foundation for their songs, they released a self-titled debut in 1971.

It made only a modest impact originally, but when Bunnell finished a song he’d originally titled “Desert Song,” the producer of the album, Ian Samwell, had the group re-title the song “Horse With No Name” and release it as a single. The song quickly caught on, and was added to the first album, which was re-released in 1972, and became a huge hit.

The hot streak continued with the second album, “Homecoming,” and its signature hit, “Ventura Highway,” before a third album, the musically ambitious “Hat Trick,” slumped somewhat on the charts. But America rebounded in 1974 with “Holiday,” which featured the hits “Tin Man” and “Lonely People” and with the 1975 release, “Hearts,” which included “Sister Golden Hair.”

The producer on the latter two albums was none other than George Martin, who of course had gained considerable fame for producing the Beatles.

“Gerry was in L.A. for the (James) Bond ‘Live and Let Die,’ Paul McCartney (premier), and we were certainly looking for a producer at that point,” Bunnell said. “The fact that George was in town, why not, let’s just start there and work our way down the list. He was totally receptive right from the very beginning.

“I think timing was everything,” Bunnell said. “He really did want to get into something, another project, with an artist he could work with and mold a little bit…After the Beatles, that had to have left a void. He’s never verbalized that to me, but I think that had to (appeal to him). We were young guys, very keen, very energetic, and we were successful. So he had this kind of package there. So he said sure, let’s give it a shot.”

Martin ended up producing five more America albums, sticking with the group after Peek left in 1977. And while the collaboration resulted in some strong music and a lasting friendship, after “Hearts,” the group’s popularity started fading, and it wasn’t until 1982, and the album “View From The Ground” that America enjoyed a brief resurgence with the top 10 hit “You Could Do Magic.”

Probably a bigger factor in America’s decline than any musical or personnel issues, though, was the rise of disco, punk and new wave in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.

With America seemingly out of step with the music scene, there was a brief moment, Bunnell said, when a switch to country music was suggested – and emphatically rejected.

“Why would we want to now go be chaps-wearing country guys? That wasn’t our thing, even though we liked country music and still do,” Bunnell said. “It wasn’t like we could just say ‘Hi country people. Now we’re one of you.’”

Instead, America soldiered on, releasing a steady stream of albums into the mid-1980s, while maintaining a healthy fan base through touring, but never again getting much support from radio.

But the pace of recording – and interest within the music industry in America – waned as the ‘80s and ‘90s wore on.

“Here & Now,” though, might give the duo a fighting chance to extend the recording career. And this winter America continues what has been a busy tour schedule.

Beckley said fans can expect a hit-laden set, plus a mix of new songs and older album tracks.

“We of course do the hits,” Beckley said. “We have basically a whole evening of hits, which is our good fortune. Very often classic rock bands you wait around for those one or two songs, and in our case, although maybe people don’t quite know it when they go in there, they very quickly remember oh yeah, I forgot about that one. So there’s a whole evening of that stuff.

“The challenge from year to year is how to mix it up, not so much for our own sake as for the fans who come back to repeat shows,” he said. “But we’ve got 20 or 30 albums or so to pick stuff from. To be honest, it’s not like a tough challenge, but every year we want to mess it up a little bit with different album cuts and stuff. So that’s how we do it.”



—Alan Sculley is a St. Louis-based freelance writer.



IF YOU GO

* WHAT: America concert

* WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday

* WHERE: Artpark, 450 S. Fourth St., Lewiston

* MORE INFORMATION: Call 754-4375 or visit artpark.net