America 'Here & Now' album

In the midst of their fourth decade of music making, America have been perennials on the concert circuit for 34 years, pleasing their loyal fan base and attracting new generations of followers. The band’s new 2-CD set, Here & Now is a spectacular distillation of the group’s signature sound past and present, comprising one studio record of all new material and a second live disc taped at XM Radio featuring renditions of songs found on the group’s multi-platinum greatest hits album, History.

Their new studio album is a fresh blast of classic Americana shaped by the contemporary sensibilities of producers Adam Schlesinger (Fountains Of Wayne) and James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) and features guests, Ryan Adams, Ben Kweller, Ira Elliot and Matthew Caws (Nada Surf) and Jim James and Patrick Hallahan (My Morning Jacket),Stephen Bishop and Mark Rozzo (Maplewood). “One of the main attractions for Adam (Schlesinger) and James (Iha) was their initial love of the America sound,” explains Gerry Beckley. “We have intentionally tried to keep that being the main focus. We’re not trying to emulate or go backwards but the initial ingredients have always remained common to us, which were an abundance of acoustic instrument sounds, a lot of vocal harmony and interesting melodies and lyrics in the forefront.“ Dewey adds, “Adam and James are terrific to work with. We’ve tried to maintain the elements of our own traditions so those things haven’t changed. We’re not moving into electronic music but there are a few quirky things on the album. We’re doing a few outside tracks including “Always Love” by Nada Surf.”

The world discovered America in 1972 when a nameless horse began its gallop across the international airwaves. If this sounds like some sort of fairy tale, it seemed like one for the young musicians who harmonized their way to the top of the charts on the strength of their signature song. "A Horse With No Name" made America a global household name, paving the way for an impressive string of hits following in its wake. Slightly more than a year after launching the group, Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek were bonafide superstars, thanks to a timeless sound that seamlessly assimilated strands of rock, pop and folk elements into a thrilling musical stew.

America's journey has found them exploring a wide variety of musical terrain. Their best-known tunes, which also include "I Need You," "Ventura Highway," "Don't Cross The River," "Tin Man," "Lonely People," and "Sister Golden Hair" were cornerstones of 70’s Top 40 and FM rock radio. Yet beyond their impressive catalog of hits, listeners would discover there was always much more to America than surface perceptions. The combination of Gerry Beckley’s melodic pop rock and Dewey Bunnell’s use of folk-jazz elements, slinky Latin-leaning rhythms and impressionistic lyric imagery contrasted well with Dan Peek's more traditional country-rock leanings and highly personal lyrics.

America's albums--six certified gold and/or platinum, with their first greatest hits collection, History, hitting four-million in sales--displayed a fuller range of the trio's talents than did their singles. Their material encompassed an ambitious artistic swath; from effects-laden rockers to oddball medleys to soul-bearing ballads, America displayed a flawless blend of disparate genres and styles as wide-open as the great American plains.

Enjoying massive success early in their career, America earned their stripes as musical soldiers on the battlefield amidst the excess, craziness and chaos of the 70’s. Winning a Grammy for Best New Artist and landing a # 1 record while barely in your twenties came with its own pitfalls and the exacting pressures of their international stardom affected each member of the group.

By the mid-70s, inter-band conflicts combined with an exhaustive touring and recording schedule exacted its toll on the group. With Peek’s departure from the fold in 1977, his band mates rose to the challenge and carried on as a duo. Shifts in sound and direction, changes in producers and managers, and a renewed dedication to the craft of songwriting helped rocket America to the upper reaches of the pop charts in 1982 with their smash single, "You Can Do Magic." During this tumultuous time in their career, Beckley and Bunnell immersed themselves in their craft, infusing a newfound maturity into their rich body of work. And their growth as singers, songwriters and musicians has continued unabated into the present day as illustrated by such landmark releases as 1998's Human Nature, 2002’s Holiday Harmony, an album comprised of seasonal classics and the live showcases, 2000's 'America - Live' and 2002's Grand Cayman Concert.

America's songs have frequently dealt with themes of travel, displacement and restlessness illustrated on such early compositions as "A Horse With No Name" and "Ventura Highway" through more recent tunes like "From A Moving Train." Issued in 2000, their comprehensive box set, Highway, deftly captured the artistic highlights of a spectacular career.

From their formative years, America has been a band capable of transcending borders with its uplifting music and positive message. Embracing a rainbow of divergent cultures, America’s audiences continue to grow, comprising a loyal legion of first, second and third generation fans, all bearing testament to the group’s enduring appeal. "I think that the ingredients of the America sound are the basic fundamentals that translate internationally," explains Beckley. "The Italians are huge fans of dance music, but they also love a ballad--they're romantic at heart. It's the same in the Far East. A lot of times in these countries, we see people singing along, and they don't really know what the words mean. Music is truly the international language."

It's been a long ride indeed for these two old friends. "We've grown up in a world of show biz, seen styles change, seen technology change," Bunnell muses. "But basically Gerry and I have stayed very much the same. We still have those standards in songwriting that we were hoping to establish. We've lived pretty full lives and managed to hold on to some sanity, although the world seems crazier every day."

From anonymous horses to fast-moving trains, America’s extraordinary four-decade musical legacy of consummately crafted pop/rock songs, trademark lush harmonies and evocative lyrical landscapes will never go out of style.

Track by Track

Disc One
1. Chasing The Rainbow (Gerry Beckley)
Gerry Beckley: Although the song appears light in message, I tried to touch on some deeper things. The song’s about how we’re always looking for something better. I used that analogy about chasin’ the rainbow and how you never quite get there. In constructing the song, I made a conscious effort to build a song in a typical America form. It’s an acoustic song and I used a pretty signature opening guitar lick. So in that sense it was kind of written by design.

2. Indian Summer (Mark Rozzo; additional lyrics by Dewey Bunnell)
Dewey Bunnell: “Indian Summer” is by this young band called Maplewood. It’s a very apropos choice for a cover song in conjunction with our sound because it lends itself very much to our vocal harmonies and the imagery in the lyric is very visual; it kind of has a “Ventura Highway” vibe. It’s always different for me to sing someone else’s song and interpret their lyrics. But this song was similar to one that I’d write. It was very descriptive of an Indian summer. I added two more lines to the third verse, “reflections on the sea,” “fireflies on the lawn.”

3. One Chance (Gerry Beckley)
Gerry Beckley: “One Chance” is a song I wrote quite a few years ago. In submitting an abundance of material to Adam (Schlesinger) and James (Iha), I’m so glad that they managed to dig this out. It shows you that you sometimes need to mine all the little things you have lying around. And it just may be my favorite song on the whole record. It has a pretty straight forward theme which touches on, “do we really only get this one chance in life?” and how important that is in building relationships.

4. Golden (Jim James)
Gerry Beckley: I’ve been a fan of My Morning Jacket for quite a while. “Golden” comes from the group’s It Still Moves album. It’s a beautiful song that we felt we could really do justice to and I hope that’s the case. We were very fortunate to be able to find in them people that were fans of ours. Jim James, who wrote it and the group’s drummer, Patrick Hallahan, came in and played on it.
Dewey Bunnell: “Golden” is an interesting song. It grew on me. This album in general needs a couple of listens because there’s a lot going on. “Golden” feels like an old dust bowl depression-era song. As a writer you write for your own voice. When I sing that song it feels like a different voice of mine that I’m getting to use.

5. Always Love (Matthew Caws)
Gerry Beckley: “Always Love” was written by Matthew Caws, the lead singer and writer in Nada Surf. “Always Love” was quite a big independent hit. To be honest, the only thing in question about this song was we wondered if it had been too big of a hit. It had been used on Laguna Beach and a few other high visibility places on television. But we really loved the song. This album wasn’t going to be a project where we picked a ton of outside material; we wanted it to really be mostly self penned stuff. But we felt that there was gonna be room for some carefully selected songs. “Always Love” was a very strong song. In Nada Surf’s version it was quite a bit heavy. I thought the song was strong enough on its own that it didn’t have to have the power chords. If we brought it back and substituted some of that with vocal harmonies and acoustic guitars that it would be equally as strong and probably a bit more signature America.

6. Ride On (Dewey Bunnell/Adam Schlesinger)
Dewey Bunnell: “Ride On” is the closest thing to a rocker for me on this album. Ryan Adams plays a real retro guitar on it and Ben Kweller plays a little electric piano ala Ray Manzarek of The Doors. I also do a solo at the end; it’s my only electric solo on the record. “Ride On” is a retro sounding song that has a Sixties psychedelic feel. Adam added some “sha la la’s” vocal pad things to the pre-chorus that drew it into a little more of a pop vein from it being just a jam song. The theme is about pushing on. (Recites lyrics) “Ride on into the driving rain and if your journey should end in the promised land be sure to speak with a voice loud and true.” It’s a rallying song.

7. Love And Leaving (Gerry Beckley/Bill Mumy)
Gerry Beckley: Bill Mumy is one of our oldest friends and he’s become one of my favorite collaborators. He’s more of a lyricist. In the case of “Love And Leaving” it’s a song that I had that I really liked but was in desperate need of some help in finishing it. Bill came on board and provided priceless help in completing the song. I almost thought “Love And Leaving” would be a good album title because so often a lot of my songs are about one or the other.

8. Look At Me Now (Gerry Beckley)
Gerry Beckley: “Look At Me Now” is somewhat tongue in cheek. It’s a about a guy who has broken up with a girl and he’s really not doing very well at all. But he’s trying to have that conversation with his ex saying, “Hey, look how great I’m doin’. I’m shining my shirt. I’ve ironed my shoes.”

9. This Time (Dewey Bunnell/Gerry Beckley)
Dewey Bunnell: “This Time” is a real interesting song; it’s a little out of the norm for me at least. It’s got kind of a show tune feel. I wrote the lyrics and Gerry wrote the music. The theme of this one lyrically is the traveling salesman once again hitting the road and saying goodbye to his wife and this time he’s gonna make it. You’re not sure what he’s selling but he’s getting on the train to head out and make his fortune for the umpteenth time.
Gerry Beckley: When I’ve been writing with Dewey lately I will build a variety of tracks for him to take back to his house and listen to see what he hears and which songs inspire him. “This Time” came about in that kind of collaboration. He completely created the scenario and it’s almost a movie. As we were recording the song, James (Iha), one of our producers was envisioning the video. The lyric is a wonderful story about, “‘We’re gonna get it right, this time.”

10. Work To Do (Adam Schlesinger)
Gerry Beckley: I had been emailing Adam (Schlesinger) back and forth for about a year and a half, sending songs and getting his comments. That really was the genesis of this whole project. At one point, I said, “Where do you think we take this from here?” Adam said, “I think we ought to cut a couple of things and see how it goes.” We felt that if I was gonna come to New York to cut a couple of things that we should do one of mine and one of his. We picked “Work To Do” as a very strong example of a good Fountains Of Wayne type of song. It has very strong pop elements and a great lyric. We were trying to make that link with our two bands and “Work To Do” is a good example of that.

11. All I Think About Is You (Gerry Beckley)
Gerry Beckley: “All I Think About Is You” is another song of mine that had been around for years. In a very bizarre twist this song was covered man many years ago when Bill Mumy was producing Wild Man Fischer. A couple of pivotal albums for me were the first McCartney solo album and After The Gold Rush by Neil Young. There’s something about the home constructed-ness of both of those albums that really made a mark on me for a long time in my songwriting. In “All I Think About Is You” I really wanted to try and capture that. We intentionally kept that song as simple as possible.

12. Walk In The Woods (Dewey Bunnell)
Dewey Bunnell: “Walk In The Woods” is my most personal song on the album. It’s purely inspired by my new life here in the woods in Wisconsin with my wife and my daughter. It’s another of my outdoor-y type songs about walking in the woods. (Recites lyrics) “Would it matter to you if we just took a walk to see where this trail leads to...”

Disc Two
1. Ventura Highway (Dewey Bunnell)
Dewey Bunnell: “Ventura Highway” is my most cohesive song in terms of staying power and that little spark of youthful optimism and the California thing. That was inspired literally by the stretch of Pacific Coast Highway in California—Oxnard and Ventura all the way up to Santa Maria. I wrote this in England reminiscing about California and that sun and surf thing.

2. Don't Cross the River (Dan Peek)
Dewey Bunnell: “Don’t Cross The River” has that country flair. Dan (Peek) was raised in Missouri and that’s traditionally our most country-esque song

3. Daisy Jane (Gerry Beckley)
Gerry Beckley: For many years I kept a second home in East Sussex in the south of England. The song wasn’t about anybody in particular. There was a fantastic song by Nick Drake called “Hazy Jane” and that voice kind of stuck in my mind. So I think I somehow morphed that into “Daisy Jane.” There was no such person as “Daisy Jane” and I had never even been to Memphis. So it was all created in my mind as I sat at this little upright piano in this 400 year-old cottage I lived at in the south of England.

4. I Need You (Gerry Beckley)
Gerry Beckley: “I Need You” was one of the first songs I ever wrote. At the time I sensed it was special. I was listening to a lot of John’s Lennon’s first solo album, Plastic Ono Band, and it was incredibly simple. I remember wanting to write a song with that kind of simplicity to it. I got quite lucky with that one. It was a very successful song for us.

5. Tin Man (Dewey Bunnell)
Dewey Bunnell: “Tin Man” is kind of a hodgepodge of lyrical imagery. Usually when I write a song some single line inspires me. I have always loved The Wizard Of Oz. The basic premise that everyone has a brain or a heart or courage is that line, “Oz never did give nothing to the tin man that he didn’t already have.” That’s the central theme of the song. There’s a lot of kaleidoscopic imagery in the song. In those days you tried to cram as much into the three minutes as you could and that’s what I was doing with that song.

6. Muskrat Love (Willis Alan Ramsey)
Gerry Beckley: Originally this song was brought to us by our bass player, David Dickey. He was a big fan of the Willis Alan Ramsey album, One, which was a fantastic earthy album produced by Leon Russell. When we heard the song we thought it had some great harmonies and we worked it up as the cover song for Hat Trick album. It became a single and that caused a bit of a fuss because we were known to be singer/songwriters. To highlight the one song that we hadn’t written was a bit awkward. Years later, Captain & Tennille recorded it. They thought it was our song. They homogenized any of the remaining soul out of it and claimed it for themselves.

7. Woman Tonight (Dan Peek)
Dewey Bunnell: There’s a real offbeat, off kilter type of reggae-esque rhythm in that. The time signature and the rhythm are the real driving forces of that song. We do it live and recreate that rhythmic feel onstage. It stands out as a separate entity by virtue of that rhythm. It’s got its own identity.

8. Only In Your Heart (Gerry Beckley)
Gerry Beckley: “Only In Your Heart” is a pretty straight-forward pop song. A friend of ours back in England was having problems with his girlfriend and I remember listening to him go on about all the problems they were having. I somehow kind of used that as a seed to build this song.

9. Lonely People (Peek/Peek)
Gerry Beckley: “Lonely People” is a great composition by Dan Peek. I heard it said one time that it had the greatest opening line of any song ever, “this is for all the lonely people.” That song was used with footage of the Apollo astronauts jumping around on the surface of the moon. I always keep that image in my mind of these guys walking around on the moon with the song.

10. Sandman (Dewey Bunnell)
Dewey Bunnell: “Sandman” was loosely based lyrically on returning Vietnam vets. “I understand you’ve been running from the man that goes by the name of the sandman” is kind of a reference to quotes from some of the soldiers about how they didn’t want to go to sleep because they didn’t know what was gonna happen. I tried to put myself in that place, at least for that line. It’s morphed into quite an electric song on stage now.

11. Sister Golden Hair (Gerry Beckley)
Gerry Beckley: “Sister Golden Hair” was actually written an album or two before it appeared on Hearts. The song itself is a mixture of different things and experiences I’ve had. The first question that people ask is, “Is it about anybody in particular?” And the answer is no. My mom always thought, “Oh, he’s written a song about his sister,” which always amazed me. It isn’t about a sibling. Musically, it was a nod to “My Sweet Lord” and the big 12-string guitar opening and the slide guitar. That’s something I was a huge fan of, not only through the Beatles career but as they all branched off and did their own thing.

12. A Horse With No Name (Dewey Bunnell)
Dewey Bunnell: That was our debut single. The song is a fairly straight ahead description of the sights and sounds of the desert. It’s not cryptic. The horse itself is a sort of enigma but that was basically just a vehicle to get into the desert. The rest of the song is my love of various eco-systems, the desert being one. It has a little bit of an environmental message with the line, “under the cities lies a heart made of ground but the humans will give no love.” That was pretty much the whole gist of it. I wrote it in England in the rain so it was a way to get myself out of the rain a little, “it’s good to be out of the rain.”

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America - Here & Now