Monday, April 30, 2007

It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw

AM Gold rockers America are back with a new album and a massive set of tour dates that take them through April 2008. Principal group members Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell comprise the backbone of the reunited band. They are the writers of some of the best soft-rock acoustic tunes ever created in 'Horse With No Name', 'Ventura Highway', 'Sister Goldenhair', 'Lonely People', and 'Tin Man'. I would have loved to have caught America on their summer tour, but they're sharing the bill with perennial summer tourers Chicago. Unless Peter Cetera is on board, I'm not going to see Chicago.

Interestingly, Ryan Adams and James Iha participated in the recording of the band's new album. How's that for some hipster cred? I had the pleasure of scaring the crap out of Mr. Iha, with my knowledge of his work on this disc, when my friend Erik cornered him outside an East Village eatery and then called me over to say hello. After unleashing this little known fact to James about his recent work with America, he must have been thinking about ringing the stalker alarm. Full disclosure: It was one of the weakest handshakes I have ever experienced.

This clip features America's performance on Letterman from 1/15/07, with Ryan Adams and Ben Kweller in tow.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Several years ago, a friend of mine sat in with America for a few shows - nice guys and one hell of a sing-along after the shows