In
retrospect, everything turned out well, but Dewey Bunnell was
skeptical when America was presented with an opportunity to record
its first album for a major label in more than 20 years.
"I had my hesitations in the beginning," Bunnell said in a phone interview last week, "'cause it had been so long, and we had suffered disappointments with the previous projects of all-new material in the '90s. ... Nothing much happened with those, so I was very guarded going into this."
America, of course, was anathema among cool folk even during its heyday in the early 1970s, when it scored number-one hits with "A Horse with No Name" and "Sister Golden Hair."
And when Here & Now was released in January on Sony's Burgundy subsidiary, it almost begged for derision, with production by Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger and former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha, and guest turns by the likes of Ryan Adams, Ben Kweller, and My Morning Jacket. Hip-by-association as a strategy rarely does much except make everybody involved look silly and desperate.
But Here & Now is by most measures a success. It might not be a commercial hit - it peaked at 52 on the Billboard charts - but it's generated interest in America that singers and guitarists Bunnell and Gerry Beckley hadn't seen in nearly a quarter-century. Rolling Stone said its songs are "breezy and assiduously tuneful but skew dull," and though the review was lukewarm, it's still a review from Rolling Stone, and not dismissive.
"We've got a lot of work from it," Bunnell said of the new album, noting appearances on Today and David Letterman, along with an international tour. "We toured England for the first time in 20 years."
That was particularly sweet considering that "our roots were in England," he said. The band - initially Bunnell, Beckley, and Dan Peek (who left the group in the late '70s) - met and started overseas. "To have never really been able to play it again for 20-odd years was always a little frustrating," Bunnell said.
The new record, in other words, "turned out to have been the right decision," he said.
If you have a vivid loathing of America dating back decades, Here & Now probably won't soothe it. The music still has all the edge of a pillow, and the vocal sweetness can be cloying.
But if your rejection of the band is unthinking, and if you like the smooth songcraft of Fountains of Wayne, America's latest might surprise you.
It's not that America has changed much. Here & Now is paired with a live disc of the band's hits, and there's little outside of familiarity that separates them.
But
the album inspires a re-evaluation of the band's legacy. Divorced
from the '70s, it's possible to hear the songs and the
oh-so-soft-rock style with fresh ears, and the roster of guest
artists serves as a testimonial to the band's influence.
Even so, Bunnell still sounds a little leery of Here & Now, and doesn't seem at all convinced that America can sustain a comeback.
"At some point you get kind of resigned to doing what you do, which is the songs you're most known for, the most familiar music," he said. "And new music is very difficult for either the old Baby Boomers that made you who you were, or even new generations ... . It's really hard, in other words, to re-invent yourself 25, 30 years later - at least it has been for us."
America has never gone away, playing 80 to 100 dates a year rehashing old hits. It might have continued that way if Beckley hadn't contacted Schlesinger by e-mail, expressing his admiration for Fountains of Wayne and particularly its Welcome Interstate Managers record.
That respect was reciprocated, which led to an e-mail correspondence and the recording of two songs: Beckley's "Here & Now" and Schlesinger's "Work to Do." Those tracks were shopped around, and America was once again on a major label.
Bunnell said he was willing to give the project a shot despite his reservations. "It's always a good thing to generate any kind of interest in new material, whether it's successful either critically or commercially," he said. But "it's time-consuming, and if it's drilling another dry well it's frustrating."
The collaborations with younger artists were a learning experience for Bunnell, who admits that "I wasn't really that hip to these guys, to be honest." He gave himself a crash course, he said, because "I should know who the hell I'm dealing with."
Even though he was making new acquaintances during the recording of Here & Now, the atmosphere was familiar in Schlesinger's and Iha's New York City studio. "Their vibe ... really harked back to the early '70s for us," Bunnell said. "Torn blue jeans and 12 strings, for lack of a better visual."
The River Roots Live audience should expect plenty of hits but also a handful of new songs. The new album's "Chasing the Rainbow" and "Ride on" appear in just about every set, and "One Chance" and "Glass King" make regular appearances.
But decades on the nostalgia circuit have taught Bunnell that no matter how good those songs might be, they aren't likely to stick with audiences. "I'm not holding my breath," he said. "Invariably, as the next year rolls around, those songs manage to kind of cycle back out of the set, and the core songs remain. ... Nothing really seems to rise to the level of 'Lonely People' or 'Tin Man' or those songs that were the big hits from the '70s. And I think any veteran band will probably say the same thing."
To listen to the Reader's interview with Dewey Bunnell, visit (http://www.qcspan.com).
