Dewey Bunnell excited to bring rock group America to Greensburg on 50th anniversary tour

We can be thankful to England for a lot of things, especially for America.

No, not the country. After all, we fought for that.

I’m talking about America the folk-rock group, the band that produced hit songs like “Ventura Highway,” “I Need You,” “Tin Man” and of course “A Horse With No Name,” which went to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in late 1971.

So what does England have to do with the creation of a band called America?

Though the three core members, singer/songwriters Dewey Bunnell, Gerry Beckley and Dan Peek (who died in 2011), are Americans, they might never have met if they all hadn’t attended London Central High School at the same time.

While it’s been more than 50 years since the group had their breakthrough single, they are still on their 50th-anniversary tour. It’s been slowed somewhat by the pandemic, which has caused America to cancel and postpone shows as other entertainment acts have.

But the band has finally made it back to the area and is scheduled to play The Palace Theatre in Greensburg on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

In an interview with the Tribune-Review, Bunnell explained that in 1970 – when America officially embarked on a recording career that continues to this day – his father was in the U.S. Air Force and stationed in England.

“It was a real special time for us as young teenagers,” he said. “Our dads were all in the Air Force, stationed over there in London. Gerry and I both have British mothers (they’ve both passed away). But it was a great time to be these American teenagers knocking around swinging London in the swinging ‘60s, seeing all this great music.”

Bunnell said, from the beginning, the three were influenced by vocal harmony bands going back to The Everly Brothers, the Beach Boys, The Beatles, and Crosby, Stills & Nash.

“Vocal harmonies are a beautiful thing. They’re a magical thing because those voices blend into this one unique thing. All voices are different,” he said. “Every voice is like a fingerprint and so it’s really a special thing when you get a number of voices blending into that other sound.”

America’s songs are conducive to vocal harmonies. In the band’s formative years, it became known for what New York Times writer Margalit Fox once described as “its lush, melodic folk-rock sound and tight vocal harmonies.”

The harmonies were magic but they didn’t magically happen. Bunnell said the band members worked at their craft.

“We did a lot of rehearsing at our parents’ homes and then I got a car, and we would sing in that car with one acoustic guitar and we just couldn’t stop,” he said. “We were 17, 18, 19 years old and we were loving this stuff. We were doing a lot of cover songs until we started writing our own stuff and that’s really when it kicked into gear.”

So how did the band end up deciding to make the bold decision to go with the name America?

“We were these expatriates or whatever you want to call it,” said Bunnell. “We would spend a lot of time in the base cafeteria listening to this jukebox, which was called an ‘Americana.’ And then when we started taking these songs we’d written around to various people in London, they would refer to us as ‘those American guys.’ So, it all came together and America grew out of that. Why not?

“If (the band) Chicago can call itself a city, we can call ourselves a country. Any name is to grab your attention. It was an attention-grabber of a name.”

Bunnell turned 70 in January. But as he grows older, he said touring does not.

“I enjoy doing it every night. There’s always some element of a show that makes it different, whether it’s the venue, the hall, the way you’re feeling that day. And I always get stage fright to some degree. There’s a lot going on up there. The last thing I am is bored.”