America made its mark in rock ‘n’ roll without dishing the bombastic side of the genre.
Instead, a melodic, smooth-flowing touch was enlisted to score hits with “Ventura Highway,” “Sister Golden Hair,” “Don’t Cross the River” and “I Need You.”
However, the band’s signature song — “A Horse With No Name” — bears a darker, more brooding tone that paints a picture of heat, solitude and a hypnotic journey through stark, yet seemingly mystical, terrain.
Nearly five decades after forming, America brings its Grammy-winning sound to Four Winds Casino Resort in New Buffalo, Mich., for a sold-out Friday concert.
“The live show has become, really, all-consuming for us,” original member Dewey Bunnell said in a recent phone interview. “We’re going to Australia this year. The touring schedule is pretty thick.”
Formed in London in 1970, America snared a Grammy Award for being 1972’s Best New Artist of the Year.
Largely responsible for that success was the chart-topping “A Horse With No Name,” which was written by Bunnell, who also sang lead vocals and included a little environmental message in its lyrics.
The hit AMC television drama “Breaking Bad” used Bunnell’s atmospheric gem.
He continues the legacy of America, as does fellow co-founder Gerry Beckley, who composed several chart successes, including “Daisy Jane” (1975).
Bunnell and keyboardist Beckley now front a five-piece band on stage. The third original member of America, Dan Peek, left the band in 1977 and died in 2011.
Peek wrote and sang lead on the gentle Top 10 hit “Lonely People” (1975).
Known for a folkie style, America has often been described as a proponent of soft rock — a label that makes Bunnell wince.
“It’s never been my favorite term,” the guitarist said with a laugh. “It just has a real limp sound to it.”
However America is pigeonholed, America has a fan in Portage’s Chad Clifford, a rock musician who likens the band’s vocal manner to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
“I’ve always loved America,” Clifford said. “Their CSN&Y harmonies, wonderful melodies and their records produced by Sir George Martin define the AM radio sound of the ’70s.”
Martin, who crafted Beatles recordings, produced a string of America albums, starting with “Holiday” (1974).
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“He was just a wonderful man,” Bunnell said. “It was a great experience. It changed, really, our perspective a lot on the way we were making records.”
The late producer put his stamp on several of America’s hit singles, including the lilting “Tin Man” from 1974.
“We just hit it off, and one project led to another,” Bunnell said of his group’s relationship with the studio wizard.
Martin and America moved around to lay down tracks, making albums in Hawaii and Colorado, among other places.
An exotic location for recording was the Caribbean island of Montserrat.
“He build a beautiful studio down there, which we were able to work in as well,” Bunnell, who was born in England, related.
Martin recorded Beatles classics at Abbey Road Studios in London — a worldwide financial and pop-culture capital where bandmates Bunnell, Beckley and Peek spent teen years in the ’60s as the kids of U.S. military personnel stationed overseas.
“Our dads were in the Air Force,” said Bunnell, noting America had roots as an act that covered the works of other artists.
“We had this little high school band doing covers — playing at the teen club and various things.”
The grand name of Bunnell’s band fits the vivid, contrasting image of young Yankee rockers building a name for themselves in Britain.
Bunnell said “we marveled at the fact” that the name America was not copyrighted or “prohibited to use.”
Before making Los Angeles their base, Bunnell and his comrades were aspiring pop artists who found the London scene accommodating.
“You could walk around to publishers’ offices and record companies,” Bunnell said. “We sat down with our acoustic guitars in front of a lot of record company presidents and just played our songs. So we were then kind of labeled those American kids.”
In that same Uncle Sam vein, Bunnell remembers the presence of an Americana brand Wurlitzer jukebox at an air base in the United Kingdom.
“It stuck in our heads a little,” assured Bunnell, who now divides his time living between Southern California and northern Wisconsin.
Since its embryonic days in England, America has been slapped with various labels.
“In the beginning we were country rock or the California sound or acoustic-harmony music,” Bunnell, 65, said.
But the rocker gravitates toward a certain description.
“We’re proud of being singer-songwriters,” he assured.
Bob Kostanczuk is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
America
Where: Silver Creek Event Center at Four Winds Casino Resort, 11111 Wilson Road, New Buffalo, Mich.
When: 9 p.m. EST Friday
Tickets: $25, $40, $50; sold out
Information: 866-494-6371, www.fourwindscasino.com