Those copies are now collector’s items.” “Sister Golden Hair” – America (Hearts, 1975) Something like 100,000 copies went out before they could change that. But what happened was, they started pressing copies of the album without putting ‘Horse’ on it. Warners in the States saw what was happening, so they said, ‘We’ll release everything you have if you come over and promote it.’ Of course we said yes. “The song was released as a single in England, and it went to number one. Dan and I traded off on bass most of the time, but he was better at playing shuffles, so he played bass on this track. We used Yamaha FG180s, but I played the solos on a Fender acoustic 12-string. Ian Samwell, our co-producer, told us that ‘Desert Song’ was an opera, so he suggested we retitle it ‘A Horse With No Name.’ We all played acoustics. It was more or less two chords, but we applied our usual America production tricks and built some harmonies – two parts the second time around, three parts the third. “So we went back in the studio and demoed some new songs, and this was one of them. A Horse With No Name – America (America, 1971) They sound very unique and pretty, and you can’t get that if you’re dancing all over the fretboard.”īelow, Beckley looks back on the recording of five notable songs from his remarkable career. For some reason, I just love working with that framework and the chord structures I wind up playing. “But it also restricts the usable area on the neck. “My first reason for that is it produces a lovely tone,” he says. Lately, he’s been simplifying the colors on his palette by playing 12-fret guitars and capoing them at the third fret. “How many colors does this song need? Does it need something big and bold, or do you finesse the shades here and there?” “I approach the guitar like a painter,” he says. Hearing surf music inspired Beckley to take up guitar in the early 1960s, and he honed his distinctive style on both six- and 12-string acoustic-electrics, switching between lead and rhythm playing to suit whatever a particular song needed. “Each one has her own style of singing and production, so you really get an interesting combination of things.” “I’m very flattered by their interpretations of my songs,” he says. And once I got my home studio setup going, it was easy for me to turn out records that were all set to be mastered.”īeckley has just issued Keeping the Light On – The Best of Gerry Beckley, a sprawling 20-song overview of his solo output that also includes a generous assortment of unreleased tracks and demos.įans who pre-order Keeping the Light On from the Blue Élan website will receive a bonus nine-track CD featuring covers of Beckley-penned America songs by contemporary female artists like Chelsea Williams and Amy Wilcox. “There wasn’t a grand plan when I started, but I was always able to fit in my own records with anything Dewey and I were doing. “I waited a while before doing stuff on my own,” he says. In 1995, however, Beckley, always a prodigious songwriter, began a dual career as a solo artist, first issuing the critically hailed Van Go Gan and continuing with seven more albums under his own name. “He’s written some of the greatest songs of our generation, and I’m thrilled to have contributed equally to that list.” “Dewey is still a dear friend and a brilliant collaborator,” Beckley says. Beckley and Bunnell still perform as America (Peek left in 1977 and passed away in 2011), making their partnership one of music’s longest-running unions.
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