“I asked him after the show, ‘Do you want to join a rock ’n roll band?’ He said, ‘Nah, I’m a grasser, I’m a bluegrass player’ … In ’78, we were auditioning guitarists. “In ’76, Vince was in a band, Mountain Smoke … that opened for us in Vince’s hometown,” Reilly said. In 1978, the band was joined by future country superstar Vince Gill. … I think we did a pretty decent, muscular version, but Ronstadt is Ronstadt.” She came out with the single right when we came out with ours, so of course, ours got the cold shoulder. “Little did we know he was also involved with Linda Ronstadt recording that song. “John Boyle, who was producing us at the time, actually made the suggestion,” Reilly said. In 1976, they covered Buddy Holly’s hit rock ‘n roll classic “That’ll Be The Day,” which was inspired by a John Wayne quote in John Ford’s western “The Searchers” (1956). … We were lucky enough to hit upon a harmony and it just worked.”
“When guys get together and sing, that’s where magic happens. “‘Amie’ was written as a harder, rockin’ song, but when we got into the studio, we turned it into an acoustic guitar song,” Reilly said. … I basically stepped up, I think by default, and grabbed the reins and kept trying to steer the buggy.”Īfter a self-titled debut, the band followed with its breakthrough album “Bustin’ Out” (1972), featuring the song “Amie,” which was later released as a single in 1975. “We felt bad for Craig and went out to Springfield, Missouri, to bring him a chessboard, his guitar and stuff like that. “He filed as a conscientious objector and the judge in New York didn’t want to hear it, so he threw him in prison,” Reilly said. Reilly joined in 1973 amid frontman Craig Fuller’s draft issues during the Vietnam War.
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“The drummer at the time, Tom McGrail, was watching late-night TV and when he saw that he said, ‘Wow, this would be a great name for a band,” Reilly said. The band was formed in Waverly, Ohio in 1970, named after the fictional temperance union in the classic western film “Dodge City” (1939), which reunited actor Errol Flynn with director Michael Curtiz a year after “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938). 9’ from ‘Bustin’ Out’ and they’re a gas.” “We’ve brought back a few tunes from the really early days that we’ve never really done before, songs like ‘Call Me, Tell Me’ and ‘Angel No. “We’ll be playing all the hits and misses,” Bassist and frontman Michael Reilly told WTOP. On Thursday night, the band hits The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia. Pure Prairie League helped define an entire era of country-rock music. WTOP's Jason Fraley previews Pure Prairie League at The Birchmere (Part 1)
Even after their demise, the band will always be remembered for two distinguishing characteristics Luke, their Norman Rockwell-drawn cowboy character, and by Fuller's sweet voice which made "Amie" one of the genre's best songs. The band scored hits with "I'm Almost Ready" and "Still Right Here in My Heart" in the early '80s, but like most of the country-rock bands of the time, Pure Prairie League faded into obscurity, with Gill enjoying a rather successful solo career in country music. After Goshorn exited, the band enjoyed their highest of four Top 40 hits with 1980's "Let Me Love You Tonight," this time with Vince Gill as the frontman. The band itself went through various personnel changes, and soon after Fuller was let out of prison, he went on to form American Flyer, replaced by lead singer Larry Goshorn.
A demand by college radio prompted RCA to release the song a short time after it had made its mark, and "Amie" soon became one of the decade's most popular country-rock tunes. FM radio automatically soaked up the single, as did the country stations, and while Fuller, as conscientious objector to the Vietnam War was doing alternate service working in a hospital in Kentucky, the rest of the band was enjoying "Amie"'s success. The song originates from 1972's Bustin' Out, an album that utilized Mick Ronson to help put together its lush string arrangements and light, affable sound. Written by their lead man at the time, Craig Fuller, who had a voice that was custom-made for radio, "Amie" made it into the Top 30 in 1975 as Pure Prairie League's first charted single. Fresh out of the '70s country-rock scene emerged the melody-ridden "Amie," a charming little country-pop tune that would give the Ohio-based Pure Prairie League their second biggest chart hit, but would easily become their most memorable.
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