America - Live In Concert - Wildwood Springs 2008

America, the band that is, will have been together for half a century next year. Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek, and Gerry Beckley were sons of US Air Force personnel stationed in London, where they began performing live. Their signature song, A Horse With No Name, in many ways sums up what the band are all about; close vocal harmonies, acoustic guitars, and if I may quote Pete Atkin a journey through mythical America and a vaguely rural ethos. A Horse With No Name was their first international hit, and was taken from their debut album, a self-titled record which came out on Warner Brothers in 1971. Since then, there have been over thirty more records, but the one that I want to talk about today is a very special live album, recorded on stage during a rare acoustic performance at the Wildwood Springs Lodge in Steelville, MO on September 21-22, 2007 The combination of Beckleys melodic pop rock and Bunnells slinky Latin-leaning rhythms has proven that America's sound can transcend borders with their uplifting music and positive message and this release serves as an invaluable document of an extraordinarily transcendent evening of peerless music.