|
Pure Prairie League is an American country rock band whose history goes back to 1965 and Waverly, Ohio, with Craig Fuller, Tom McGrail, Jim Caughlan, and John Call. In 1970 McGrail named the band after a fictional 19th century temperance union featured in the 1939 Errol Flynn cowboy movie ''Dodge City''. The band had five Top 40 LP's in the 70's and added a sixth in the 80's. The band has had a long run, active from the 1970s through the late 1980s and was revived in the late 1990s for a time, then again in 2004. As of 2015, they are still doing at least 100 shows a year. ==History== Although the band has its roots in Waverly, Ohio, it was actually formed in Columbus and had its first success in Cincinnati. Fuller, McGrail, Caughlan and Call had played together in various bands since high school, notably the Omars and the Swiss Navy. In 1970 the first solid PPL lineup was Fuller, McGrail, George Powell, Phil Stokes on bass and Robin Suskind on guitar and mandola, with steel guitar player John Call joining the band later that year. Call's steel guitar added country credibility and sparked guitar duels with Fuller that reinforced the signature sound of the band. In 1971 McGrail and Stokes left the band to rehearse with Bill Bartlett (of Beechwood Farm, Ram Jam and The Lemon Pipers fame). Jim Caughlan, who'd played guitar and drums with Fuller, Call and McGrail in earlier bands, took over on drums and Jim Lanham from California replaced Stokes. Early on, the PPL was looking for national artist representation and they made contact with a well-known Cleveland based rock and roll promoter, Roger Abramson. At the behest of Jim Westermeyer, PPL's roadie, Abramson saw the band at New Dilly's, a nightclub in the Mt. Adams area in Cincinnati and later signed them to a management contract. Abramson was able to obtain a contract with RCA Records. He then placed Pure Prairie League as an opening act with many of the concerts he was producing. Their eponymous first album used a Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover featuring a trail-worn cowboy, named Luke, who would appear on the cover of every PPL recording thereafter. After releasing their debut album in March 1972 (recorded in New York City) and embarking on a nationwide tour, Call, Caughlan and Lanham left the band. At that point the band owed RCA another album. Fuller, Powell, and producer Bob Ringe decided to record the album in RCA's Toronto studio, so in the summer of 1972, they began work on album number two, ''Bustin' Out,'' which was produced, as was their debut, by Ringe and featured the songs of Fuller and Powell. Billy Hinds from Cincinnati (drums, percussion) and Hinds' friend, Michael Connor, contributed piano to the sessions and would become a regular in the Pure Prairie League line-up for years to come. Mick Ronson, of David Bowie and Mott the Hoople fame, contributed string arrangements on several tracks, most notably "Boulder Skies" and "Call Me Tell Me". Michael Reilly, who would become the longtime bass player and front man for the band, joined them in early September 1972, after the record's completion. ''Bustin' Out'' was released in October 1972. Shortly afterward, the group returned to Ohio and Fuller had to face trial for charges of draft evasion in Kentucky. Before conscientious objector (C.O.) status could be arranged, he was sentenced to six months in jail and forced to leave PPL in February 1973. At this point, RCA dropped the band and their future looked bleak. By August 1973, the band members were in Cincinnati and managed to persuade Call to return. Fuller, though out of prison by now, was working the late shift in a community hospital to satisfy his C.O. requirements and was not inclined to rejoin at that juncture. He was eventually given a full pardon by President Gerald Ford. Reilly took over as the band's leader and brought in his friend Larry Goshorn (vocals, guitars) to replace Fuller in November 1973. Goshorn played in a popular Ohio band called The Sacred Mushroom. PPL hit the road and began playing gigs constantly, mostly in the Northeast, Midwest and Southeast. As a result of their heavy schedule, particularly at colleges, their songs became well known; "Amie" (Craig Fuller’s ode to an on-again/off-again relationship), from the second album, became a particular favorite. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pure Prairie League」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|