America to give concert in Van Wert

 VAN WERT — It has been 38 years and counting since folk-rock group America rode “A Horse With No Name” into the annals of American music. But into obscurity? Far from it.Though the bulk of the band’s hits came from during the 1970s, current group members Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley have continued to tour and create the authentic America sound. With their standard repertoire and some new material (the duo released studio-recorded “Here & Now” in early 2007), Bunnell said the band finds itself in an interesting position: straddling several musical generations.“That’s certainly been a great feeling,” Bunnell said in a recent phone interview. “We’ve crossed a generation or two by now, and we’ve always done pretty well with a broad range of audiences, ages and lifestyles. We’re fairly palatable across the board.”Modeled after ‘60s singer/songwriter groups like Crosby, Stills and Nash, Bunnell, Beckley and Dan Peek first united not in their namesake country, but in England (they were each sons of U.S. Air Force officers stationed in the United Kingdom). “A Horse With No Name” was released stateside in the spring of 1972, and was followed by a string of No. 1 hits through the 1970s, including “I Need You,” “Ventura Highway,” “Sister Golden Hair,” “Tin Man” and “Lonely People.”America’s early work so defined its career that when “Here & Now” was being recorded, co-producer Adam Schlesinger (from the group Fountains of Wayne) proposed “timeless” as the album’s tone.“It goes back to the core reality of writing and producing,” Bunnell said. “You want songs to last and for some song elements to transcend fads.”In the 18 months since recording and releasing “Here & Now,” Bunnell said the album has reinvigorated interest in the group, partially due to a few all-star collaborations. Guest artists on the album include Ryan Adams, Ben Kweller, Jim James and Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket and members from the bands Nada Surf and Maplewood. The album also helped America accomplish a first: a guest spot on “The Late Show with David Letterman” (Adams and Kweller performed with the group for the appearance).At the same time, America’s classic catalog has found new life, in video games (like “Grand Theft Auto”) and commercials for retailer Kohl’s.“It’s sort of going against the old ‘don’t sell out, man’ attitude,” Bunnell said. “But I’ve always thought that music, at some point, becomes the public’s music, even though we have control to say yes or no to most of that stuff. It’s flowing through that pipeline of millions of bits of information, so we might as well be part of that process, for better or for worse. And it does serve that other purpose of keeping the music alive.”America works to keep its music alive in its own way: Bunnell said they played more than 130 shows last year alone, and have no plans to retire.“It’s way too fun,” he said. “We’ve got strong reputations, and in the variety of places we play, we’ve got a good relationship with them all. As long as we’re physically fit and healthy and we can get through security at the airports with 22 pieces of luggage, I don’t see it stopping.”