At this point, RCA dropped the band and their future looked bleak.īy August 1973, the band members were in Cincinnati and managed to persuade Call to return. Before conscientious objector (C.O.) status could be arranged, he was sentenced to six months in jail and forced to leave Pure Prairie League in February 1973. Shortly afterward, the group returned to Ohio and Fuller had to face trial for charges of draft evasion in Kentucky. Bustin' Out was released in October 1972. Michael Reilly, who would become the longtime bass player and front man for the band, joined in early September 1972, soon after the record was completed. Mick Ronson added string arrangements to several tracks, most notably "Boulder Skies" and "Call Me Tell Me". Billy Hinds from Cincinnati (drums, percussion) joined the band and Hinds's friend, Michael Connor, played piano on most of the sessions and would become a regular in the Pure Prairie League line-up for years to come. Bustin' Out (begun in the summer of 1972) was produced by Ringe and featured the songs of Fuller and Powell. Al Brisco played pedal steel guitar on the session. After releasing their debut album (recorded in New York City) in March 1972 and embarking on a nationwide tour, Call, Caughlan and Lanham all left the band.Īt that point, Pure Prairie League owed RCA another album and Craig Fuller agreed to record the second record in RCA's Toronto studio with the help of George Ed Powell and Bob Ringe (who had also produced the first album). Their eponymous first album used a Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover, showing a trail-worn cowboy, named Luke, who would appear on the cover of every Pure Prairie League recording thereafter. He then placed Pure Prairie League as an opening act with many of the concerts he produced at that time. Abramson was able to land a contract with RCA Records. At the behest of the group's roadie (who had also worked for the James Gang) Jim "Westy" Westermeyer, Abramson saw the band at New Dilly's Pub and later signed them to a management contract. Įarly on, the Pure Prairie League was looking for national artist representation and they made contact with a well-known Cleveland based rock and roll promoter, Roger Abramson. Jim Caughlan, who had played guitar and drums with Fuller, Call and McGrail in earlier bands, took over on drums and Jim Lanham from California, formerly of Country Funk, replaced Stokes on bass. In mid-1971, McGrail and Stokes left the band to rehearse with Bill Bartlett but were unable to put a viable band together. They rose to popularity as the house band at New Dilly's Pub in the Mt. Call's steel guitar added country credibility to the band's playlist and sparked guitar duels with Fuller that created the signature sound of the band. Blackfoot) and Robin Suskind (a popular guitar teacher in the University of Cincinnati neighborhood) on guitar and mandola, with John David Call joining the band later that year. In 1970 the first Pure Prairie League line-up was Fuller, McGrail, singer/songwriter/guitarist George Ed Powell (a popular Cincinnati folk singer), Phill Stokes (bassist in Columbus bands Sanhedrin Move and J.D. Craig Fuller, Tom McGrail, Jim Caughlan and John David Call had played together in various bands since high school, notably the Vikings, the Omars, the Sacred Turnips and the Swiss Navy. Among the other notable past musicians to have played with Pure Prairie League include guitarists Vince Gill, Gary Burr and Curtis Wright.Īlthough the band has its roots in Waverly, it was actually formed in Columbus, Ohio and had its first success in Cincinnati. The band's most recent line-up consists of Call, drummer Scott Thompson, keyboardist Randy Harper, guitarist Jeff Zona and bassist Jared Camic. The line-up has been fluid over the years, with no one member having served over the band's entire history. They disbanded in 1988 but regrouped in 1998 and continue to perform as of 2021. Pure Prairie League scored five consecutive Top 40 LPs in the 1970s and added a sixth in the 1980s. In 1975 the band scored its biggest hit with the single " Amie", a track that originally appeared on their 1972 album Bustin' Out. Fuller started the band in 1970 and McGrail named it after a fictional 19th century temperance union featured in the 1939 Errol Flynn cowboy film Dodge City. Pure Prairie League is an American country rock band whose origins go back to 1965 and Waverly, Ohio, with singer and guitarist Craig Fuller, drummer Tom McGrail, guitarist and drummer Jim Caughlan and steel guitarist John David Call.
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