“The main thing is, we all believed in the music and what we’re doing, and we like playing together,” he said. That attitude has been the secret to their success. While Fuller’s troubles “threw a monkey wrench into the works,” Reilly said the rest of the crew “decided to keep the torch in the race” and forge ahead. But Reilly said Fuller’s heart was no longer in the music, and after playing a few shows with the band, he left the group. He served his time in 1973, and President Gerald Ford eventually pardoned him. Shortly after joining Pure Prairie League, however, he stepped into the lead role when co-founder and guitarist Craig Fuller was denied conscientious objector status for draft evasion and was sentenced to six months in jail. He was already in rehearsals with Maria Muldaur, and wasn’t available for that project.

He joined in 1972, right after the album “Bustin’ Out” was released. “We don’t take our job for granted.” Personal trialsīut the years haven’t all been smooth sailing. That’s just respect - they’re paying their hard-earned money, especially these days. Every time we go onstage, we don’t leave anything back, so they get what they’re paying their money for, and we give it to them good. We’re all very well-accomplished players, and we kick it right in the rear. “That’s exactly what we’re trying to deliver. And they’re transported back into a time when that music was part of their soundtrack. But the reaction we get most of the time, is when we look at audience, we see people sitting there with their eyes rolled back, looking off into space and they’re mouthing the words to the songs, because they’ve known them so long. We don’t put on a big stage show - there’s no dancing girls or animals involved. “We want them to be entertained - (that’s) the biggest thing,” he said. Still, he wants listeners to get their money’s worth, playing the hits as well as new material. “I’d like to think that good music doesn’t go out of fashion,” he said. He said now that the band members are in their 60s, with he and Call in their 70s, they’re pleased to look out over their audiences and see three generations grooving to their music. They’re gathering the week before the Cedar Rapids tour relaunch, to rehearse in Clark’s basement in Nashville.Īfter five decades, “I think we know the songs,” said Reilly, who spent the pandemic year building a studio in his basement, as well as tackling 10 years of honey-do lists. Like so many bands these days, the members are scattered all over, with two in Nashville, one in Georgia, one in Ohio and Reilly in New York. “We call him a backup singer, because when he sings, people back up.” “We don’t let John sing anymore,” Reilly said. They all share vocals on the band’s signature tight harmonies, except for Call. Add your contacts.Ĭo-founder Call still is with group, as well as Reilly, who joined in 1972, and coming onboard in the 2000s, Donnie Lee Clark on guitars, Scott Thompson on drums, and Randy Harper on guitar and keyboards. You will begin to receive our weekly Hoopla Events updates. After departing, he racked up a slew of solo awards, and now is singing with The Eagles.

He played with Pure Prairie League from the late ’70s to early ’80s, taking lead vocals on “Let Me Love You Tonight,” a Top 10 hit for the band in 1980. One of the biggest stars to have joined the band before spinning off on his own is Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill. “We were big fans of the Byrds and Poco, and basically, that’s what we wanted to do - play rock music with country meanings and country instruments.” Plus, Poco had just come out with their first record in ’69, and we individually wore those records out,” he said. We played everything from the Beatles to Lonnie Mack. “We had a real diverse background growing up, then playing in the clubs and bars. “We had a great jazz scene, a great blues scene, a heavy country scene, and a lot of bluegrass and a lot of R&B - and James Brown was there recording, too, so there was soul music. The band’s sound has been called country-rock, and its cover of “That’ll be the Day” has blazing rock guitar one minute, giving way to twangy country guitar the next. Five years later, Call fired up Pure Prairie League, and the hits started rolling through the airwaves like “Amie,” “Two Lane Highway,” and “Let Me Love You Tonight.” The band has evolved in the years since pedal steel guitarist John David Call and his buddies in Waverly, Ohio, began playing cover tunes in 1965. “But that’s OK, now they’re collectors’ items,” he quipped by phone from his home in Sag Harbor, N.Y., on the east end of Long Island.

Pure prairie league