Blue Elan RecordsAmerica co-founder Gerry Beckley released his new solo album, Five Mile Road, late last month.
The 12-track collection features 11 tunes written by Beckley, and one he co-wrote. The 67-year-old singer/songwriter tells ABC Audio that he’s “happy with how [the album] turned out,” while noting the record is made up of “some current stuff and…some pretty old stuff.”
Among Gerry’s favorite songs on Five Mile Road is “Home Again,” which he says “is, in a strange way, the oldest and the newest song on the album, because I wrote it in the mid-’70s and I just never finished it.” Beckley explains that he was determined to include the tune on the new album, and wound up working on it “right up till mastering.”
Beckley handled the majority of the vocals and instruments on Five Mile Road, which also features contributions from ex-Chicago singer/bassist Jason Scheff, Poco singer/pedal-steel player Rusty Young and America touring drummer Ryland Steen.
Gerry says among the album’s tracks that he’s particularly proud of is the rocking “Hang Your Head High,” because “that’s all me playing it.”
“I was thinking of great live groups like The Faces…where you’ve got that combination acoustic-electric and maybe even Wurlitzer piano,” Beckley notes. “And I think it came off quite well. To me it sounds like just a bunch of guys in a garage bashing out, but it’s one of the truly solo songs on the collection.”
Beckley, who’s busy touring with America on its 50th anniversary tour, says he has no current plans to play any solo shows in support of Five Mile Road, but wouldn’t be opposed to performing a new tune at one of his group’s concerts. Check out America’s tour itinerary at VenturaHighway.com.
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