Pure Prairie League

country rock · alternative country · soft rock

Pure Prairie League is an American country rock band formed in Columbus, Ohio, in 1970 by singer-guitarist Craig Fuller, drummer Tom McGrail and steel guitarist John David Call, all of them originally from Waverly, Ohio. The name comes from a fictional 19th-century temperance union in the 1939 Errol Flynn western Dodge City. Signed to RCA, the band recorded Amie for its second album, Bustin' Out, in 1972; the song built its audience through college radio, and RCA's re-release of it as a single in 1975 carried it to No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made it the group's signature. Five consecutive albums reached the Top 40 during the 1970s, among them Two Lane Highway, which reached No. 24 on the album chart in 1975, and a sixth followed in the 1980s. Fuller, McGrail and Call were joined and later succeeded by a long series of players, so that the band's history runs through many lineups under a continuous name. Vince Gill joined as a singer and guitarist in September 1978 and stayed until 1982, leaving to begin a solo career; the 1980 album Firin' Up, with Gill singing lead on Let Me Love You Tonight, produced the band's highest-charting single at No. 10. Gary Burr and Curtis Wright also passed through the guitar chair. The group disbanded in 1988 and reformed a decade later, in 1998, and has toured since as a working band rather than a reunion act. Its recent lineup pairs long-serving multi-instrumentalist John Heinrich on steel guitar and saxophone with Randy Harper on keyboards and guitar, Jeff Zona on guitar, Jared Camic on bass and Scott Thompson on drums. Back on Track was released in December 2024.

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