America

• Genre: Classic Rock
• Hometown: London
• America Website

About

With hits like "Ventura Highway" and "A Horse With No Name," America took the California sound to new plateaus in the 1970s and '80s Even with the innovative and pristine production of Elliott Shiner (who also produced Randy Newman) and Phil Galdston (Jill Sobule, Vanessa Williams), the folk rock band still made the kind of free and easy music that rocked your dad's leather-craft night classes and your mom's latch hook rug-making parties. America's soft, glowing, earthy tones and lush vocal harmonies are warmer than driftwood burning at night on the beach.

- Eric Shea