America The Band: An Authorized Biography is out for readers today. It tells the story of a band that's continued to thrive for 50 years.
Author Jude Warne says Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and the late Dan Peek "weren't all over the tabloids. They really are the nice guys they seem to be."
The book has plenty to fill its 273 pages -- like why after three albums and a Best New Artist Grammy, they turned to legendary producer George Martin, and how after co-founder Dan Peek left in the late '70s, they began concentrating more on touring than recording.
You'll even find out how Lee Bunnell came to be known as Dewey. (Hint: It's connected to when he learned to surf as a teenager.).
Bunnell is also blessed with the better memory among the band's founders.
He says,"Like if Dewey goes off on a story and I don't know if I remember that. But, to be honest, in most cases, I will usually defer to his memory. Because I famously did not remember meeting Bob Dylan one time -- and everybody's quite clear that I did."
America's Dewey Bunnell also talks about author Jude Warne reaching out to friends of the band:"She interviewed people we've worked with, Al Jardine, for instance from The Beach Boys or Christopher Cross, Jimmy Webb. So we were hearing their quotes for the first time. We knew them anyway, they're friends of ours. It was nice to see those in print."