“Amie” – Single by Pure Prairie League

“Amie” – Single by Pure Prairie League from the album Bustin’ Out, with B-side: “Memories”.
Released in fall of 1975.

The song initially appeared on the band’s 1972 album, Bustin’ Out. It was subsequently released as a single in 1975, after it gained popularity as an album cut.

The song was written and sung by Craig Fuller, who along with George Powell handled vocals and string instruments in the group. Fuller has had plenty of chances to make up a story about the real Amie, but he insists that he made the whole thing up as a songwriting exercise, just “stringing words and music together.” Amie is a character he created.

This song was never much of a hit, but it has shown remarkable endurance. It first appeared on the band’s second album, Bustin’ Out, in 1972. The group is from Southern Ohio, but they recorded the album in Toronto at RCA Studios. “Amie” was sent to radio stations as a promotional single, which helped the album sell reasonably well in the US and Canada. But in 1973, Craig Fuller got drafted and had to leave the band – he worked in a hospital as a conscientious objector. RCA Records dropped the band, but “Amie” didn’t go away: it kept popping up on radio stations, especially at colleges. RCA re-signed the band in 1975, with Larry Goshorn in place of Fuller. While the group was working on their third album, RCA issued “Amie” as a commercial single; it rose to #27 in the US.

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

Pure Prairie League - Amie

Pure Prairie League - Amie (Live)04:55

Video from 1979 with Vince Gill (vocal, guitar); Michael Reilly (mandolin, vocal); Steve Patrick Bolin (guitar, vocal); Michael Connor (bass), Billy Hinds (drums).