Merciful (blood Moon Vinyl)

“Like trains forever leaving stations, merciful are these stories we spin,” sings Gerry Beckley on the title track to his latest solo album, Merciful, a dark-laced song penned by noted Scandinavian jazz trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær. That sentiment captures the elegiac spirit of the 13-song collection, produced by Beckley with frequent collaborator and lyricist Jeff Larson, which looks both back and forward with an appreciation of the past and an acknowledgement of impending mortality. Beckley is the co-founding member of the multi-platinum band America. Beckley wrote and sang lead on such successful America singles as “Sister Golden Hair,” “I Need You,” “Daisy Jane” and the Russ Ballard-penned “You Can Do Magic.” His latest solo work, Merciful, is a timeless, personal work that realizes our own very limited span on earth at the same time as it seizes the possibilities while we’re still here; a most worthy addition to the classic Gerry Beckley oeuvre, the light and dark perfectly calibrated. The album’s highlights include singles “When the Wells Run Dry,” the upbeat, joyful “Get It Right” and Beckley’s emotional cover of “Norwegian Wood,” the Beatles’ wistful saga of an extramarital love affair with special guest Graham Nash on vocals – recalling that Beckley was in a London high school just as the British Invasion was in full swing. Gerry originally ran into the singer/songwriter after a Nash performance at the Sydney Opera House when his longtime pal casually offered his services for any future project. “The song seemed custom-made for his signature high harmony voice, so I took him up on it,” said Beckley, who played the song in an open-tuned acoustic guitar style dubbed DADGAD. “Graham’s one of my true heroes going back to his time in the Hollies.”