“Like trains forever leaving stations, Merciful are these stories we spin,” sings Gerry Beckley on the title track to his latest Blue Elan Records solo album, Merciful, a dark-laced song penned by noted Scandinavian jazz trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær on his otherwise instrumental 2000 “Nordic noir” release Solid Ether.

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.

“For the last few years, we’ve been going back through the archives to see if there were songs that could be improved,” explained Gerry. “These days, since I’ve stepped back from touring, I’ve been coming up with lots of new material.”

Beckley is the co-founding member of the multi-platinum band America with Dewey Bunnell and the late Dan Peek, who all met as students at London Central High School, and went on to score such hits as “A Horse with No Name,” “Ventura Highway,” “Tin Man” and “Lonely People.” 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.”

The very first track, the Beckley-Larson co-written “When the Wells Run Dry” touches on the impermanence of life with a nod towards not just an individual human’s waning passion and inspiration, but the environmental hazards of the earth itself. “When the walls come down/What is Lost and Founder/Underneath the California sky,” laments Beckley.

“I consider that mix of light and dark my signature sound,” he noted. “So much of rock is based on youth and rebellion, but as songwriters, we get to move those boundaries around as we age.”

Dividing his time between Sydney, Australia and L.A.’s oceanside Venice, Beckley recorded the bulk of the album in his own home studios, playing virtually all the instruments with contributions by bassist Jason Scheff, piano player Nate Strasser, string arranger Matt Combs, guitarist Steve Fedkete, horn player Nick Lane, sax player James Valentine and drummers Ryland Steen, Luke Davison and Brian Young.

The album’s highlights include 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.”

The upbeat, joyful “Get It Right” livens up the proceedings with its “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” vibe, with Nate Lane’s horns punctuating Ryland Steen’s island rhythms, a song from the Beckley vaults that Gerry found “still really held up,” while the tuneful R&B vibe of “75” and the shimmering, atmospheric “Brand New Night” were inspired by U.K. hitmakers 1975 lead singer Matt Healy and Scottish art-rockers Blue Nile’s Paul Buchanan, respectively.

“All the Wounded Cowboys” comes from a touching anecdote told to Gerry by his close friend, legendary rock photographer Henry Diltz about caring for his terminally ill partner Joan, who loved watching old westerns on TV. “Monster” is a song which originally appeared on America’s 1977 album, Harbor, that now has a whole new perspective almost 50 years later with this new re-recording.

“That’s the rare song I first wrote in 3/4 time,” said Beckley. “To me, that was a very personal number about the dangers of fame.”

The apocalyptic end-of-days “Big Rain” recalls that America were contemporaries on the SoCal music scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s with bands like Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

“It stands out as the most live-sounding track on the album,” commented Gerry. “Even though I played all the instruments except for Brian Young on drums and percussion.”

With his increased spate of creativity since signing to Blue Elan Records for 2016’s Carousel, Beckley promises another release from America’s vaults in the near future, the first in more than a decade since 2015’s Lost and Found, since Primary Wave took over control of their catalogue.

“The rest of my days/I’m beginning to think and see through the haze/I feel it coming/Something’s on the verge of going right”

And while Beckley has officially retired from touring since a 2023 show with Bunnell (who continues to perform as America), he still shows up at a local Sydney pub every Thursday to play bass with a bunch of local kids. He also joined the Killers on-stage for a rendition of “Sister Golden Hair” at Qudos Bank Arena during the band’s tour stop in Sydney.

Gerry Beckley’s Merciful is the next best thing, 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. 

He points to Johnny Cash’s Rick Rubin-produced American Recordings as proof a veteran artist can indeed reinvent himself and create late-period work that both compares and builds upon a legendary career.

“There is a shining example of someone who was completely resurrected,” said Beckley, adding “Not to compare myself to Johnny Cash.”

Nevertheless, Merciful is a most worthy addition to the classic Gerry Beckley oeuvre, the light and dark perfectly calibrated.