Steve & Karen Flynn


Karen and Steve


Meet Steve & Karen Flynn from Knoxville, Tennessee.

The station was WLS, the song "Horse With No Name" and was played at least every 45 minutes to an hour back in 1971. A local drug store that I worked for back in Belvedere, Illinois kept Chicago's top 40 station on all day. To this day I do not know why I did not buy the record but this story does have a somewhat romantic twist. (By the way, I did finally listen to the entire album but not until 2006.) In 1973 our family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee and in 1975 I enrolled in a broadcasting school close to the UT campus. It was there I met this young lady and on our first date she played America's "Hat Trick" in it's entirety. "Molten Love" was a kicker! Well I married that young lady and thirty two years later we still enjoy that sultry little tune. My wife Karen, on the other hand was the real America fan.

The song "Ventura Highway" made it's debut in 1972 and that breezy little song really captured my wife's persona. The "Homecoming" album I'm sure was played until the grooves had worn thin and the cassette broke! She finally saw them in concert for the first time in 1974 in Chattanooga. Over the years she has hung on to their music and recently helped me to appreciate how really great this band is and seemingly how America seems to have perfected the art of performing and writing great music.

As time passes you somehow want to do something great for the love of your life. I had been noticing that my wife was recollecting all of the America music on CD and DVD. I really started to listen to the lyrics and the song structure and said, "Wow! These guys are really good." So in 2007 my wife and I took a romantic trip to Louisville and saw them in concert with the Chase Pops. Totally the best concert I've ever seen!

Though we have never met America in person, we hope to one day soon and thank them for being there on the first date and enhancing our lives with the gift of song. We do plan to see them again in March of 2008 in Charleston, West Virginia and just maybe finally get that Billboard poster I ripped off in 1975 autographed! The things we do for love!


March 20, 2008 Update:

Just wanted to give an update and inform you that we finally met Dewey and Gerry. They were so gracious and their kindness was overwhelming. They were as phenomenal in person as on stage. As expected they gave a stellar performance in Charleston. By the way, we got that "Billboard" poster from 75' autographed (see below).

Feel free to send your comments or questions to Steve & Karen.



Written: 20 March 2008
Updated: 20 April 2008