Traci Main

Traci with Gerry at Humphrey's in San Diego on September 22, 1995.

Meet Traci Main formerly from Phoenix, Arizona.

I'm 22 yrs. old and am currently living in Phoenix. The first time I heard AMERICA, I was living in a small town in northern Rhode Island. I was ~7 yrs. old (c. 1980) when my brother and I first raided my Mom's record collection. We found an album titled AMERICA and thought it was cool because it had Native American faces on it. We decided to play it and immediately fell in love with calming, acoustic sounds of the music and the tri-part harmony. Of course, our favorite was "Horse with no Name" but we listened to the entire album over and over again. We even made cardboard guitars and pretended as though we were the band. It was great fun to have our own indoor concert on those cold, snowy winter days.

When I was a bit older, I became familiar with the song "You can do Magic" because my Mom's aerobic class used to play it during their warm-up routine. I always liked the song but never realized who the artists were (I was only 9 at the time). It wasn't until years later and a move across the country that I became a serious fan. As a gift for my 20th. birthday, my brother bought me "America's Greatest Hits" after remembering how much fun we had during our imagined AMERICA concerts in the early '80s. The result of listening to that CD was a rediscoverery of my love for AMERICA'S music. I was especially thankful for this rediscovery because I was nauseated with the recent surge of "grunge music" and the overall depressing, monotonous quality of '90s music.

My rediscovery of AMERICA sparked a new adventure - searching through mounds of old records in vintage music stores all over Phoenix. Much to my surprise, I was able to find all of AMERICA's albums (except the soundtracks). My friends thought I was ridiculous for 2 reasons: (1) How could I like a group as "ancient" as AMERICA and (2) Why did I have a loot of albums and no record player! I had to explain to them that they just didn't know what they were missing out on; that they'd rather fry their brain with grunge. The record player, on the other hand, arrived on Christmas Eve, and soon after all my friends were subjected to a demonstration of first-rate, quality music!

Reflecting on my new found joy, I think that I may be one of the luckiest AMERICA fans around. My luck began when I decided to "surf the net" (I was suppossed to be working on a database) and discovered the AMERICA homepage. I was absolutely thrilled! I wrote to Ike Gauley, Rick Wahlgreen, and Jim Nakao regarding how ecstatic I was about finding the homepage and about AMERICA in general since I was (and still am) a novice. They suggested that I should experince a concert and helped me work out the logistics so that it was a realistic goal. The best memories I have are from the 2 concerts I saw this fall: Humphrey's, San Diego and Ventura. I was in awe as I watched Dewey, Gerry, Wood-z, Brad, and Willie play. I couldn't believe how closely their live music resembled their recorded work. It was truly an incredible experience. I also had the rare opportunity to meet the band while they warmed-up. I found Dewey and Gerry especially pleasant and truly sincere about meeting me. Dewey even expressed a genuine interest when I discussed some of my college research with him!

As mentioned above, I am a senior at Arizona State University and will be graduating with a BS in Wildlife Conservation Biology on May 10, 1996. I am currently working as an aquatic ecologist for the ASU Department of Zoology. My research focuses on elemental content and nutrient recycling of crustacean zooplankton in freshwater ecosystems. Starting in May, I will be working as a limnologist for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. My future goal is to pursue a Master's degree in community ecology.

My enjoyment of AMERICA's music initiated my pursuit of the acoustic guitar. I've now graduated from the initial stages (as indicated by severely calloused finger-tips) and can play the major chords. Jim Nakao of Huntington Beach, CA has been an invaluable source of learning AMERICA tunes and I am truly grateful. I have hopes of seeing AMERICA in concert this summer in Phoenix. Perhaps I will have the opportunity to meet more wonderful AMERICA fans!

June 17, 2004 Update:
It has been a while since I wrote. I no longer live in the Phoenix area. I am currently living in Centerville, Iowa. I graduated from ASU in 1996 with a BS in wildlife biology. I worked odd jobs for the AZ Game & Fish Dept. but found I could not pay the school bills on the paltry wages. In 1997, I volunteered to be a soldier in the US Army. I served a four year active duty enlistment with the 10th Mountain Division in upstate New York. I also completed a tour of duty in Bosnia. During this time I also earned an AA in Spanish from the Presidio of Monterey, California. After I received my honorable discharge from the Army, I returned to school once again. I just graduated in May with a BA in Education. This fall, I will begin my new teaching career. I will be teaching middle school math and science at Moravia High School in Iowa. As you can see it has been a long journey since 1996. Nonetheless, during the worst of times (even in Bosnia) I had my America CDs to keep my spirits up. I'm still a fan although I have some catching up to do as far as my CD collection goes. All this schooling has drained every drop of monetary resources. This summer, I will begin working on graduate courses for my Masters in education.

Feel free to send your comments or questions to Traci.