More than 40 years after its formation and 38 years after its big hit, “Amie,” Pure Prairie League’s continuing popularity is “befuddling” to founding member Craig Fuller.

“It was really mostly about the songs,” says Fuller, who remains part of the country-rock troupe along with longtime pedal steel player John David Call and bassist Mike Reilly. “The band usually did songs that had singable choruses, with harmony. We never really had many good players, me included, so it was mostly about the songs and the singing and the harmony.

“And I think we just caught ’em at a vulnerable period,” Fuller says with a laugh, “when everyone was in college and playing LPs in the dorm and everything. “We just fit the lifestyle — us and the Byrds and Poco and the Eagles.”

But PPL now, Fuller says, “is not really a band anymore.” Its last album of new material, “All Good Time,” came out in 2005, and these days the real demand is for the favorites from the ’70s and early ’80s.

“There are all sorts of reasons I won’t talk about it, but I’m done” making new PPL music, says Fuller, who also performs with Little Feat and as a solo folk act. “Going out and doing these nostalgic shows with a certain amount of credibility is something I can do in my sleep, and it’s fun. It’s easy and pleasurable. And at this point I don’t think we need to try to make it any more than that.”



Pure Prairie League performs at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, at Monroe County Community College’s La-Z Boy Center Meyer Theater, 1555 S. Raisinville Road. Tickets are $20, $30 VIP. Call 734-384-4272 or visit www.monroeccc.edu.