Legendary act Grand Funk Railroad celebrate 50th anniversary of “We’re An American Band” with summer headline tour

Original founding member Don Brewer (vocals and drums) is the writer and singer of “We’re An American Band,” from the band’s seventh album. One of rock’s definitive anthems, the platinum-certified single went all the way to #1 on the Billboard “Hot 100” chart.

Says Don: “‘We’re An American Band’ came to me when we were flying from town to town on our “Phoenix Tour” in 1972. We were being sued by our former manager Terry Knight and he was trying to stop us from performing. The line “We’re comin’ to your town, we’ll help you party it down” came to me first and I wrote the song around that line. Taking snippets of things going on during the tour at that time, like staying up all night with Freddy King playing poker, four young chiquitas in Omaha, sweet sweet Connie in Little Rock, and finally the declaration, ‘We’re An American Band,’ because it sounds great and sings well. I feel lucky and blessed every time we play it live.”