With their layered harmonies, warm acoustic guitars + ringing electrics, America brought the goods last night to the packed Golden Nugget Las Vegas. Gerry Beckley‘s “Sister Golden Hair” achieved lift-off, with one of the most transcendent choruses in pop music, and Dewey Bunnell’s “Sandman”—written in part from conversations with returning airmen from Vietnam—is as haunting as ever.

The band, a longtime Schneider Rondan Organization client, is now in their 51st year + still going strong. They count the Beatles, Beach Boys + CSNY among their influences, as Dewey discusses in the new issue of Goldmine: The Music Collector’s Marketplace in his “10 Albums That Changed My Life” piece.