By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Two principal songwriters of The Guess Who — the band that crafted the hit song “American Woman” — will tour America itself later this year for the first time in over two decades.
Original guitarist Randy Bachman and singer-keyboardist Burton Cummings, who have already announced a tour of their native Canada this summer, are adding more than 20 U.S. dates, they tell The Associated Press.
“Randy and I are getting this incredible welcome back feeling,” says Cummings. “It’s magic to play the hit records and see people singing along after decades and decades.”
The Guess Who will cross the border starting June 25 in Minneapolis, and hit such cities as Cincinnati, Chicago, Detroit, Atlantic City, Boston, Atlanta, Houston, Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Seattle.
The last time Bachman and Cummings toured the U.S. as The Guess Who was in 2001 alongside Joe Cocker. Part of the delay in returning stemmed from a trademark dispute with their former bandmates who used The Guess Who name. A settlement was reached in September 2024 giving Bachman and Cummings the trademark.
“I’m glad that’s all over with,” says Cummings. “Now we can go out and honor the songs. We’re going out to honor the music.”
The Guess Who are one of the biggest classic rock acts to emerge from Canada, scoring memorable hits during the 1960s and ’70s like “These Eyes,” “Hand Me Down World,” “Laughing,” “No Time” and “Share the Land.” The Guess Who became the first Canadian band to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Bachman and Cummings promise a summer setlist of some 20 songs that includes all the hits — and they’ll play them exactly like they were played on the records.
“That’s what people want to hear,” says Bachman. “When I go see my buddy Neil Young, I don’t want the songs he wrote last week.”
Cummings agrees, comparing great songs to signposts in people’s lives.
“I can remember the first time I heard Elvis on the radio, the first time I ever heard the Beatles, first time when I heard Ray Charles sing ‘What’d I Say,'” he says. “Really great records never leave people’s memories. They’re there for good.”
Bachman and Cummings say there’s a yearning for classic rock songs played live, especially in this age of AI and music-writing software.
“Anybody can now write a song, put it in a computer and a song comes out. But they can’t play it live,” says Bachman. “The people want to see you playing real rock. They want to hear a mistake. They want to see a string break.”