Two platinum albums in a row, and then a record about muskrats. The American folk-rock trio America had sold millions with their first two LPs, but on October 26, 1973 they released Hat Trick, a third studio album that would stall well short of the heights they had grown used to.
The date matters because it marked a gamble. For Hat Trick the three members of America — Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek — produced the record themselves. They also brought in string arrangements for the first time, written by Jim Ed Norman. The album drew on country-rock, folk-rock and soft-rock, and the band was steering alone.
The risk showed in the numbers. Hat Trick reached only 28th place on the Billboard 200, while the two albums before it had been platinum. The lead single, Muskrat Love, written by Willis Alan Ramsey, climbed to 67th place on the Billboard singles chart and 11th on the adult contemporary chart.
Yet the album was far from a bare-bones affair. The sessions ran from May 29 to July 12, 1973 at the Record Plant in Los Angeles, with engineer Mike Di Stone at the board. A long list of players moved through the studio: drummer Hal Blaine, bassist David Dickey, and even Bruce Johnston and Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys adding backing vocals to the title track. The record had ambition, but ambition does not always mean hits. The sessions also featured some less expected touches. Henry Diltz, better known for his photography, played banjo on "Submarine Ladies," while Lee Keifer added harmonica to the same track.
Muskrat Love became the album's strange legacy. Released as a single in August 1973, it underperformed for America. Three years later Captain & Tennille took the same song much higher up the charts, and many listeners would later associate the song with the duo rather than the trio who recorded it first.
The album itself is an eleven-track collection that splits the songwriting three ways: Dewey Bunnell wrote Wind Wave, Rainbow Song, Molten Love and Green Monkey; Gerry Beckley wrote She's Gonna Let You Down and Goodbye; Dan Peek wrote It's Life and Willow Tree Lullaby. The title track was a rare joint composition by all three members,
The commercial result was uneven across the map. Hat Trick landed at 24th place in Australia and 24th in Spain, but only 45th in Canada and 41st in the UK, where it did earn a silver certification from the BPI. That British silver was the closest thing to a bright spot: the album never received gold status in the United States, breaking the platinum streak that had defined America's first years.
The contrast at the heart of Hat Trick is the story: a band that had known platinum success decided to try something different. They produced themselves, added strings, wrote an album of eleven tracks and trusted a song about muskrats to carry the singles chart. The result was not a disaster, but it was a clear step down from the two platinum records that had come before.