The Guess Who singer Burton Cummings sees the past year as a homecoming.

After decades of legal battles and the “fake Guess Who” touring under that moniker, Cummings and Randy Bachman have reclaimed their act’s name. The two founded The Guess Who more than 60 years ago in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. 

Cummings and Bachman are celebrating The Guess Who’s legacy with the appropriately dubbed jaunt, “Takin’ It Back Tour.” The run comes to the Arizona Financial Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 17, with Don Felder, formerly of the Eagles.

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Cummings and Bachman sued bandmates Jim Kale and Garry Peterson over “false advertising,” likening the touring band to a “cover band.” The case was settled in September 2024, with Cummings and Bachman acquiring the band name’s trademark.

The Guess Who has had a deep influence on rock music, with songs like “American Woman” and “These Eyes.”

“What makes us the proudest — and I really mean this — our songs have never gone away,” Cummings said. 

“I still hear myself on the radio, and that’s not something that every artist gets. We don’t take it for granted. We don’t take it lightly. I’ve known artists who were successful, who always felt it was coming to them, that it was owed to them.”

The now-78-year-old Cummings met Bachman when he was 17. Both grew up listening to hook-laden songs on AM radio. The playlist includes songs by Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Burt Bacharach, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

“Randy and I always admired the songwriting partners, the songwriting teams,” he said. “So, I think that crept into our songwriting. To be honest, that’s part of the reason our songs have never gone away, I think.”

Cummings’ voice has dynamic versatility. He eschews vocal exercises to keep his vocals in check. Instead, he drives around, listening to the radio and singing along to whoever’s on the radio. 

“Sometimes it’s way, way above my vocal range,” he said. “It could be Robert Plant, Steve Miller, Elvis Presley or Frank Sinatra. It’s any singer who comes along. 

“It can be difficult. Take [U2’s] Bono for instance. He sings so high and has a full voice. I think that might have kept me in shape in some ways. I mean, nobody can ever say, ‘Gee Burt, you didn’t party enough. It’s not like I lived the life of a Buddhist monk. Singing all the time has been a trick.”

He was, however, “religious about vitamins” from about 1976 onward. Cummings said he believed that helped as well. 

“I’m going to be 80 next year,” he said. “We’re still out there rocking.” 

When The Guess Who hits the stage in Phoenix, the musicians will honor the band’s history. 

“We’re doing the most famous songs,” Cummings said. 

“We know why people are coming to see us. We’re not trying to shove a bunch of new stuff down people’s throats. We do go a little deeper into the Guess Who catalog, like we do songs like ‘Proper Stranger,’ which was on the ‘American Woman’ album. It was the flipside of ‘No Time.’”

Occasionally, he said, the band performs “Wednesday in Your Garden,” from the “Wheatfield Soul” album.

“This is not a ‘Burton’ show. It’s not a ‘BTO’ show,” he said. “It’s a Guess Who show. We really do concentrate on the history of the band. I love it when we do ‘Clap for the Wolfman.’ The whole crowd claps along on the 1-2-3. It’s something I think that a lot of artists dream of but never get to live out.” 

Even after all these years, Cummings still gets a thrill hearing “No Time” on the radio.

“I heard it yesterday up here in Canada,” he said. “It still sounded like a good record to me. That makes me proud. That stuff we did over 50 years ago still sounds decent.”