Tumbleweed Connection

The third album is built on country and western and Americana themes. Taupin said people assumed he had been shaped by seeing America first hand, but the album was written and recorded before they had been to the States. He said it came out of The Band's Music From Big Pink and Robbie Robertson's songs, and that "El Paso" was the song that made him want to write. Basic tracks for "Come Down in Time", "Country Comfort" and "Burn Down the Mission" were recorded during the sessions for the previous album. Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson appear together for the first time on "Amoreena". Musicians from the band Hookfoot, including Caleb Quaye and Roger Pope, played on several tracks.

No singles were issued in the US. The album peaked at number two in the UK and number five in the US, and the RIAA certified it gold in March 1971 and platinum in August 1998. The cover was photographed at Sheffield Park station on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex. "Burn Down the Mission" is the only song from it that John played on the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, where it was in the set every night. "Amoreena" is heard in Sidney Lumet's 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon. David Fricke of Rolling Stone called it "one of the best country-rock albums ever written by London cowboys".