John Fogerty re-revisits his musical roots

When John Fogerty cut the original Blue Ridge Rangers LP in 1973, it stood firmly as a work separated from his run with Creedence Clearwater Revival. A year from the band’s breakup, Fogerty immersed himself in musical roots with an album of covers, mostly country and gospel, played and sung entirely on his own. Even the album’s cover echoed the solo theme, with Fogerty silhouetted as each of the fictional group’s five members. Try as he might to distance himself from Creedence, however, his unmistakable voice and a track list of country songs upon which many of his own songs were built, couldn’t help but point to his previous work.

Thirty-six years later Fogerty has brought elements of the Blue Ridge Rangers’ ethos back to the studio. Unlike the Rangers’ first effort, this is more capstone and reminiscence than a place to gather oneself between career phases. More importantly, rather than layering his own instrumental and vocal performances in the studio, Fogerty’s put together an actual Blue Ridge Rangers with the talents of guitarist Buddy Miller, steel/mandolin/dobro player Greg Leisz, drummer Kenny Aranoff and many others. He’s also chosen to share the microphone with Eagles Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit on Rick Nelson’s “Garden Party,” and Bruce Springsteen on the Everly Brothers’ “When Will I Be Loved.”

The song list remains an all-covers affair, including an earthy take of Fogerty’s own “Change in the Weather” that drops the unfortunate mid-80s production of Eye of the Zombie’s original. There are classic country tunes from Ray Price, Buck Owens and the Kendalls, but Fogerty also reaches to fellow singer-songwriters John Prine, Rick Nelson and John Denver, and favorites from Delaney & Bonnie, Pat Boone and the 1964 Jumpin’ Gene Simmons R&B novelty, “Haunted House.” Highlights include Prine’s environmentalist lyric of a bucolic childhood literally trucked away by a coal company and a take of Denver’s “Back Home Again” that’s adds a bit of Neil Young-like reediness to the original.

Fogerty sounds relaxed and at home surrounded by fiddle and steel and riding a Ray Price shuffle beat, and the husk of his voice adds an element of solemn pain and earthen soul to Pat Boone’s melodramatic death ballad, “Moody River.” The album closes with an overcooked Cajun-rock arrangement of “When Will I Be Loved” that has Fogerty and Springsteen reprising Phil and Don Everly. Though it’s more of a lark than an artistic summit, it’s great to hear two modern icons wailing away at their shared roots. That really sums up Fogerty’s decision to bring the Blue Ridge Rangers back to life, as it’s an opportunity for a great artist to revel in his equally great influences. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]