John Fogerty Gets By With A Little Help From His Friends

Updated:

June 29, 2009 12:52 pm

John Fogerty’s next album, due later this year, will consist primarily of covers (with one Fogerty original, a re-recording of “A Change in the Weather”). The former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman has drafted Bruce Springsteen and Eagles members Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmidt to help create John Fogerty: The Blue Ridge Rangers Ride Again.

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Here’s the press release:

Post-production work on the much-anticipated John Fogerty: The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again is now complete with a late summer/early fall album release date pending. The new album is, after 36 years, the conceptual follow-up to 1973’s Blue Ridge Rangers, the first release from Fogerty following the break-up of Creedence Clearwater Revival. That album yielded two Top 40 hits: “Jambalaya” and “Hearts of Stone.” As with the earlier album, the repertoire featured in The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again consists of 12 songs, both classic and arcane, that illustrate the influence country and roots music have long had on Fogerty and his own songwriting.

Unlike the first Blue Ridge Rangers album where Fogerty anonymously transformed himself into his own backing band by playing all of the instruments, an all-star cast of supporting musicians were on hand for the new BRR project. These include Buddy Miller, Kenny Aronoff, Greg Leisz, Jay Bellerose, Jason Mowery, Herb Pedersen, Jodie Kennedy, Oren Waters, Chris Chaney, Dennis Crouch, and Hunter Perrin. “I’d long thought I’d do another Blue Ridge Rangers album,” Fogerty commented, “and not make the mistake of playing all the instruments. These are fantastic players who really understand what the Blue Ridge Rangers vibe is about.” Also joining in were Bruce Springsteen and Eagles’ Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit who worked, respectively, with Fogerty on the Everly Brothers’ “When Will I Be Loved” and Rick Nelson’s “Garden Party.” The album was produced by John Fogerty with Lenny Waronker and Julie Fogerty serving as associate producers.

The album was recorded, for the most part, at Berkeley Street Studios in Santa Monica, CA with Bob Clearmountain mixing. Tracking began last October at Village Recorders in Santa Monica with engineer Mike Piersante Additional sessions took place after the first of the year including the Springsteen contribution. “That was Julie’s idea,” Fogerty says of his wife’s concept to have the legends work out a duet on the Everly Brothers’ 1960 classic. “I’d hoped we be able to work together some day; I’m a fan of his and he’s a fan of mine and we’re friends,” said Fogerty. Springsteen and Julie discussed the idea and ‘The Boss’ immediately agreed to the idea. Later, during a very busy time for him– Super Bowl half-time performance, appearance at the Obama Inaugural celebration at the Lincoln Memorial ongoing preparations for a national tour — the collaboration came to pass. The track was cut at Berkeley Street and the Fogertys flew to New Jersey where the vocals were completed.

Henley and Schmit’s role in “Garden Party” was, similarly, simpatico. Fogerty had inducted Ricky Nelson into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and has been a life-long fan of the man and his music. “He helped shape who I am,” says Fogerty of the late Nelson. The theme of the song, especially the line “If memories were all I sang, I’d rather drive a truck,” has long resonated with Fogerty in light of his legal and emotional struggles concerning the Creedence Clearwater Revival catalog of songs that he wrote but lost control of. “I loved the record,” said Fogerty of Nelson’s 1972 Top Ten hit. “Obviously, I identified with it.” So, too, did Henley and Schmit who, says Fogerty, “were happy to be part of it.”

Song selection for The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again includes two songs identified with Ray Price as well as songs associated with or written by John Prine, Buck Owens, John Denver, The Kendalls, Delaney & Bonnie, Johnny Fuller and Pat Boone. There is also a Blue Ridge Rangers “cover” of Fogerty’s own “Change In The Weather” which underscores the importance of the gospel/blues element in his music.

The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again track listing

Title (songwriter)

Paradise (John Prine)

Never Ending Song of Love (Delaney Bramlett)

Garden Party (Rick Nelson)

I Don’t Care (Just As Long As You Love Me) (Buck Owens)

Back Home Again (John Denver)

I’ll Be There (If You Ever Want Me) (Ray Price, Rusty Gabbard)

Change In The Weather (John Fogerty)

Moody River (Gary Bruce)

Heaven’s Just A Sin Away (J. Gillespie)

Fallin’, Fallin’, Fallin’ (D. Deckleman, J. Guillot, J.D. Miller)