Product Description 2009 release from the Rock legend and former leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Thirty six years after the release of his first solo album (Blue Ridge Rangers), Fogerty returns to his Country roots with this album featuring guest appearances from Bruce Springsteen and Don Henley. 12 tracks featuring Fogerty's unique covers of 10 of his favorite songs plus two self-penned tracks. Rather than the one-man-band affair of the original Blue Ridge Rangers album, the new set features an all-star cast of players including Kenny Aronoff, Buddy Miller, Greg Leisz, Hunter Perrin, Jason Mowery, Chris Chaney, Jay Bellerose, Dennis Crouch, Jodie Kennedy, Herb Pedersen and Oren Waters. About the Artist What happens when one American legend takes on 12 American classics? If that legend is John Fogerty, the simple answer is musical magic. On The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, Fogerty reinvents such treasures as the Everly Bros.' "When Will I Be Loved" (a stunning duet with fellow Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Bruce Springsteen), Rick Nelson's "Garden Party" and John Denver's "Back Home Again" with uncommon grace and unbridled zest. As longtime Fogerty fans will recall, the Blue Ridge Rangers made their first appearance in 1973 when the Grammy® winner released an album of classic covers (including "Jambalaya" and "She Still Thinks I Care") under that moniker. The name was deceptive: the Rangers were Fogerty and Fogerty alone. He played all the instruments including drums. The thought of revisiting the Blue Ridge Rangers as a vehicle to create another set of beloved covers has never been far from Fogerty's mind. "I thought about it at least once a month," he says. "I told myself if I ever get to do this again, I'm going to have real guys playing; I'd find the best guys I could and have fun and so that's what happened this time." Indeed, on The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, Fogerty surrounds himself with such top-flight musicians as Buddy Miller (guitar), Greg Leisz (pedal and lap steel, mandolin and dobro), Jason Mowery (fiddle, mandolin and dobro) and Kenny Aronoff (drums). They circle and entwine each other in joyous musical call and responses (complete with hooting and hollering), weaving in and out of each song. Call it a country record if you must, but it's really the sound of America. And the sound of Fogerty: real instruments, real talent. No artifice. Fogerty, who arranged and produced the set, encouraged his fellow musicians to bring their own ideas to the songs. The album's great live feel comes from the fact that the basic tracks were recorded in three or four takes over a seven-day period. Then, the players hung out in the studio during each other's overdubs, egging on their compatriots. "It seemed to be a very rewarding way to make music," Fogerty says. "I really believed in the songs and the vibe. There was not really a preconceived notion. There [was] an openness, but the thing has to ring true to how I feel." Nowhere is that openness more evident than on 1964's "Haunted House." Fogerty & Co. take what many considered a novelty song made famous by Jumpin' Gene Simmons about an alien and turn it into a full-on rave-up. "It was my idea that I wanted it to basically be a country jam," he says. "It was a vehicle to have the musicians trade verses. This was important to me; to hear that fun." And therein lies another key to the album's unforced grace. When recording cover songs, it may be tempting to labor over whether to remain faithful to the original or to morph the song into a new creation, Fogerty discarded any such worries and simply went with his gut. "If when I get done with a particular song and I don't have any more questions, I'm pretty sure it's done," he plainly says. While it may seem odd this member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and author of such iconic tunes as "Proud Mary," "Bad Moon Rising," "Born on the Bayou," "Fortunate Son" and "Who'll Stop the Rain," would turn to tunes penned by others, remember that he is also a great lover of music. (The lone Fogerty composition on the set is the swampy "Change in the Weather," originally on 1986's Eye of the Zombie.) Many of the songs have been Fogerty favorites for decades and have, as he puts it, "become part of my DNA." Some selections, such as "When Will I Be Loved" and "Moody River," go back to his adolescence. Many, such as John Prine's "Paradise" and John Denver's "Back Home Again," are from revered contemporaries. "I Don't Care (Just As Long As You Love Me)" is a salute to one of his musical heroes, Buck Owens, and his groundbreaking guitarist and Buckaroos' leader Don Rich. Others were last minute additions. Miller brought "Fallin', Fallin', Fallin'" to Fogerty's attention while the band was in the studio in Los Angeles. "I'm not sure if I've ever heard that one before," Fogerty says, "but it was delightful and was a good vehicle to bring the band together with that sort of western swing." The criterion for inclusion on the album was a deceptively simple one: "If I'm allowed to just get up with a bunch of people in a country bar somewhere, these are the songs I'll do," Fogerty says. "There was some talk in the beginning about having some [theme]; personally, I wasn't buying into that. To me, the common thread is really about presenting a certain feeling about music." Otherwise, he says, the pressure of fitting tunes into a preselected theme weighs down the process "like bowling balls in your knapsack." The song most likely to surprise listeners is a remake of Pat Boone's last No. 1 in 1961, the unlikely murder ballad "Moody River." "I can imagine Pete Seeger singing it. There are so many things to sink your teeth into," Fogerty says. "By the way, Pat sings his butt off. I think our version is far more eerie sounding than Pat was allowed to do. "Garden Party," a song by another former teen idol, holds special significance for Fogerty, who inducted Nelson, who died in 1985, into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Like Nelson, Fogerty has remained true to himself and his music, even when doing so was extremely painful. "I'm the guy who didn't sing his own songs for 25 years because, basically, those songs had been taken away from me and also used in ways I really disagreed with," Fogerty says, referring to his decades-long battle with Saul Zaentz over his publishing. "Therefore, I could really identify with a guy saying, 'If memories were all I sang, I'd rather drive a truck.'" The Eagles' Don Henley, a fan of the first Blue Ridge Rangers album, and Timothy B. Schmit provide sumptuous harmonies on "Garden Party." "The Eagles were born to sing those parts," Fogerty says. "We were all fans." The most personal song for Fogerty is Denver's "Back Home Again." The message of returning to a loved one's arms after a journey "involves [my wife] Julie and my emotions towards her," he says. Plus, he's a tremendous Denver fan. Fogerty vividly recalls halting an interview during the 1985's Farm Aid to hear Denver perform. However, Denver's angelic voice haunted him when he thought about cutting the track: that is until Julie convinced him to try. "I thought I didn't have a prayer of doing it justice, but Julie really kept insisting; she kept empowering me and enabling me.I was terrified of it. I don't sound like John Denver. Somehow I found another way to sound alright." The album closes with Fogerty and Springsteen's yearning take on "When Will I Be Loved," marking the first time the two legends and longtime admirers of each other have recorded together. "I've wanted to do something with Bruce forever, probably 20-some odd years," Fogerty says of his tour mate on the Vote for Change outing. Fogerty traveled to Springsteen's New Jersey home to record the Boss's part. "The hardest part was it was in a very high range for Bruce's voice, but he got it done. He didn't complain; he didn't wimp out. It sounds great. It was remarkable how much of a chance he would take." But in the end, as Fogerty notes, whether he was recording with Springsteen or the Eagles or with the band, when it came to making The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, "I just sing my own style." And no one does that better than John Fogerty.
R**R
The Father Of 21st Century Country
This album is the next generation piece to the original 1973 release. More people, a less-minimalist sound, later vintage material. That earlier release was the first John Fogerty solo album for followers of Creedence, and it came at a time when country was identified with the generation that said that you grow up, you go into the Army and get your butt shot at, because if you dodge the draft and go to college, attending classes taught by commie profs, you become a commie too. At the same time, prominent preachers said that rock was the "devil's heartbeat". So country became synonymous with uncool and you mocked it by howling like a hound dog. Fogerty took country, added blues the same way the 'Fifties rockabillies had done years before, and called it "Creedence". This album is the second disc of what might have been a double album that was finished 36 years later. Fogerty, being the mature artist he is, avoids coming up with totally new versions of the covers that are here, avoids the ego trip of "making the songs his own". Look, the man is around 60, so he's going to think like a grown-up. Even down to giving lead phrases in some songs to guest vocalists. He plays Rick Nelson's "Garden Party" straight ahead (matching the backup vocals and lead guitar hooks from the original), same as with John Denver's "Back Home Again". His own 1986 song "Change In the Weather" gets a countryish remake here. And remember the line in the Creedence classic "Lookin' Out My Back Door" that goes "...listenin' to Buck Owens..."? Fogerty gives tribute to the memory of his fellow Californian by including "I Don't Care (Just As Long As You Love Me)" here. Anybody who thinks solo Fogerty begins and ends with "Centerfield" (as well as thinking modern country began with Randy Travis and Garth Brooks) should grab this one, along with the 1973 Rangers release as a prologue.
E**S
True Country
This album plays like an album, and it just flows. This sounds like the country music I grew up with, it sounds like the country music of the 1970s and early 1980s. Quite frankly, in an era when country has pretty much become substitute rock, it is quite refreshing. It's the best new album I've bought made in the 2000s.Now let me explain that I'm fickle when it comes to music. I very rarely like an entire album. An example would be Tom Petty's "Full Moon Fever"....I like every song on that album except for "Alright For Now". Albums don't tend to flow right anymore, unl;ike classics like "Hair Of The Dog" by Nazareth or "Appetite For Destruction" by Guns N' Roses, which are two albums I can listen from start to finish without skipping tracks constantly.Now onto this album. I've never heard the song "Paradise" before, but every song on this album is a cover. Fogerty does the song in a way that makes me like it, and it's a great song lyrics. Fogerty then does the best version I've ever heard of "Never Ending Song Of Love". It's a song I've heard most of my life never knowing its name or who did it, but it was always a fun listen-and Fogerty's version makes you stand and take notice, and maybe sing along and dance.The cover of Rick Nelson's "Garden Party" is a very good rendition, and is very comparable to the original. On the DVD that comes with the CD John explains why he chose that song, and his hesitancy to do a few of these covers and how surprised he was that they worked so well. He has a great admiration for these songs, and it shows. It's great to hear a musician's point of view on that introspective song of "Garden Party"."I Don't Care (As Long As You Love Me)" captures the spirit and essence of Buck Owens, and I have a feeling that only John can pull off great covers of Buck's work. I know Dwight Yoakum's tried, but his covers usually seem a bit off somehow.I've never heard the original "Back Home Again" by John Denver. On the DVD John tells a good Farm Aid story about this song and seeing John Denver there. It's very rustic, rural, and rootsy. The whole album is great for a sunny afternoon, or a beautiful lazy sun stripped morning like it is right now as I type.Gonna skip a few tracks here. "Heaven's Just A Sin Away" is a song by the Kendalls I've heard a lot, my dad used to play it quite often the last couple years before he died. John does a very good version, his vocal range hits the vocals just right. Plus, if you've never heard the Kendalls they're female vocalists, and a guy covering a female vocal can be tricky, but he pulls it off."Fallin', Fallin', Fallin'" is a great song as sung by John Fogerty. Unsure who did the original, but this track is superb. Then comes the cover of "Haunted House" by Gene Simmons (not the Kiss lead singer). I don't think I've ever heard a country version of it before, only other cover I've heard was done by Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs. John's version has some good twang to it. Classic country instrumentation on the track is the kinda stuff modern country just won't touch anymore. This stuff is the real deal of country music."When Will I Be Loved" is a classic. First done by the Everly Brothers, it was famously covered by Linda Rondstadt. Here John Fogerty & Bruce Springsteen get it more than right, they bring it on home and deliver like nobody's business.This is the secret gem that should be in everybody's collection.
J**O
Perhaps not his greatest, but definitely worthwhile
I can also say this: the album was good enough that I purchased both the LP and subsequently the CD versions of it, though the latter was for my wife. Playing off the title of his first solo effort following his departure from Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Blue Ridge Rangers, Fogerty covers some tried and true songs, e.g., "Garden Party," "Moody River," "When Will I Be Loved," among others, with respectable performances, supported with backing vocals from the likes of Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit (the Eagles) and Bruce Springsteen on selected tracks. The production, engineering, and mastering, both on the LP, as well as the CD were quite good, the latter done by the incomparable Bob Ludwig (one of the best!) resulting in very good sonics, though perhaps not quite 'audiophile' quality. Whether you like the unique timbre of John Fogerty's voice, his unmistakable style, the mix of songs he covers, or if you just want some good music to listen to, you'll definitely enjoy this album!
J**N
Good old Music
I'm not an audiophile - I don't play an instrument - I generally like songs I can understand - Some of my favorite artists are Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch/David Rawlings, Patty Loveless (in her Mountain Soul mode), and so forth. Upon first play of this cd I started to sing along with it. I knew 90%+ of the songs and liked them. Hadn't heard some of them for quite a while. It made me feel good. I like some new stuff too but a good re-interpretation of a song can remind you of why you like the song in the first place (or give you a new reason to like it). Songs are sung in what I would call the "real" country style (no offense to pop country or anyother style). I think it is worth a try - check out Amazon's clips for a sample.
K**R
Fogerty in a Different Mode
I am a big John Fogerty fan having enjoyed his music right the way from the Credence Clearwater Rivival days. This CD is different to his usual style more of a country music record but the genius of Fogerty still shines through. A number of the songs are well known favourites (Garden Party from Ricky Nelson is one of the songs, I have admired this singer since the fifties) but John gives them a new sound. I love the different guitars used and although it will not suit everyone I rank this album up with the best of them.
M**S
spoilt for choice
How many times I have used the word great but how easy it is when talking about this man just when you think he can't surpass himself he comes up with another fantastic record i just don't know which of the recordings I have got is best the only thing that I can do is to buy everything as it comes out then I don't have to choose
C**C
Buy it
If you are a John Fogerty fan buy it you won’t be disappointed .
T**M
Blue Ridge Rangers Rides again
If you like John Fogerty, and I do, then you'll probably be aware of his solo work since Creedence Clearwater Revival, and this cd / dvd continues in that vein ..... excellent choice of John's favourite old songs given the Fogerty treatment, brilliant ! For me, the dvd where John comments on the choice of material and the background to that process is worth the price alone ...... highly recommended.
A**R
GREAT
Lovely country songs with that Fogerty touch.
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