John Fogerty
The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again
Fortunate Son/Verve Forecast
Back in 1973, John Fogerty released an album of covers under the name the Blue Ridge Rangers. He played everything on the record, from guitars to drums.
The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again is Fogerty’s return to the classics, covering favourites such as Moody River, made popular in 1961 by Pat Boone, to tunes by John Prine and John Denver.
Fogerty’s voice is twangy and countryish in all the right places, aided by a backing band playing lap steel, fiddle and mandolin.
The Eagles’ Don Henley joins in on a smooth, harmony-laced version of Ricky Nelson’s Garden Party, while Bruce Springsteen adds his bluesy grit and call-backs of “that’s what I’m talking about” to a version of the Everly Brothers’ When Will I Be Loved.
The album doesn’t burst with the kind of unbridled rock ’n’ roll howl Fogerty unleashed in Creedence Clearwater Revival, but shows off the 64-year-old’s rootsy side, still full of soul.
It’s worth a listen.
CHECK OUT THIS TRACK: “You can’t please everyone/ So you got to please yourself,” sings Fogerty knowingly on Garden Party, the best track of the album for its lyrics and retro references to Yoko Ono and others.