JOHN FOGERTY RELEASES ROYAL ALBERT HALL SHOW ON DVD

Rock & Roll Hero John Fogerty’s New DVD ‘Comin’ Down The Road: The Concert At Royal Albert Hall’ To Be Released Nov. 3 On Fortunate Son Records / Verve Forecast

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Fogerty’s new DVD ‘Comin’ Down The Road: The Concert at Royal Albert Hall’ will be released November 3 on Fortunate Son / Verve Forecast. The historic concert features Fogerty roaring through hits from both his solo career and his days leading Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Preview of the DVD:

Fogerty said, “The Royal Albert Hall. It’s hard to imagine that I am walking on to this stage that I left 37 years ago. I had no idea coming off that stage what was ahead me. I sure didn’t know it would take so long to come back! Tonight is a celebration of my music and my personal revival. And when I walk off this stage tonight it will be with a happy heart.”

Fogerty’s band includes Kenny Aronoff (drums), Billy Burnette (guitar), Jason Mowery (fiddle/mandolin), Matt Nolen (keyboards/guitar), Hunter Perrin (guitar), David Santos (bass). The concert also features guest appearances from John’s sons Shane & Tyler on guitar.

‘Comin’ Down The Road: The Concert at Royal Albert Hall’ track listing

01. Comin’ Down The Road
02. Born On The Bayou
03. Lookin’ Out My Backdoor
04. Rambunctious Boy
05. Don’t You Wish It Was True
06. My Toot Toot
07. Commotion
08. Creedence Song
09. Ramble Tamble
10. Gunslinger
11. I Will Walk With You
12. Somebody Help Me
13. Broken Down Cowboy
14. Keep On Chooglin’
15. Southern Streamline
16. Blue Ridge Mountain Blues
17. Almost Saturday Night
18. Rock And Roll Girls
19. Down On The Corner
20. Hey Tonight
21. Up Around The Bend
22. Old Man Down The Road
23. Fortunate Son
24. Travelin’ Band
25. Rockin’ All Over The World
26. Proud Mary

For more than four decades, John Fogerty has been an American treasure: one of the most revered and influential artists to emerge in the ’60s, and still a vital part of the musical landscape. As lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a GRAMMY-winning, chart-topping solo artist, Fogerty’s sound has encompassed everything from blues to country and southern swamp rock and roll. Known as one of the greatest songwriters, singers, and guitarists of all time, Fogerty was inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

NEW JOHN FOGERTY ALBUM TIPS HAT TO RICKY NELSON

Fogerty said, “‘Garden Party’ is a good example of the many layers of influence a song can have on a person. I was a huge fan of Ricky Nelson for his music and also for the person he seemed to be. The sound of his records and way they were arranged is still a part of the music I make today. And the message in this song, which was so important to Ricky, has come to be part of who I am as well. The phrase ‘if memories were all I sang, I’d rather drive a truck’ kind of sums it all up for me.”

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.

36 years after the release of his first solo album The Blue Ridge Rangers the rock legend returns to his country roots with Special Guests Bruce Springsteen and Don Henley.

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL COVERS CD

Creedence Covers The Classics due 25th May via Concord

Creedence Clearwater Revival built up a vast arsenal of covers during their lengthy apprenticeship in the local Bay Area music scene (as Tommy Fogerty & the Blue Velvets, and then later as The Golliwogs) by the time they emerged on the national stage in 1968.

Harkening back to the 1950s “Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll” during their heyday, CCR hardly missed an opportunity to salute their musical heroes whenever they could.

This collection brings together for the very first time their classic covers.

Track by Track:

1. Good Golly Miss Molly – A top ten hit for Little Richard back in 1958, CCRs version appeared on their second album, Bayou Country, in January of 1969. A worthy heir to the patented Little Richard scream; John Fogerty’s vocals cut right through and leave no prisoners.

2. I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Single Edit) - A massive Motown hit for both Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight and The Pips, CCR put their own spin on this Motor City classic on 1970’s Cosmo’s Factory. Released as a single in 1976 to commemorate their greatest hits collection Chronicle, this rare edit is making its U.S. CD debut on this collection.

3. Hello Mary Lou - Coupled with Travelin’ Man, Hello Mary Lou’was Ricky Nelson’s lone double A-side single taking it all the way to #1 in 1961. CCR’s countrified take appeared on 1972’s Mardi Gras, and foreshadowed the roots music direction that would dominate much of rock music for the rest of the decade.

4. Susie Q (Single Edit) - CCR’s first charted single (going to #11 in the fall of 1968) and a highlight of their debut long player was a cover of the 1957 Top 20 Dale Hawkins classic. Often mistaken for a CCR original, Susie Q, is the cover most closely associated with the band.

5. The Midnight Special - First appearing on Willy and the Poor Boys in 1969, John Fogerty’s arrangement of this traditional American folk song (made famous a generation earlier by Leadbelly) became an immediate CCR classic and a live staple for John to this day.

6. Ooby Dooby - Rock nRoll Hall of Famer Roy Orbison made his chart debut with this unlikely rockabilly number back in 1956. CCR’s rendition of this jukebox classic appeared on 1970’s Cosmo’s Factory.

7. The Night Time Is the Right Time - A rollickin call-and-response gospel-infused side made famous by The Genius of Soul, Ray Charles, in 1959. CCR brought it on home on the Green River LP ten years later.

8. Cotton Fields - Leadbelly’s (aka Huddie Leadbetter’s) folk perennial gets a country & western make-over on this beloved album track from Willy and the Poor Boys. John Fogerty’s layered harmony vocals give an added poignancy to Leadbelly’s lyrics.

9. Ninety-Nine and a Half - The wicked Mr. Wilson Pickett’s 1966 R&B mover got the CCR makeover on their ‘68 debut platter. Fogerty’s urgent vocals add to the energy, proving the band could hold their own against the best Memphis had to offer.

10. Before You Accuse Me - The band saw fit to pay homage to rock n roll’s original innovator by including this Bo Diddley classic (who first recorded it in 1957) on Cosmo’s Factory in 1970.

11. My Baby Left Me – There isn’t a band working today who doesn’t owe a debt to The King – Elvis Presley. CCR repaid theirs in full on Cosmo’s Factory with the straight ahead cover of the 1957 Presley classic (which originally appeared as the B side of I Want You, I Need You, I Love You).

12. I Put a Spell on You - The lead-off cut from CCR’s debut. Just as guttural as Screamin Jay Hawkins 1957 original and twice as primal. Another cover they would forever make their own, it is rock ‘n’ roll in its purest and best form.