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John Fogerty
The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again
(Verve Forecast)
First Appeared in The Music Box, October 2009, Volume 16, #10
Written by John Metzger
Mon October 5, 2009, 06:30 AM CDT
It’s rare for anyone to be given a second chance, especially in the brutally
unforgiving world of the music business. When he assembled his solo debut The Blue Ridge Rangers, John Fogerty was at the tail-end of a creative burst
that had propelled Creedence Clearwater Revival from a local-area bar band to
one of rock ’n‘ roll’s biggest-selling acts. In the wake of the outfit’s
collapse, under the weight of an intense sibling rivalry and a series of
creative differences, Fogerty took matters into his own hands. Egotistically, he
felt he could do it all on his own. In hindsight, however, even he has admitted
that the album reached beyond his abilities.
By contrast, Fogerty’s latest effort is the culmination of his long journey
back from the brink of being nothing more than a nostalgia act. Over the past
few years, he has been trolling through his back catalogue in an attempt to
reconnect with and rebuild his past. Not only have the key albums in Creedence
Clearwater Revival’s canon been reissued with bonus material, but Fogerty also
put his solo career back on track with Deja Vu All Over Again and Revival, a pair of terrific, if sometimes retro-minded endeavors. Now that
he has reached another creative peak, Fogerty is revisiting the concepts that
spawned The Blue Ridge Rangers. Apparently, he viewed the project as an
opportunity to correct his previous mistakes.
Instead of recording The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again in solitude,
Fogerty not only assembled a band of all-star session players, but he also
enlisted the help of several key guest stars — namely Bruce Springsteen and the
Eagles’ Timothy B. Schmit and Don Henley — to help him complete the endeavor.
With the exception of a modest reconfiguration of his own tune Change in the
Weather, Fogerty forsakes the swampy ambience that has cloaked much of his
work. In the process, he reveals the oft-neglected pastiche of classic country,
bluegrass, and early rock ’n‘ roll that has lurked behind his soul-infused bayou
boogies.
Throughout The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, Fogerty rambles through
the truck stops and country fairs that line the highways and back roads of rural
America. His song selections are impeccable, too. In the spirit of The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Fogerty casts a wider net than he did on The
Blue Ridge Rangers. As a result, he makes enough room for songs penned by
the peers he loves to sit next to tunes that are associated with the influences
he adores. He comfortably swerves from the bluegrass textures that adorn John Prine’s Paradise to the hard country of Ray Price’s I’ll Be There,
and he crosses effortlessly from the classic rockabilly tune Haunted House
to the bracing ebullience of Phil Everly’s When Will I Be Loved.
It would have been easy for Fogerty to err on the side of giving The Blue
Ridge Rangers Rides Again either too much or too little thought. Although he
clearly is surfing upon the cresting wave of his recent string of successes, he
instead opted to jettison his artistic pretensions and approach the album from
the perspective of a music fan. His enthusiasm is wholly infectious, too. The
intimacy he creates throughout the endeavor conjures the warm, magical glow of
AM radio’s bygone era, perhaps for the last time.  ½
Of Further Interest...
Steve Earle / Del McCoury Band - The Mountain
John Mellencamp - Life, Death, Love and Freedom
Scott Miller and the Commonwealth - Citation
The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again is available from
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2009 The Music Box
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