The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again

by

John Fogerty

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Like many Fogerty fans, I was thrilled to see that John was again digging into his roots and influences to produce an album as his alter ego, the Blue Ridge Rangers. That original album holds a special place for me, as it was a window into the very foundation of Creedence Clearwater Revival, one of the greatest American rock bands of any era.

Many folks forget that when the original album was released in 1973, it was not a John Fogerty album. The band was "The Blue Ridge Rangers"(no reference to Fogerty at all), the songs were all covers, and CCR was nowhere to be found. It was not promoted as a Fogerty project. I won't go into the well-known contract hassles and history of Fogerty, Fantasy and CCR, or why this was so. It really doesn't matter here. What does matter is that the original album was a brilliant effort entirely crafted by John Fogerty and it was clearly a love letter to the music that inspired him. Yet, when it was released, he was completely absent despite the fact that the record yielded two hit singles. No glory, no spotlight, nothing. The cover showed the band in silhouette standing on a ridge with the sun setting behind them. To make such an obviously personal record, a record that required an extraordinary effort in engineering and recording talent and technique, and then release it under the name of a fictitious band is hard to imagine even today.

What a record that first Blue Ridge Rangers album was. When I hear the loose gospel harmonies, accompanied by a tentatively rattling tamborine, at the beginning of "Workin' On A Building" I get goosebumps. This was not the era of ProTools and digital recording. This was John Fogerty going into the studio with tape and reel and creating an aural movie. All by himself he became a gospel choir, riffing and rolling, clapping and stomping. You close your eyes and you are in the dream. There is John, sweat and passion, harmonizing and jamming with himself on the resonator slide. It is an absolute masterpiece. Listen to John drag the beat in "Blue Yodel #4," listen to the Dixieland breakdown in the solo. Listen to the pedal steel and piano intro to "Please Help Me, I'm Falling" and you are belly-up-to-the bar in a dusty roadhouse calling for a cold beer and a shot. The original album is literally a one-man history lesson in American roots music, from string band, to gospel, to blues, to country.

The new album, on the other hand, seems more like Fogerty has gone into a studio with other musicians that he respects and said, "I really enjoy these songs and think I can add something to them." You hear the band go to work, and good work it is. However, it is a very different effort than the original Blue Ridge Rangers recording. It is a pleasure to listen to, and it is clear that Fogerty has a fondness for the music and the original artists he covers here. What is missing is the passionate genius of the original. Frankly, that would have been too much to ask. It is unfair to expect "Rides Again" to take us back to 1973. Fogerty has changed and so have we as an audience. The window that he opened for his fans on the musical influnces that infused CCR created a wonder in the early 1970's that we cannot expect today. Today, roots albums have been done, and done again. To some extent, we have become jaded. We expect too much

Taken for what it is, "Rides Again" is an excellent album of great songs performed by one of American music's true genius synthesists. Let's enjoy it for what it is, not what it cannot be.