CD
1. Paradise 3:50
2. Never Ending Song Of Love 3:01
3. Garden Party (with Don Henley, & Timothy B. Schmit) 3:51
4. I Don't Care (Just As Long As You Love Me) 2:27
5. Back Home Again 4:26
6. I'll Be Ther 2:57
7. Change In The Weather 4:03
8. Moody River 3:09
9. Heaven's Just A Sin Away 2:32
10. Fallin' Fallin' Fallin' 2:30
11. Haunted House 4:36
12. When Will I Be Loved (with Bruce Springsteen) 2:37
DVD
1. The Making Of The Blue Ridge Rangers Ride Again 41:49
2. Intimate Acoustic Performances: Change In The 35:37
Weather/Heaven's Just A Sin Away
3. Comin' Down The Road DVD Preview 2:14
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
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