In The Studio with Redbeard

Tag: Creedence Clearwater Revival

  • Creedence Clearwater Revival- Cosmo’s Factory @55- John Fogerty

    Creedence Clearwater Revival- Cosmo’s Factory @55- John Fogerty

    In late July 1970, Creedence Clearwater Revival had a veritable greatest hits package Cosmo’s Factory  which would start a nine week run at #1. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame American music legend John Fogerty returned In the Studio for the double-nickel anniversary of this timeless  album by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cosmo’s Factory. This was miraculously the fourth full CCR album in only eighteen months (!), yet nevertheless singer/songwriter/lead guitarist/producer John Fogerty’s cup runneth over with hits, six in the Top Five to be exact:”Travelin’ Band”, “Lookin’ Out My Back Door”, “Run Through the Jungle”, “Up Around the Bend”, “Who’ll Stop the Rain”, and “Long As I Can See the Light”. Wow.

    With the Beatles, at least John Lennon had Paul McCartney and vice versa to contribute high-caliber songs, and by 1968’s White Album,  George Harrison became a significant contributor as well. How then do we explain Creedence Clearwater Revival’s five hit albums in three years, leaving the best for July 1970’s Cosmo’s Factory, all written, arranged, produced, and sung solely by John Fogerty? Enjoy my very rare classic rock interview on Cosmo’s Factory 55th anniversary. –Redbeard (L-R: drummer Doug Clifford, the late Tom Fogerty, John Fogerty, Stu Cook )

     

     

  • Woodstock pt2- Graham Nash

    Woodstock pt2- Graham Nash

    With what we have learned from the performers who were there, such as Pete Townshend of The Who, Graham Nash and David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Alvin Lee of Ten Years After, and Marty Balin, Grace Slick, and Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane, the original Woodstock Festival  should have never happened, for a whole myriad of reasons. Instead, the three day outdoor music festival on a hog farm in Upstate New York launched some careers, deified others, and defined a whole generation of Americans.

    Classic rock interviews with Woodstock Festival performers Graham Nash, the late David Crosby, and dearly departed Robbie Robertson of The Band; Jimi Hendrix bass player Billy Cox, Hendrix recording engineer Eddie Kramer, the late Joe Cocker; and the late Paul Kantner and Marty Balin, both co-founders of the Jefferson Airplane.

    Graham Nash’s first memory of the Woodstock Festival, flying with bandmates David Crosby and Stephen Stills over the enormous sea of people below, was one of awe. Nash’s next memory is one of sheer terror. As Crosby, Stills, & Nash approached to land in the backstage area in a small helicopter, they lost the tail rotor, augering into the ground and crash landing! Their performance later that weekend at the Woodstock Festival was to be only their second gig ever, but it nearly was one & done for Crosby, Stills, and Nash.
    If the whole band would have been seriously injured or killed, can you imagine how history would have changed for them, for us, and for how our whole perspective on that original Woodstock event would have been altered permanently? Part 2 of 2. – Redbeard

  • Creedence Clearwater Revival- Green River/Willy & the Poor Boys- John Fogerty

    Creedence Clearwater Revival- Green River/Willy & the Poor Boys- John Fogerty

    After already releasing the hit album Bayou Country at the beginning of the year, Creedence Clearwater Revival released Green River in August 1969 and Willy and the Poor Boys just before Christmas. Those latter two veritable greatest hits packages loaded with “Bad Moon Rising”, “Lodi”, “Green River”, “Down on the Corner”, “Fortunate Son”, and “Don’t Look Now” were, like the two preceding Creedence Clearwater Revival albums, the artistic vision of one John Fogerty. Even as he wrote all of the original songs, sang every one, and provided the chunky lead guitar, John Fogerty also produced the distinctive “swamp rock” sound of every CCR album, including those THREE in 1969.

    And while John Fogerty was not the first to be entrusted with the then-new trend toward allowing the bands to produce themselves, he certainly was the most successful, truly remarkable when you realize that, at least in North America, Creedence Clearwater Revival rivaled The Beatles for consecutive Top 5 hits in the US from 1967-1970, and that is without the expert guidance of a producer such as The Fab Four had in George Martin. Jimi Hendrix and The Doors made equally indelible impacts upon rock history in the same inconceivably brief span of time as Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty, but they each had help, Hendrix from ex-Animals member Chas Chandler and The Doors from veteran producer Paul Rothschild. Even over fifty-five years later, my guest here In the Studio John Fogerty‘s sound and vision on Green River and Willy and the Poor Boys were completely self-contained and, to this day, never duplicated.

    Barely eight months after releasing Bayou Country in January, Bay Area quartet Creedence Clearwater Revival would offer up Green River in August, with the hat trick Willy & the Poor Boys before year’s end. This outpouring of timeless hits in a single year, including “Proud Mary”, “Bad Moon Rising”, “Lodi”, “Green River”, “Down on the Corner”, and “Fortunate Son” all penned, produced, and sung by Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty, has never been matched and probably never will. –Redbeard

  • Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band- Fortunate Son

    Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band- Fortunate Son

    When you are as prolific a song craftsman as Bob Seger, there is little reason to cover anybody else’s. But a lucky crowd got to hear Bob Seger lead his Silver Bullet Band through a rousing version of John Fogerty’s “Fortunate Son” long ago.

  • Creedence Clearwater Revival- Bayou Country- John Fogerty

    Creedence Clearwater Revival- Bayou Country- John Fogerty

    Creedence Clearwater Revival began a superhuman creative run of releasing three full-length albums in 1969 (!!!), starting in January with CCR’s second, Bayou Country. It contained the swamp rock classic “Born on the Bayou” as well as one of the biggest songs of the last half of the 20th century, “Proud Mary”. The composer, singer, guitarist, and producer of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s albums, John Fogerty, is my guest In the Studio.

    This is my very rare interview with John Fogerty, who wrote and sang every Creedence Clearwater Revival song, played lead guitar & great chunky rhythm guitar, and produced every CCR album. When my parents could finally afford a little monaural record player, Bayou Country with its “Proud Mary” and”Born on the Bayou” was among the first albums I ever bought. As popular and influential on other musicians as Creedence Clearwater Revival was, it is safely said that no one has ever sounded quite like CCR. ( L-R CCR‘s  John  Fogerty, drummer Doug Clifford, the late TomFogerty, bass player Stu Cook)

    My hunch is that more people double- and triple-check the release dates of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Bayou Country,  Green River,  and Willy and the Poor Boys  albums than practically anything musically historical on Wikipedia, Google, or AllMusic.com. When you see the  year of release for all three as 1969, common sense tells you that is highly improbable and must be a mistake, as the creative talent and time required to write and record three albums of material, while simultaneously touring, would be superhuman.

    On further inspection when it is stated that Green River  came out in August as CCR was appearing at the Woodstock Festival, with only three months  until Willy and the Poor Boys in November 1969, any reasonable assumption tells you that is simply impossible, since only one man, John Fogerty, was responsible for writing all of the original songs on this terrific album trifecta in that ridiculously short span of time. But it happened just that way, in barely a thirteen month period.-Redbeard

  • John Fogerty- Proud Mary- Burbank rehearsal 5-97

    John Fogerty- Proud Mary- Burbank rehearsal 5-97

    Here is a kick*ss performance of “Proud Mary”, one of the essential songs of the last half of the 20th century, sung and played by the composer John Fogerty and made internationally popular when he led Creedence Clearwater Revival. This was mixed live by the master Bob Clearmountain, with no overdubs, at rehearsal for the Blue Moon Swamp  Tour in 1997. – Redbeard

    The preacher and his acolyte, two of America’s finest songwriters enjoying each other at a Hall of Fame induction.

    25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Concert - Night 1 - Show

  • John Fogerty- Blue Boy- Burbank 5-12-97

    John Fogerty- Blue Boy- Burbank 5-12-97

    Dreams can come true, and I can say that with certainty because one of mine (of many) was realized in rather spectacular fashion when, in May 1997, I finally got to work with one of my musical heroes, John Fogerty, on the world premiere North American broadcast of his album Blue Moon Swamp . John Fogerty had attracted an “A” list live band and had been rehearsing at Burbank’s Center Staging, so we did the interview there, then turned those thoroughbreds loose on the song “Blue Boy” in front of a lucky small audience of guests. –Redbeard

  • Redbeard Rocks American Black History Month!

    Redbeard Rocks American Black History Month!

    Thanks to Spotify‘s terrific depth, Redbeard rocks American Black History month as easy as barbeque ribs sliding off the bone, assembling this rock’n’soul playlist of the greatest rockers like the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Bob Seger, Creedence Clearwater Revival, ZZ Top, and twenty-five more, all paying  tribute to Detroit’s Motown and Memphis’ Stax  African-American musical giants, presented to commemorate American Black History Month. –Redbeard

    https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2xwiF4HFN0AvgDhvfEKrL7?si=ZhUPDDjxRzGOJk9LyoDTGw

  • John Fogerty- Fortunate Son- rehearsal 5-97

    John Fogerty- Fortunate Son- rehearsal 5-97

    For those who have been suffering through life imitating art for the last four years by Jared and the Oligarchs featuring Ivanka, Eric, and Donald jr, ain’t nothin’ like the real thing: John Fogerty ripping through the furious protest song he wrote and sang for Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Fortunate Son”. This unreleased gem from the In the Studio  archives was recorded in May 1997 during John Fogerty’s rehearsals in Burbank CA for that Summer’s Blue Moon Swamp  Tour. –Redbeard

  • John Fogerty- Susie Q- I Put a Spell on You -rehearsal 5-97

    John Fogerty- Susie Q- I Put a Spell on You -rehearsal 5-97

    An In the Studio white-hot exclusive, here’s John Fogerty and his terrific band performing live at rehearsal in Burbank in 1997, reprising two Screamin’ Jay Hawkins  songs,”Susie Q” and the hoodoo howling “I Put a Spell on You“, which Fogerty’s  Creedence Clearwater Revival covered on their debut released in May 1968. – Redbeard