Being John Fogerty: Fogerty to Release Revival Oct. 2
How great must it be to be John Fogerty? He is the chief creative force behind one of America’s most enduring rock bands and is considered one of the best songwriters of his generation. He went through an awful lot of shit in his career, has come out the other side, and continues to make solid, enjoyable records.
I consider myself only a casual Fogerty fan, having only the excellent The Long Way Home compilation in my collection, but I’m always interested to hear what he’s up to at any given time. News of a new album, Revival, due October 2 got my attention. Seeing the names who are helping bring his new batch of songs to life have probably made this a must purchase for me.
The lineup of musicians on the new disc include super sessionman Kenny Aronoff – who Fogerty has worked with previously — on drums and the incomparable Benmont Tench of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers on keyboard. He’ll also be joined by David Santos and Justin Perrin on bass and guitar, respectively.
Is that any good?
The Heartbreakers and The E-Street Band are two of the best backing rock bands in America, and the members of each have done fabulous session work for other artists during breaks from their day jobs. I’m by no means expert enough to rate piano players, but I always love his work and the way it serves whatever song he may be playing.
A couple of my favorite Tench moments:
- “Straight Into Darkness” – A great piano intro on a great Petty song.
- “Melinda” – Most people won’t know this one. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers released a DVD of their performance on the PBS show Soundstage. During that set, Petty & Co. played a song that has yet to turn up on a Heartbreakers record and it features a wonderful, extended, jazzy run by Tench. It is glorious. You really must hear it.
- Dust — Tench did some session work on my favorite Screaming Trees’ record and his contribution really added a lot to the overall beauty and sound of the record.
I realize I’ve now turned this story about John Fogerty’s new record into a bit of Tench worship, but I’m really excited to hear these new songs with those musicians.
Filed under: Tags: John Fogerty, Musical Musings and Random Ramblings
Tench also performed on Cash’s American recordings.
The Heartbreakers were the full backing band on the second American recording and Tench and Mike Campbell were regular sessionmen on those albums.
I went into heavy flashback, when I heard “Little Creedence song” on the radio. I wrote a parody of green river, posted at: http://www.realcrash.com/mortgage-blues-at-green-river/ .
At least John is more credible, than a Mick Jagger, at over 60 screaming “I’m so hot for her.”