Blue River (album)

Blue River
Studio album by Eric Andersen
Released	February 1972
Recorded	1971
Genre	Folk rock
Length	46:43
Label	Columbia [1]
Producer	Norbert Putnam [2]
Eric Andersen chronology
Eric Andersen (1969) Blue River (1972) Stages: The Lost Album (1972)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Christgau's Record Guide	C [4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[1]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[6]

Blue River is an album by folk rock musician Eric Andersen, released in 1972. ^{[7] [8]} The album was reissued in 1999 by Columbia Legacy with two extra tracks. ^[9]

Production

The album was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. ^[10] Joni Mitchell contributes vocals on the title track, "Blue River". ^[3]

Chart performance

It was his first charting album, it peaked at No. 169 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape during an eleven-week run on the chart. ^[11]

Critical reception

No Depression called the album's sound "subtle and incandescent," writing that producer Norbert Putnam "crafted a sound that was both sensual and spacious — at times reminiscent of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks — and always attentive to the languid melodies and sometimes frightening intimacy of Andersen’s lyrics." ^[10] MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide wrote that the album "stands alongside anything that the singer-songwriter produced during the '70s." ^[5] The Los Angeles Times deemed it "a delicately melodic, bittersweetly introspective song cycle that found its place within the Carole King-James Taylor-Joni Mitchell-Jackson Browne school of sensitive pop." ^[12]

Track listing

1. "Is It Really Love at All" (Andersen) – 5:21
2. "Pearl's Goodtime Blues" (Andersen) – 2:21
3. "Wind and Sand" (Andersen) – 4:30
4. "Faithful" (Andersen) – 3:15
5. "Blue River" (Andersen) – 4:46
6. "Florentine" (Andersen) – 3:31
7. "Sheila" (Andersen) – 4:37
8. "More Often Than Not" (David Wiffen) – 4:52
9. "Round the Bend" (Andersen) – 5:38
10. "Come To My Bedside, My Darlin'" (Andersen) – 4:58 ~*
11. "Why Don't You Love Me" (Hank Williams) – 2:54 ~*

~* = Bonus Track on CD Release (recorded during album sessions)

Charts

Chart (1972)	Peak position
US Top LPs & Tape [13]	169
Canada RPM 100 [14]	61

Personnel

• Eric Andersen - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, harmonica, vocals
• David Bromberg - dobro, acoustic guitar
• Andy Johnson - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vibraphone, background vocals
• David Briggs - organ, keyboards, celeste
• Weldon Myrick - steel guitar
• Norbert Putnam - bass
• Glen Spreen - organ, harpsichord, keyboards, woodwinds
• Eddie Hinton - acoustic guitar, electric guitar
• Grady Martin - gut string guitar, acoustic guitar
• Kevin Kelly - accordion
• Mark Sporer - bass
• Kenneth Buttrey - drums, percussion, tambourine
• Jim McKevitt - drums
• Rick Shlosser - drums
• Deborah Andersen - piano, background vocals
• Joni Mitchell - vocals, background vocals
• Farrell Morris - vibraphone, background vocals
• Jerry Carrigan - percussion
• Millie Kirkham - background vocals
• Sonja Montgomery - background vocals
• Laverna Moore - background vocals
• Florence Warner - background vocals
• Temple Riser - background vocals
• The Jordanaires - background vocals
• The Holidays - background vocals

Production

• Producer: Norbert Putnam
• Recording Engineer: Stan Hutto/Glen Kolotkin/Stan Tonkel
• Production Manager: Jessica Sowin
• Art Direction: John Berg
• Liner Notes: Anthony DeCurtis
• Photography: Urve Kuusik/Sandy Speiser/Don Nelson

References

1. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 1. MUZE. p. 173.
2. Duffy, Thom (January 21, 1995). "Djanko, Field, Andersen Link Sounds of Norway, America". Billboard . Retrieved November 13, 2014.
3. "Blue River - Eric Andersen | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
4. "Robert Christgau: CG Book '70s: A". www.robertchristgau.com.
5. MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 28.
6. The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 14.
7. "Eric Andersen | Biography & History". AllMusic.
8. "Looking back, Eric Andersen savors the hits, shrugs off the misses - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com.
9. Jacks, Kelso (August 2, 1999). "Record News". CMJ New Music Report . CMJ . Retrieved November 13, 2014.
10. "Eric Andersen – Blue River". No Depression. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
11. Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top LPs, 1955–1996. Record Research. p. 11. Retrieved July 10, 2025.
12. "Wanderings of Eric Andersen Lead Him Back Into Musical Mainstream". Los Angeles Times. September 21, 1989.
13. "Blue River - Eric Andersen: Awards". allmusic.com. AllMusic . Retrieved November 13, 2014.
14. "RPM Top 100 Albums - August 19, 1972" (PDF).