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The Blue Ridge Rangers | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 1973 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 36:15 | |||
Label | Fantasy | |||
Producer | John Fogerty | |||
The Blue Ridge Rangers chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
![]() Reissue LP cover | ||||
Alternative cover | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Christgau's Record Guide | B+ [3] |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Blue Ridge Rangers is the first solo studio album by John Fogerty,the former lead singer and lead guitarist of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Upon its initial release by Fantasy Records in 1973,the album was credited to "The Blue Ridge Rangers" with no mention of Fogerty on the cover. Fogerty chose to do this in order to distance himself from his Creedence legacy. The LP was later reissued and credited to John Fogerty with a different cover design. The CD reissue restores the original silhouette cover photo and credits the album to Fogerty. The album is made up entirely of traditional and country covers,and features Fogerty playing all the instruments.
The album peaked at #47 on the charts. Two singles from the album became hits:"Jambalaya" which peaked at #16 in the USA and #15 in Canada,and "Hearts of Stone" which peaked at #37 in the USA and #35 in Canada. A third non-album single "You Don't Owe Me" reached #79 in Canada. [5]
In 2009,Fogerty released a sequel to this album,entitled The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again .
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Blue Ridge Mountain Blues" | Traditional | 2:29 |
2. | "Somewhere Listening (For My Name)" | Archie Brownlee | 2:37 |
3. | "You're the Reason" | Fred Henley, Terry Fell, Mildred Imes, Bobby Edwards | 3:12 |
4. | "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" | Hank Williams | 3:15 |
5. | "She Thinks I Still Care" | Dickey Lee Lipscomb, Steve Duffy | 2:57 |
6. | "California Blues (Blue Yodel #4)" | Jimmie Rodgers | 3:04 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Workin' on a Building" | Traditional | 4:34 |
2. | "Please Help Me, I'm Falling" | Don Robertson, Hal Blair | 2:49 |
3. | "Have Thine Own Way, Lord" | Adelaide A. Pollard, George C. Stebbins | 2:59 |
4. | "I Ain't Never" | Mel Tillis, Webb Pierce | 2:49 |
5. | "Hearts of Stone" | Rudy Jackson, Eddy Ray | 2:10 |
6. | "Today I Started Loving You Again" | Merle Haggard, Bonnie Owens | 3:12 |
John Fogerty: All instruments
Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, his brother, rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, bassist Stu Cook, and drummer Doug Clifford. These members had played together since 1959, first as the Blue Velvets and later as the Golliwogs, before settling on Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1967. The band's most prolific and successful period between 1969 and 1971 produced fourteen consecutive Top 10 singles and five consecutive Top 10 albums in the United States, two of which – Green River (1969) and Cosmo's Factory (1970) – topped the Billboard 200 chart. The band performed at the 1969 Woodstock festival in Upstate New York, and was the first major act signed to appear there.
John Cameron Fogerty is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Together with Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and his brother Tom Fogerty, he founded the swamp rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), for which he was the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter. CCR had nine top-10 singles and eight gold albums between 1968 and 1972, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
Cosmo's Factory is the fifth studio album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released by Fantasy Records on July 16, 1970. Six of the album's eleven tracks were released as singles in 1970, and all of them charted in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100. The album spent nine consecutive weeks in the number one position on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified 4x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1990. Rolling Stone ranked it number 413 on its 2020 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
Creedence Clearwater Revival is the debut studio album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released in July 1968, by Fantasy Records in the US. Featuring the band's first hit single, "Susie Q", which reached number 11 in the US charts, it was recorded shortly after the band changed its name from the Golliwogs and began developing a signature swamp rock sound.
Bayou Country is the second studio album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released by Fantasy Records on January 15, 1969, and was the first of three albums CCR released in that year. Bayou Country reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart and produced the band's first No. 2 hit single, "Proud Mary".
Green River is the third studio album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released on August 7, 1969 by Fantasy Records. It was the second of three albums they released in that year, preceded by Bayou Country in January and followed by Willy and the Poor Boys in November.
Willy and the Poor Boys is the fourth studio album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released on October 29, 1969, by Fantasy Records. It was the last of three studio albums the band released that year, arriving just three months after Green River. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album number 193 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
Pendulum is the sixth studio album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released by Fantasy Records on December 9, 1970. It was the second studio album the band released that year, arriving five months after Cosmo's Factory.
Mardi Gras is the seventh and final studio album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released on April 11, 1972 by Fantasy Records. Recorded after the departure of guitarist Tom Fogerty, it was the band's only studio album as a trio, and featured songs written, sung, and produced by each of the remaining members, rather than just John Fogerty. The recording sessions were marred by personal and creative tensions, and the group disbanded after a short U.S. tour to support the album.
"Bad Moon Rising" is a song written by John Fogerty and performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was the lead single from their album Green River and was released on April 16, 1969 four months before the album. The song peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on 28 June 1969 and reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in September of that year. It was CCR's second gold single.
"Travelin' Band" is a song written by John Fogerty and originally recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was included on their 1970 album Cosmo's Factory. Backed with "Who'll Stop the Rain", it was one of three double sided singles from that album to reach the top five on the U.S. Pop Singles Chart and the first of two to reach the number 2 spot on the American charts, alongside "Lookin' Out My Back Door", in which they were unable to interrupt the six-week run of the successful number one, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel. "Travelin' Band" was also a hit in the UK, reaching number eight on the UK Singles Chart.
The Concert is the second live album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released by Fantasy Records in October 1980. It was recorded at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena in Oakland, California, on January 31, 1970.
Chronicle, or fully Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits, is a greatest hits album by the American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was released in January 1976 by Fantasy Records. The edited version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" featured on the album was simultaneously released as a single.
"Susie Q" is a rockabilly song co-written and performed by American musician Dale Hawkins released in 1957. The song was a commercial success and became a classic of the early rock and roll era, being recorded by many other performers in subsequent years.
"Up Around the Bend" is a song by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, written by the band's frontman John Fogerty. It was composed and recorded only a few days prior to the band's April 1970 European tour and was included on the album Cosmo's Factory. Released as a single, with "Run Through the Jungle" on the flipside, the double-sided single climbed to number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the spring of 1970.
"Green River" is a song by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was written by John Fogerty and released as a single in July 1969, one month before the album of the same name was released. "Green River" peaked at number two for one week, behind "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies, and was ranked by Billboard as the No. 31 song of 1969.
John Fogerty is an American rock musician who has recorded both solo and as a member of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again is the eighth solo studio album by American roots rock singer-songwriter and guitarist John Fogerty, first released on September 1, 2009, on Fogerty's own label, Fortunate Son Records and distributed by Verve Forecast Records. The apparent grammatical error in the title of the album is a play on the fact that the original Blue Ridge Rangers consisted entirely of Fogerty singing all the vocals and playing all the instruments by himself.
"Heaven's Just a Sin Away" is a song composed by Jerry Gillespie, which was recorded in 1977 by The Kendalls. Released in 1977, the song went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts. It was the duo's first top-40 entry on that chart, and the second single from the album Heaven's Just a Sin Away, released on Ovation. It also reached No. 69 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Don't Look Now " is a song written by John Fogerty that was first released on Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1969 album Willy and the Poor Boys. It has also appeared on several of the group's live and compilation albums. It was covered by Minutemen on their 1984 album Double Nickels on the Dime.