Proud John Finally Embracing The Classic Sounds Of Ccr, John Fogerty Finds New Inspiration On Tour

Naturally, people are excited about the fact John Fogerty is, for the first time in more than 20 years, playing all of his old Creedence Clearwater Revival hits.

After all, CCR had some of the biggest hits of the ‘60s and ‘70s, an incredible string of Top Ten hits including: “Born on the Bayou,” “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Green River,” “Fortunate Son,” “Travelin’ Band,” and “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”

Frankly, people should be just as excited about hearing the songs on his new “Blue Moon Swamp” solo CD. These songs, including “Walking in a Hurricane,” “Swamp River Days,” and “Southern Streamline” are as good an anything Creedence ever did. This entire CD is drenched with more Louisiana hot sauce and cotton-field bluesiness than even “Born on the Bayou.”

Yet people crave nostalgia.

This is something Fogerty himself finally came to accept on this tour. After 20 years of refusing to sing these songs (he was bitter over the ownership of the songs, among other things), he suddenly came to a startling realization: Those CCR songs are his legacy and he should be singing them proudly.

It was an epiphany that occurred down in the Mississippi Delta, the cradle of the blues. On a trip down to that area, he began to think about all of his heroes, people like Howlin’ Wolf and Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Most of those people had their songs ripped off, too. But they were still their songs.

While he was there, he also soaked up some of the Mississippi Delta atmosphere. It would be hard to imagine a more receptive visitor than John Fogerty, who has spent most of his artistic career creating images of a perfect Southern idyll (“Love to kick my feet way down to shallow water/shoo-fly dragonfly, get back to mother/ Pick up a flat rock, skip it across Green River”).

He found himself one hot summer day hanging out in a Mississippi park with Pops Staples (of the Staples Singers). That was the inspiration for the song “110 in the Shade.”

With its sultry, languid feel, it sounds exactly as if it were written by somebody being baked by the Mississippi sun.

These songs also sound as if they were written by a man who has finally found balance in his personal wife. He credits his new wife Julie with helping him to quit obsessing over past slights and injustices.

“She doesn’t home in and stay obsessed with the negative stuff,” said Fogerty, in an interview with the Hartford Courant. ” … She manages to somehow keep me going in a constructive way.”

These songs also sound as if they were played by a man who has rededicated himself to the art of performance. At one point in the recording process, he decided he needed the sound of a dobro - so he spent a year or two learning to play the dobro. He also did some serious woodshedding to improve his already considerable guitar skills.

So far on Fogerty’s tour, Creedence fans have been ecstatic. Right out of the gate, the first six songs in the set are Creedence songs. As many as 16 of the 28 songs are Creedence songs.

But don’t run to the refreshment stands during those new songs: soon enough, they will become beloved Fogerty standards, too.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT John Fogerty performs at The Gorge, Saturday, 7 p.m. Tickets: From $43.05 to $27.30, available through Ticketmaster outlets. Call (509) 928-4700 for locations, or (206) 628-0888 to charge by phone.