Return To Roots Helps Fogerty Regain Magic

Reconciliation with one’s past can be so liberating.

John Fogerty may be a legendary storyteller of picturesque Americana rivaled only by Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson in poetics, but that claim is based almost completely on his work with Creedence Clearwater Revival. His solo efforts - particularly his last, 1986’s “Eye of the Zombie” - have been woefully bereft of insight and far too slick for the man who once had the ability to craft authentic Southern rock from his California bedroom.

Eleven years later, things have changed considerably. A trip to Mississippi to rediscover the roots of his sound, a mended fence around his CCR days, and Fogerty emerges with “Blue Moon Swamp,” easily his best post-Creedence work.

There’s a rekindled passion both in Fogerty’s playing and songwriting on this disc, from the biting holler of “Rattlesnake Highway” to the loping slow burn of “A Hundred and Ten in the Shade.” Best of all, “Blue Moon Swamp,” as with the best CCR, goes well beyond its basic approach to encapsulate universal emotions. There’s nothing here as pertinent as “Fortunate Son” or “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” but it’s a strong return to form all the same.