Fogerty review

I usually hate concert reviews. But here’s a really good one of the John Fogerty concert I attended.

Fogerty’s songs contain a folksy wisdom and colorful regional mythology that link the writer, in the broadest terms, to the traditions of Mark Twain and a long line of Southern gothic authors. The best numbers reflect the innocence, idealism and rebelliousness of the American spirit.... When he finally reached the encore, Fogerty...started singing a few lines of Leadbelly’s ‘Cottonfields....’ If you didn’t know the history of the song, it was easy to assume ‘Cottonfields’ was another one of Fogerty's tributes to the Southern imagery and music that inspired him as a teenager.

Conversely, it was possible a few moments later to think that Fogerty was singing a song that had been handed down through the generations. With its infectious chorus of “rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on a river,” “Proud Mary” may be the quintessential Fogerty song—the intersection of all his influences. It’s so rich in American cultural tradition that it could almost have been written by Leadbelly or maybe Stephen Foster.

There aren’t many writers from the last half century who could write with that authority and grace. Maybe not even Hank Williams.