.

John Fogerty Joins Pistol Annies Onstage in L.A.

Miranda Lambert and the rest of the band played Creedence's 'Bad Moon Rising' with Fogerty

December 8, 2011 12:45 PM ET
Pistol Annies
Ashley Monroe, Angaleena Presley and Miranda Lambert of Pistol Annies
Frazer Harrison/ACMA2011/Getty Images for ACM

Miranda Lambert has a new album (Four the Record), a new-ish husband (Blake Shelton) and a new Country Music Association award (for Female Vocalist of the Year). But last night at a Los Angeles show by her girl-group side project, the Pistol Annies, Lambert seemed most proud of having made a new friend: John Fogerty.

"I don't mean to brag," the country star insisted, introducing her song "Dear Diamond" to a boisterous, capacity crowd at the House of Blues. "But he texted me and told me this is one of his favorites." Fogerty himself turned up later for a rowdy take on Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising," with the Pistol Annies on roadhouse-ready backing vocals. Squeezed snugly between Lambert and her bandmates – Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe – Fogerty said, "I've got the best seat in the house!"  (Watch video of the performance below.)

The classic-rock gem was one of several telling covers in last night's hour-long gig, which Lambert called the Pistol Annies' second-ever headlining date. (They played Las Vegas last weekend and they'll hit Buck Owens' Crystal Palace in Bakersfield tonight.) A medley of "songs that inspired us growing up," as Presley put it, featured Dolly Parton's "My Tennessee Mountain Home," Tanya Tucker's "Texas (When I Die)" and "Blue Kentucky Girl," made famous by both Loretta Lynn and Emmylou Harris; Lynn got another nod elsewhere with "Fist City."  

But the Pistol Annies also packed in everything from their debut, Hell on Heels (which hit Number One on the Billboard Country chart), including the flirty "Boys from the South" and "Family Feud," which Lambert said they'd co-written with Shelton one night after "sitting around talking about how effed up our families are." In "The Hunter's Wife" Presley asked for an "amen" from the ladies in the room – then got one that seemed to surprise her with its force.  

"We're just a bunch of girlfriends up here acting like fools," Lambert said at one point, and her description reflected the appealingly sloppy vibe of Wednesday's show. She may be as big as country music gets right now, but Lambert still knows how to cut loose.

Related
Review: 'Hell on Heels'
Video: Miranda Lambert Performs 'Baggage Claim' on the 'Tonight Show'

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

prev
Music Main Next

blog comments powered by Disqus
Daily Newsletter

Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
marketing partners.

X

We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

More Song Stories entries »