The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again

In Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty often sounded like acountry singer hiding out in a rock band, and he proved it on his first solo album, the 1973 covers disc The Blue Ridge Rangers. This long-delayedfollow-up finds him backed by fiddles, mandolins, dobros and pedal steelguitar — not to mention guests like Don Henley and Bruce Springsteen — coveringobscure chestnuts such as John Prine's wistful 1971 environmentalist anthem "Paradise." Fogerty plays it too safe on sleepy tunes like John Denver's 1974 "Back Home Again," but you can't deny hisscratchy growl on deep cuts like the rockabilly barnburner "Haunted House."