Pittsburgh and John Fogerty

So Pittsburgh and John Fogerty really have nothing to do with each other, except for the fact that I have seen both in the past 5 days. For those of you who know and those who don't, I just moved to Pittsburgh yesterday. It's actually a pretty cool city, with a decent skyline, some cool parts, and really nice people (I already got two free beers in one day). So come on and visit me on the Southside if you so desire.

And for the music, if you don't know who John Fogerty is, you actually do. He was the lead singer/guitar player for the very famous Creedence Clearwater Revival. Fogerty left the band in the early 70's after some buisness disputes (and by most accounts, he is kind of an asshole). He now tours solo with a backing band and plays lots of old Creedence tunes along with new ones that he has written. He still hops around the stage like a 30 year old, and his voice hasn't lost too much, which made for a great show a few days ago in Milwaukee. I would highly recommend catching this legend in concert while you still can, I'm sure you'll be able to sing along to more songs than you think.

As many of you probably already have the 'Revival' album by Creedence, I'm going to post a few of my favorite 'covers' of Fogerty tunes below. The first is a cover of 'Proud Mary' by soul singer Solomon Burke. It is quite smooth with an acoustic guitar accented by an electric, and Solomon Burke keeping everything nice and velvety. The second is a cover of 'Bad Moon Rising' by Steel Train. We've done a previous post on Steel Train, so check that out...but here is another silky-smooth rendition of a Fogerty tune. A good late summertime tune, so I feel that it's pretty topical. The last tune, 'I Heard it Through the Grapevine' was actually written by songwriter Norman Whitfield, who had Marvin Gaye sing it. It became a number one hit, and has obviously been covered itself many times (and once by Fogerty and CCR). Enjoy the tunes!

Solomon Burke - Proud Mary

Steel Train - Bad Moon Rising

Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through the Grapevine