John Fogerty - Blue Moon Swamp (1997) {2017, 20th Anniversary Edition}

Blue Moon Swamp is the fifth solo studio album by American singer/songwriter John Fogerty, released on May 20, 1997. Guest musicians, the Lonesome River Band, were invited to join in on backing vocals on "Southern Streamline" and "Rambunctious Boy". Other vocal backing was provided by The Waters on "Blueboy" and The Fairfield Four on "A Hundred and Ten in the Shade". Luis Conte accompanied on select songs as a guest percussionist. In 1998, Blue Moon Swamp won Best Rock Album at the 40th Grammy Awards. The track "Blueboy" was nominated for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.

Listening to the easy roots rock shuffle of Blue Moon Swamp, it's hard to believe that it took John Fogerty a full decade to write and record the album. It's not just because the album isn't a great stylistic departure from his past work, it's because Blue Moon Swamp sounds so natural and unforced. Nothing on the album sounds fussy, nor does it sound like a meticulous reconstruction of the past. Instead, Fogerty's songs and performances are richly evocative of tradition, but they're vibrant and living for the present, which makes the rockabilly, blues, country, and swampy rock & roll sound fresh. It's not as raw or as hooky as Creedence Clearwater Revival, nor as pop-oriented as Centerfield, but it's a warm, laid-back, and mature record of roots rock at its very best.