{"id":2513,"date":"2025-07-17T20:39:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T20:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2025-07-15T12:43:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T12:43:54","slug":"creedences-lynchpin-john-fogerty-talks-swamp-rock-brotherhood-and-defeating-the-evil-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/2025\/07\/17\/creedences-lynchpin-john-fogerty-talks-swamp-rock-brotherhood-and-defeating-the-evil-guy\/","title":{"rendered":"Creedence\u2019s lynchpin, John Fogerty, talks swamp rock, brotherhood and defeating the evil guy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_code module_class=”custom-cat” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]
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\t\tMojo<\/pee>\t<\/div>\t
\t\tROCK’N’ROLL CONFIDENTIAL<\/pee>\t<\/div><\/div>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text module_class=”article-title” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”||||||||” header_text_align=”center” header_text_color=”#111111″ header_font_size=”68px” custom_margin=”40px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

John Fogerty<\/h1>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”intro-text” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_orientation=”center” custom_padding=”||0px|||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Creedence Clearwater Revival\u2019s lynchpin, John Fogerty, talks swamp rock, brotherhood and defeating the evil guy<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-names” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”14px” text_orientation=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Words: Martin Aston<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/LEAD-250222_PC-David-McLister_Fogerty_0090.jpg” title_text=”LEAD – 250222_PC David McLister_Fogerty_0090″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”image-gallery-caption” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|300|||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”-10px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Dig the new Creed: John Fogerty returns to his Legacy with renewed energy.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

JOHN FOGERTY turned 80 a few days before MOJO calls him at home in LA. The erstwhile Creedence Clearwater Revival leader has more reasons to celebrate; after regaining his CCR publishing in 2023 after a 50-year legal stand-off, he\u2019s now released Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years, a faithful re-recording of classics including Proud Mary, Bad Moon Rising and others. These songs may be the most potent and successful swamp rock on record, but CCR\u2019s \u201972 split remains a difficult memory, and Fogerty continued to be estranged from bandmate brother Tom. In the aftermath, however, he sold millions with 1985 solo album debut Centerfield and bagged a Grammy for 1997\u2019s Blue Moon Swamp. \u201cI can\u2019t think of one human being who had a straight path from childhood, with no setbacks,\u201d he reflects.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Where did the idea of Legacy originate?<\/strong>
My wife Julie had a vision, years ago, of me re-recording my old songs. I wasn\u2019t so smitten, but getting my publishing back meant finally I was being treated with respect. Put that together with turning 80, and I began to see the acquisition of energy all in one place. I\u2019d say there\u2019s a palpable joy to the new recordings. The fact it was done with my family [guitarist sons Shane and Tyler] gives it a special feeling, I think.<\/p>\n

Was it important to keep things in the family, given your brother\u2019s role in CCR?<\/strong>
It didn\u2019t occur to me that way, but my sons are brothers, like me and Tom. Hopefully they\u2019re able to negotiate that much better than I did.<\/p>\n

What makes a good song? And how did you discover it at such a young age?<\/strong>
First, it should make you feel something. A good song also keeps the motion going, it doesn\u2019t get stuck and get boring. My mother introduced me to Stephen Foster when I was about three, whose songs were magical. I was about 10 when I was in a little general store, which believe it or not had a jukebox. It was playing Elvis\u2019s My Baby Left Me, and right then, I thought, That\u2019s what I want to do. Music became my whole world, my best friend.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pull-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#111111″ header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u201cIf I was grumpy, I apologise!\u201d<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pullquote-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#111111″ header_3_font_size=”38px” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

JOHN FOGERTY<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

You\u2019re from the Bay Area, but your sound is indelibly associated with the Bayou.<\/strong>
It was exotic to me, hearing about frogs, gators and swamps, and this Southern drawl and various colourful phrases. And so many early rock\u2019n\u2019rollers were from the South.<\/p>\n

You had setbacks: CCR\u2019s messy end, the publishing debacle, the \u2018lost decade\u2019 before Centerfield was released\u2026<\/strong>
The time leading to Centerfield was the darkest, as my future had been taken away from me because [Fantasy Records MD] Saul Zaentz owned everything I would record. He\u2019d already screwed me over, so I\u2019d be a fool to do it again. But I got free, otherwise he\u2019d have owned Centerfield too, which was such a bellwether record, and a shiny litmus test of my own health. I finally overcame the evil guy.<\/p>\n

Your trip to Robert Johnson\u2019s grave in Mississippi in 1990 is linked to that.<\/strong>
It\u2019s the weirdest thing. I\u2019d been writing songs, getting frustrated, and one day I said to Julie, Honey, I have to go to Mississippi. At Robert Johnson\u2019s grave, I wondered who owned his songs \u2013 I pictured a disgusting lawyer with a cigar in New York. In 1997, I was recalling that trip, and I argued with myself \u2013 it doesn\u2019t matter who owns Johnson\u2019s songs, they\u2019re his songs, and that\u2019s my situation too. I\u2019d made this Gordian knot, to not play CCR songs ever again, but that\u2019s when I decided to start playing them after 25 years \u2013 and I realised that\u2019s why I had to go to Mississippi!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s chat has been harmonious, but didn\u2019t you have a grumpy reputation?<\/strong>
I\u2019m not going to say it\u2019s not true. I\u2019m just a human being, and my personal values is to try and be nice, but perhaps given the tension of the band breaking up\u2026 That was one reason why I wanted to get away. If I was grumpy, I apologise!<\/p>\n

Tell us something you have never told an interviewer before.<\/strong>
Before picking up a guitar, I used to wash my hands with soap, and the skin would keep cracking, which was deadly painful. Thirty five years ago, I discovered Cetaphil [moisturising cream], which has been like a miracle.<\/p>\n

Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years is out via Concord on August 22.<\/em><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

IMAGE:<\/strong> David McLister<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John FogertyCreedence Clearwater Revival\u2019s lynchpin, John Fogerty, talks swamp rock, brotherhood and defeating the evil guyWords: Martin AstonDig the new Creed: John Fogerty returns to his Legacy with renewed energy.JOHN FOGERTY turned 80 a few days before MOJO calls him at home in LA. The erstwhile Creedence Clearwater Revival leader has more reasons to celebrate; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-mojo-interview"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"akindell","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2513"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2554,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions\/2554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}