John Fogerty (2015)

Hi there, I'm very sorry to hear about your dad. I have loved music my whole life and have been amazed at the healing power of music. I want to thank your family including your father for listening to my music. I would say that it was my idea to have my son play with me on the road. Shane is an amazing guitar player!

It was quite the opposite. I was a kid growing up in the bay area in the 1960s and felt very much a part of my surroundings. Even though my music tended to be more "blue collar" and less "spacey", my beliefs and personal philosophy was very much like the other bands from the Bay. My earliest inspiration was Stephen Foster, but I also learned a lot about how the world should be from the wonderful Pete Seeger, who influenced all of us. Pete taught us to care about the other guy.

Hi, I was blessed to have toured with many wonderful artists back in the day. I must say that Booker T. and the MGs were a great band to tour with and I still love them to this day. I can still remember standing in the wings while they played and hearing their wonderful music float around and through the entire arena. Each one of those guys in the band was my favorite player on their chose instrument.

The audio book is out and I enjoyed narrating the entire book myself!

Hi there, I was drafted in early 1966. But I was fortunate enough to get into an army reserve unit and lucky enough to stay home in the United States. Fortunate Son was certainly inspired by the events of those times and also the age old conundrum where the rich declare the war and the poor have to fight it.

Hi there, I do remember that day. At the end of that baseball season there was a one game playoff because the dreaded Dodgers and the Giants were tied. Danny Kay even made a record of that rivalry in 1962. I was very interested and listened to that game and when the Giants won, sending them to the World Series, I was very happy. The phrase "coon skin caps and yankee bats" is actually inspired by the Yankees late 40s early 50s World Series victories and Davy Crockett.

Hi, I love the Foo Fighters. Is it okay to say I also really like Ed Sheeran? He makes great records. I also can be more "eclectic" with artists like Tinariwen and Bombino... It's funny, early on I was quite the taskmaster or drill sergeant. Then after listening to the groups demands, I gave in to their "requests for democracy" in the interest of saving the band. Then the band broke up. Don't know how I could have done it any differently today. Would love to do a song with Weezer I love "Pork and Beans" and "Beverly Hills"

There have been several. Of course I loved Tina Turner's version of "Proud Mary" and Solomon Burke did a great version of that song too. Also Al Wilson's version of "Lodi" and Dropkick Murphys doing "Fortunate Son". I really enjoyed Dawes doing "Someday Never Comes" on my most recent album. I've been very lucky to have some great artists doing my songs.

It was a hot, muggy July afternoon in Mississippi. I was almost knee-deep in flood water at the fabled site of Robert Johnson's grave. A box-set of his music was currently a big hit. My mind drifted to the thought of his songs and who might own them after all this time. Suddenly, I got the picture of some shady lawyer in a tall building with a big cigar. I was disgusted with that thought. "It doesn't matter Robert" I said that out loud, "Those are your songs, the whole world knows they are your songs". In an instant I realized that that was my story, too. The parallel was inescapable. And suddenly I said to myself, "John you've got to start playing your songs before you're laying in the ground there like Robert Johnson".

The right answer is a little of both. I'm not sure that I ever actually played that song live with Creedence.

Good question! Listen to Ray Charles, In Person. Simply the greatest live album ever made. I could say more but you'll know it when you hear it.

Hi there, in my dreams I would become an incredible guitar player. Since this is my dream, my last tour would feature a different guitar hero of mine each night. One night, me and Chet (Atkins)...next night me and Django (Rheinhardt)...next night Don Rich...Somewhere along the way Jerry Douglas, Brad Paisley, Eric Johnson and I think you get the idea. Jimmy, Jeff, Eric, Jimi, BB, John Lee, Duane, Link, Scotty... Man this is going to be a great tour!

Hi, the answer is, none other than the devil.

They were all a little bit different. Proud Mary was a burst of emotion from having just found my honorable discharge from the army. Bad Moon Rising was inspired from the late 60s interest in astrology and my memories of an old movie called "The Devil and Daniel Webster" I believe. Green River came straight outta that opening riff and the lyrics came from my childhood at Putah Creek (Crick!). Up Around the Bend came from riding my motorcycle and that riff.

Hi, there are three that remind me of my boys. "Lodi" of course because we made a new version of that song together. And every night I get to have a guitar duel with Shane in the song "The Old Man Down the Road". When the boys were little my wife and I always referred to them as the rambunctious boys. Eventually, they inspired me to write that song (Rambunctious Boy). Rock on!

Hi, I am a very happy man. That is my secret. I am so lucky to have Julie (that's my beautiful wife) in my life. The love we have shared together and with the family we have raised is the best tonic in the world. P.S. I run six miles a day :)

As a child I didn't wish to grow up and be a lawyer. I wanted to be a musician. It was frustrating and even embarrassing to be part of such a non-musical three ring circus. I am very happy now and hardly ever think about that stuff but as Yogi (Berra) said "It ain't over, til it's over"

Hi there, I married my dream girl from Elkhart, Indiana. Midwestern girls rule. We live now in California but we love to visit friends and family in that area. Notre Dame and Bonnie Doon, blue moon ice cream, can't beat that!

That was really a lot of fun. Sometimes you get an opportunity that's just too cool to turn down, no matter how difficult or inconvenient it might be. Heard about the show Friday afternoon, got on a plane and flew all night. Couple hours sleep and then we got up to rehearse with Mumford and Sons and also the Vaccines. Then we went right onto the stage and jammed. That was cool and rockin'. Love those guys!

I'm not a fighter, I'm a lover.

To be honest, it is always changing. I certainly love when the audience sings along with me on favorites like Have You Ever Seen the Rain, Cotton Fields and Proud Mary and I also enjoy performing some of the deep tracks.

Hi Adam, Pops' guitar playing was a big influence on me. He had mastered the art of playing "unstructured", memorable musical phrases. Almost like conversation. I got to meet him in Mississippi in 1990 where they were naming a park in his honor. I think it's actually called Pop Staples Park in Drew, Mississippi.

Hi! I changed the name of one of my early Rickenbacker guitars to "ACME". I had done some modifications like putting in a Les Paul hum-bucking pickup and a Bigsby vibrato. ACME of course came from Bugs Bunny and friends.

When I'm hungry, the one in front of me!

Hi! The band was in trouble, it seemed like no matter what I did I couldn't help it or save it. I thought we had achieved our dream and yet everyone was angry at me. Kind of like rain falling on an otherwise perfect day. To express those feelings I wrote Have You Ever Seen the Rain and Hideaway. "It's Just a Thought" was less specifically about the band, more about my general mood during that time.

That guitar was my black 68' Les Paul custom. Love that guitar. Still have it :)

It's different almost every time. One thing that seems to be constant is having a guitar in my hands and coming up with a guitar riff. There are at least two very different ingredients in a good song. If you happen to come up with a good melody, you're on your way. But you still need to have great lyrics to go along with that melody. I still use my song title book from 1967 for inspiration, Proud Mary was the very first title in that book. I get the most inspired when my feelings and emotions come into play. For instance, how I felt about the Vietnam War or how I feel about my family.

Hi, I wanted to write a kid's song for my son Josh who was three years old at the time. There was a book I loved when I was a child called, "And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street" (A Dr. Seuss book). This story filled me with wonderment and I wanted to write a song that felt the same way.
And yes I do like metal! I'll be sure to check out that band you mentioned.

I love flannel and I love plaid. It's a personal preference but I really never knew any other way.

I can't imagine that because music is all I've ever wanted to do.

Hi! It is really hard to pick one concert from so many. I love my fans and I am humbled by all the joy I get to be a part of at these shows. I am smiling just thinking about it.

Hi there, I just performed at the Troubadour in Los Angeles a couple nights ago, that was a lot of fun. Enjoyed it very much.

Really looking forward to playing Las Vegas. I'm bringing my 1969 show to the Venetian. For a traveling musician, it's like heaven to stay in one place for several shows. And the rockin' vibes will be great because the first show is January 8th, Elvis Presley's birthday!

Aside from playing music, I love being with with my family. Simple things like a romantic escape with my wife Julie. Having my kids with me on tour we get to do fun things like visiting the Del Vecchio Showroom in Sao Paolo, Brazil or taking my daughter Kelsy to the American Girl Doll store and driving her to her track meets (she loves to run). Of course I have taken all of them fishing. I get the most joy in life from being with my family.

Any music that sounds good to me is an inspiration. When I'm alone I listen to lots of shred guitar, heavy metal stuff. Truth time: I have to reveal that I sing and whistle "Jingle Bells" everywhere I go, every day of the year. That is a happy song!

Hi there, I am a huge fan of Rick Nelson and his music. His style influenced me greatly. Some songs that I've considered covering are "Stood Up", "It's Late", "You Tear Me Up" and "Believe What You Say" most from his album "Ricky Sings Again" I believe. That record had an incredible sound. I gotta go listen "Glory Train" not sure I remember that one.

Blue moon ice cream from Bonnie Doon in Indiana.