Maps of Music

Bayou Country (1969)

Where the lyrics of Bayou Country take you, and where it was really made.

The opening track was conceived while John Fogerty stared at a blank beige wall in a nearly empty apartment.

Key places

Recorded at RCA Studio A, Hollywood (1969)

Recording site The Music Grinder (Hollywood) — Fogerty recalled recording the album at RCA in Hollywood, Studio A, in October. The point is placed at city-center level, so the exact building position is not confirmed. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Bayou Country is the second studio album by the American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR)
• Released by Fantasy Records on January 15, 1969
• First of three albums CCR released that year
• Reached No. 7 on the Billboard 200
• Produced the band's first No. 2 single, 'Proud Mary'
• Opens with 'Born on the Bayou'

Background

• The band spent ten years as the Blue Velvets and the Golliwogs before using the CCR name
• 'Susie Q' reached No. 11 in June 1968 under the CCR name
• The self-titled previous album peaked at No. 52 on the Billboard albums chart
• Tension was already growing because John Fogerty controlled nearly every level of the band
• Fogerty judged that the band had no money, no manager and no publicist, so the music had to carry them

Recording

• Recorded in October at RCA Studio A in Hollywood
• The album was made like a live performance, with all members playing at the same time
• Fogerty finished the album by adding and refining instrumental parts and the vocal work
• During the sessions a fight over the background vocals nearly ended the band, according to Fogerty

Cover

• Cover art credited to Basul Parik

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California, in 1968.
• The members had played together since 1959, first as the Blue Velvets and later as the Golliwogs.
• Fantasy Records owner Saul Zaentz bought the label in 1967 and offered the band a chance to record an album.

Members

• John Fogerty: lead vocals, lead guitar, primary songwriter.
• Tom Fogerty: rhythm guitar, quit at the end of 1970 and died in 1990.
• Stu Cook: bass.
• Doug Clifford: drums.

Career

• Between 1969 and 1971 the band had 14 consecutive top-10 singles and five consecutive top-10 albums in the United States.
• Green River (1969) and Cosmo's Factory (1970) both topped the Billboard 200.
• The band performed at Woodstock in 1969.
• The band disbanded acrimoniously in 1972 amid lawsuits and disputes over business and artistic control.
• Cook and Clifford performed as Creedence Clearwater Revisited from 1995 to 2020.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone's early review: the album suffered from inconsistency, with good cuts but weak ones
• Rolling Stone was positive on the title track 'Born on the Bayou' and 'Proud Mary'
• Rolling Stone found many other tracks lacking originality
• Rolling Stone judged the material not always strong, but the band's gusto carried it

Reappraisal

• Rolling Stone gave the 2008 40th-anniversary reissue 3.5 stars out of 5
• AllMusic gave the album 4.5 stars out of 5, in a review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
• AllMusic said the album shows a band that found its voice between its first and second albums

Records

• Billboard 200: No. 7
• RIAA Gold certification on December 16, 1970
• RIAA double Platinum certification on December 13, 1990
• Included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Fogerty said he wrote 'Proud Mary' in the two days after he was discharged from the National Guard
• Bob Dylan told Rolling Stone in a 1969 interview that 'Proud Mary' was his favorite song of the year
• The opener 'Born on the Bayou' was conceived in the same bare apartment where Fogerty stared at the blank wall
• Fogerty recalled that the RCA session argument over the background vocals was serious enough that the band could have broken up there
• Fogerty said the band's fight over the second album was a real confrontation, as everybody wanted to sing, write and make their own arrangements

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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