Janiva Magness: “Change In The Weather: Janiva Magness Sings John Fogerty” (2019) CD Review

In Janiva Magness’ liner notes for her new album, Change In The Weather: Janiva Magness Sings John Fogerty, she writes “Just like millions of other people, I’ve always been a fan of John Fogerty’s work.” I am one of those millions. Since I was a child, hearing songs like “Bad Moon Rising,” “Fortunate Son” and “Down On The Corner,” I have been completely under the spell of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Too young to have heard these songs when they were first released, it was the local classic rock station that turned me onto this band. But I was in my early teens when John Fogerty’s Centerfield was released, and that great voice was on the pop radio stations as well as the rock stations, and I was in heaven. I played the hell out of that album. Janiva Magness pays tribute to this incredible singer and songwriter, choosing songs from both the CCR catalogue and Fogerty’s solo albums. Her love for the music shines through on every track. She is backed by Gary Davenport on bass, Steve Wilson on drums, Zachary Ross on guitar and dobro, Dave Darling on guitar, and Arlan Oscar on keys, and has special guests on a couple of tracks.

To open this album, Janiva Magness chooses a song from John Fogerty’s solo career, but one that sounds like it could have easily been included on a Creedence record, “Change In The Weather,” which she also uses as the album’s title. It was included on Fogerty’s 1986 LP Eye Of The Zombie, and features a jam toward the end that feels very much like something that CCR could have produced. Janiva Magness delivers a bluesy, hard-hitting rendition, with a strong pulse, a track that feels just exactly right for these dark and twisted days. The song was originally released during those awful Reagan years, and we’re now caught in the gnarled claws of a much worse administration. Much of the song’s lyrics feel like they could have been written today. Check out these lines: “Storm warning, and it looks like rain/Be nothing left after the hurricane/This here's a jungle, it ain't no lie/Look at the people, terror in their eyes/Bad business coming, can't be denied/They're running with the dogs, afraid to die.” This song also includes a play on a line from Hamlet: “But every demon has to have his day,” a play on the line “The cat will mew and dog will have his day.” Janiva’s rendition is a couple of minutes shorter than John Fogerty’s, but still features some good jamming. She follows that with “Lodi,” a song from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Green River LP.  Here Janiva Magness is joined by Sam Morrow on vocals, making the song an odd sort of duet, which works surprisingly well.

“Someday Never Comes” is my all-time favorite CCR song, and Janiva delivers an excellent and completely effective rendition, arousing in me those same complicated feelings as the original version. There is something terribly lonesome about this song, like you can’t count on anyone, and it speaks to that feeling that the world makes no fucking sense whatsoever, and that we never really learn anything. Yet somehow this song makes me feel strangely empowered too, because it’s like we are encouraged to make our own way, to figure things out on our own, since there is no one right way. By the way, my second favorite CCR song is “Long As I Can See The Light,” a song that Janiva Magness covered on her 2016 release, Love Wins Again. Janiva follows “Someday Never Comes” with another excellent Creedence song, “Wrote A Song For Everyone.” This one wasn’t a huge hit or anything, but I think it is among the band’s best. John Fogerty must feel similarly, for he chose it to be the title track of a recent solo album, an album which found him revisiting several CCR numbers. Janiva Magness does a wonderful job with it, giving us a powerful, honest and moving vocal performance. “You know I wrote a song for everyone/Wrote a song for truth/Wrote a song for everyone/When I couldn't even talk to you.”

One of my favorite tracks on this release is Janiva’s take on “Don’t You Wish It Was True,” a song from John Fogerty’s 2007 album Revival. This track has such a great vibe, and is a song I wish the world would embrace these days. “He said the world’s going to change, and it’s starting today/There will be no more armies, and no more hate/Don’t you wish it was true/Don’t you wish it was true.” Janiva is joined by Taj Mahal on vocals and banjo on this one, adding to the track’s appeal. This one also features some very cool work on guitar. “But if tomorrow everybody under the sun/Was happy just to live as one/No borders, no battles to be won/But if tomorrow everybody was your friend/Happiness would never end/Lord, don’t you wish it was true.” This track has a delightfully playful ending, with Taj Mahal riffing vocally. Janiva Magness also gives us an interesting and wonderful take on “Have You Ever Seen The Rain,” slowing it down a bit. This rendition has a pretty and comforting vibe, which I appreciate, and features a really nice vocal performance. Janiva also puts her own spin on “Bad Moon Rising,” making it more of blues rocker. I didn’t recognize it when it first began, not until she started singing. The first time I listened to this track, it took me a moment to get into it, but once I was on board, I began to really appreciate this rendition. After all, this song – as good as it is – is one we’ve heard a lot, perhaps a bit too much, and Janiva is able to give it a fresh life, which it deserves.

Janiva then returns to John Fogerty’s solo material with a cool version of “Blueboy,” a song from his 1997 album Blue Moon Swamp, highlighting the song’s blues elements, bringing them more to the fore. This track features more nice work on guitar and a cool beat. That’s followed by “Fortunate Son,” which was one of the first CCR songs I ever heard, and one that demanded a whole lot of volume from my stereo (hey, who was I to refuse?). I always loved the power of the song, the way John delivered the lines with something of an angry snarl, like he could tear into the powers that be with that voice. I believed he could. We could certainly use some of that right now. Janiva’s rendition may not quite have the power of the original, but the energy is there, the attitude is there, and this track features some nice work on keys. From there, she goes to “Déjà vu (All Over Again),” the title track to John Fogerty’s 2004 album and a good choice to have follow “Fortunate Son,” as this one is about similarities between the Iraq war and the war in Vietnam. The same mistakes are made over and over. Janiva follows that with another song from John Fogerty’s solo career, “A Hundred And Ten In The Shade,” from Blue Moon Swamp. Janiva delivers a sultry vocal performance to match the temperature of the song, helping to make this yet another of the disc’s highlights. She concludes the album with a cheerful, folksy rendition of “Lookin’ Out My Back Door,” which has quite a different vibe from the rest of the album. On this track she is joined by Rusty Young on dobro and guitar, Jesse Dayton on guitar and Aubrey Richmond on fiddle.

CD Track List

1. Change In The Weather
2. Lodi
3. Someday Never Comes
4. Wrote A Song For Everyone
5. Don’t You Wish It Was True
6. Have You Ever Seen The Rain
7. Bad Moon Rising
8. Blueboy
9. Fortunate Son
10. Déjà vu (All Over Again)
11. A Hundred And Ten In The Shade
12. Lookin’ Out My Back Door

Change In The Weather: Janiva Magness Sings John Fogerty was released on September 13, 2019 on Blue Elan Records.