MC: When you played your recent birthday show at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, you used a whole battery of vintage guitars. Do you take them out on tour?
Fogerty: I’ve got several old Goldtops from the late ‘60s that I play in my shows and they’re quite valuable. I sometimes forget, but people will come up to me backstage and see my guitar and just kinda salivate. Like, I was on Letterman with the band Dawes and I was playing my Goldtop, and Taylor [Goldsmith, singer in Dawes] came over and said, “That guitar sounds so-o-o good.” I asked him, “Do you know who the last guy was who said that to me? Keith Richards, about a week ago.” I had gotten to play with the Stones the week before. And Keith––you know he understands vintage instruments––he comes over to check out my guitar and then he waves his wrist at it like to bless it. (laughs) And I said, “Yeah, this is a real one.” He lit up with that knowing smile, that look that guys like us get when we encounter the real stuff.
MC: Do you have a line of your own signature guitars?
Fogerty: I don’t have any of that. Way back when I was a kid, Duane Eddy was my hero and when I saw his signature guitar I went into a store. But even as a kid trying it out I could tell––“I ain’t buying this; this thing sucks!” Right there I decided against ever endorsing a guitar. I mean, the only signature that ever made sense was Leo Fender, and Les Paul, those are the names that mean something.
MC: You spoke of the band Dawes earlier–– they’re the only act on the new record that’s not a big name. How did you hook up with them to do “Someday Never Comes”?
Fogerty: I listen to a lot of different radio stations, so I was aware of the band. Then someone at the record company mentioned Dawes. So I said, “Y’know, I’m going to ask them.” And a minute ago you were just talking about how I have many established artists on the album? Well, I will tell you Dawes is as good as any of them. They are just waiting to be discovered. I didn’t really know it until we got in the studio together, but they are really, really great musicians, a great band, they truly are at the top. These guys are that good. They chose “Someday Never Comes.” That guy Taylor was born to sing that song.
MC: It’s good to know that you try to keep up with new bands and new music. Still, it was a surprise recently to hear you play a Bad Religion song when you guest hosted a radio show on local Los Angeles 100.3.
Fogerty: That’s because I was exposed to a lot of good music when I’d take my two boys to the skate park.
MC: Including hip-hop?
Fogerty: For a while there, hip-hop and rap could not be ignored. So I went out and bought it and tried to like it. But a lot of it, I came away saying, “Ain’t a whole lot resonatin’, here.” The good songs were too far between for this lilywhite father of two teens. Funny thing is, I had told the boys, “Go find music that I don’t like.” Kids are supposed to find music their parents don’t like, right? And y’know what, with hip-hop I had to say to them, “You finally found it!” (laughs) Now I’m hearing a lot that I like from Mumford & Sons, the Villagers, Monsters & Men, Lumineers... It’s kinda cool, but I think [the music industry] is gonna run this thing into the ground.
