Remember When Keith Urban Played With John Fogerty?
Keith Urban has always admired the music of John Fogerty, and he got to live out a musical dream when he teamed up with Fogerty in 2005 for an episode of CMT Crossroads.
The episode aired on Feb. 19, 2005, featuring the two singer-songwriters partnering on each other's songs. Urban joined Fogerty for classic Creedence Clearwater Revival hits including "Bad Moon Rising" and "Down on the Corner," as well as his signature solo hit, "Centerfield."
Urban was introduced to those songs via his parents' record collection when he was "very young," he recalled to CMT.
"The sound of those records … was so just primal. There was so much space in those records and, then, his voice. Nothing sounds like John," Urban observes. "And he doesn’t sound like anybody else. It’s rare when you find those truly unique voices like that."
Watch Keith Urban's Best Guitar Solos
The pair had met at a Bruce Springsteen concert the previous year, and they got to spend two days together learning the songs for the Crossroads taping on acoustic guitars. For Urban, it wasn't like having to learn the songs from the ground up, since he had grown up with them.
"I’m fortunate that I know these songs so well. It wasn’t that I had to sit down and really sort of study all the parts," he says, adding, "It’s a lot of fun playing with him. When you’re standing next to the guy who wrote 'Bad Moon Rising' — and he’s singing 'Bad Moon Rising' — you’re like, 'Oh, wow. This is pretty damn good right here.'"
Fogerty also joined Urban on contemporary hits including "Days Go By" and "You'll Think of Me," and he said he was "flabbergasted at his guitar playing."
"Keith is going to be here a long time because he’s just loaded with talent. Sings great, writes songs and seems to have that radar to work with good people," Fogerty enthused. "I just think he’s got it all together, and it’s like a skyrocket just starting. That’s the way I feel about him."
Urban would go on to work with Fogerty again on his Wrote a Song for Everyone album in 2013, which featured the rock legend re-recording his classic songs with country artists including Urban, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert and more. He and Urban recorded "Almost Saturday Night" together, and in 2017 Forgerty also collaborated with Paisley on "Love and War," the title song of his album.
Artists Who Have Unexpectedly Gone Country