John Fogerty

There are few artists in rock'n'roll history as ageless as John Fogerty. His Creedence Clearwater Revival legacy remains as strong as ever — the band's label even sued Fogerty in the '80s for essentially sounding too much like himself on his solo albums — and the current resurgence of American blue-collar rock owes much to CCR's continued popularity. Wrote A Song For Everyone is a celebration of all of that, recreating many of Fogerty's best moments with special guests, on top of a couple fine new songs thrown in as a bonus. The album starts out blazing with Fogerty and the Foo Fighters doing "Fortunate Son," and that pace is largely maintained all the way through to a rousing "Proud Mary," with Jennifer Hudson, which manages to simultaneously pay tribute to the Ike & Tina version and the song's original New Orleans inspiration. Other highlights are "Long As I Can See the Light," with My Morning Jacket, and "Someday Never Comes," with Dawes, which offset the handful of missteps, particularly Kid Rock's hijacking of "Born On the Bayou." The breadth of artists contributing to Wrote A Song For Everyone illustrates Fogerty's wide-ranging influence; he may not often get credit for creating what's now known as Americana, but no one was as naturally adept at making it their signature sound.