Blue River (album) explained

Blue River
Type:	studio
Artist:	Eric Andersen
Cover:	Blue_River_1972.jpg
Released:	February 1972
Recorded:	1971
Genre:	Folk rock
Length:	46:43
Label:	Columbia
Producer:	Norbert Putnam^[1]
Prev Title:	Eric Andersen
Prev Year:	1969
Next Year:	1972

Blue River is an album by folk rock musician Eric Andersen, released in 1972.^{[2] [3]} The album was reissued in 1999 by Columbia Legacy with two extra tracks.^[4]

Production

The album was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee.^[5] Joni Mitchell contributes vocals on the title track, "Blue River".

Critical reception

No Depression called the album's sound "subtle and incandescent," writing that producer Norbert Putnam "crafted a sound that was both sensual and spacious — at times reminiscent of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks — and always attentive to the languid melodies and sometimes frightening intimacy of Andersen’s lyrics."^[5] MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide wrote that the album "stands alongside anything that the singer-songwriter produced during the '70s." The Los Angeles Times deemed it "a delicately melodic, bittersweetly introspective song cycle that found its place within the Carole King-James Taylor-Joni Mitchell-Jackson Browne school of sensitive pop."^[6]

Track listing

1. "Is It Really Love at All" (Andersen) – 5:21
2. "Pearl's Goodtime Blues" (Andersen) – 2:21
3. "Wind and Sand" (Andersen) – 4:30
4. "Faithful" (Andersen) – 3:15
5. "Blue River" (Andersen) – 4:46
6. "Florentine" (Andersen) – 3:31
7. "Sheila" (Andersen) – 4:37
8. "More Often Than Not" (David Wiffen) – 4:52
9. "Round the Bend" (Andersen) – 5:38
10. "Come To My Bedside, My Darlin'" (Andersen) - 4:58 ~*
11. "Why Don't You Love Me" (Hank Williams) - 2:54 ~*

~* = Bonus Track on CD Release (recorded during album sessions)

Charts

Chart (1972)	Peak position
US Top LPs^[7]	169
Canada RPM 100^[8]	61

Personnel

• Eric Andersen - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, harmonica, vocals
• David Bromberg - dobro, acoustic guitar
• Andy Johnson - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vibraphone, background vocals
• David Briggs - organ, keyboards, celeste
• Weldon Myrick - steel guitar
• Norbert Putnam - bass
• Glen Spreen - organ, harpsichord, keyboards, woodwinds
• Eddie Hinton - acoustic guitar, electric guitar
• Grady Martin - gut string guitar, acoustic guitar
• Kevin Kelly - accordion
• Mark Sporer - bass
• Kenneth Buttrey - drums, percussion, tambourine
• Jim McKevitt - drums
• Rick Shlosser - drums
• Deborah Andersen - piano, background vocals
• Joni Mitchell - vocals, background vocals
• Farrell Morris - vibraphone, background vocals
• Jerry Carrigan - percussion
• Millie Kirkham - background vocals
• Sonja Montgomery - background vocals
• Laverna Moore - background vocals
• Florence Warner - background vocals
• Temple Riser - background vocals
• The Jordanaires - background vocals
• The Holidays - background vocals

Production

• Producer: Norbert Putnam
• Recording Engineer: Stan Hutto/Glen Kolotkin/Stan Tonkel
• Production Manager: Jessica Sowin
• Art Direction: John Berg
• Liner Notes: Anthony DeCurtis
• Photography: Urve Kuusik/Sandy Speiser/Don Nelson

Notes and References

1. Duffy. Thom. Djanko, Field, Andersen Link Sounds of Norway, America. 13 November 2014. Billboard. 21 January 1995.
2. Web site: Eric Andersen | Biography & History. AllMusic.
3. Web site: Looking back, Eric Andersen savors the hits, shrugs off the misses - The Boston Globe. BostonGlobe.com.
4. News: Jacks. Kelso. Record News. 13 November 2014. CMJ New Music Report. CMJ. 2 August 1999.
5. Web site: Eric Andersen – Blue River . No Depression . 18 February 2021.
6. Web site: Wanderings of Eric Andersen Lead Him Back Into Musical Mainstream. September 21, 1989. Los Angeles Times.
7. Web site: Blue River - Eric Andersen: Awards. allmusic.com. AllMusic. 13 November 2014.
8. Web site: RPM Top 100 Albums - August 19, 1972.