Eric Andersen Delivers a Live Version of His Classic ‘Blue River’: Review
by Jeff Burger
Like fellow folkie Nick Drake, Eric Andersen is an immensely important singer whose affecting music is unlike anything you’ll find elsewhere. Unlike Drake, who died at age 26, Andersen has had the good fortune to endure and remain productive for decades.
Now 82 and still making great records, such as the recent Dance of Love and Death, he began performing in 1964 and released his first LP the following year. His sophomore album, which came out in 1966, contained no fewer than three enduring classics: “Violets of Dawn,” “Thirsty Boots” and “Close the Door Lightly.” Since then, he has issued dozens more memorable studio and live albums.
Among them is 1972’s Blue River, Andersen’s eighth LP, which is widely and justifiably regarded as a classic of the genre. Recorded in Nashville, it finds the singer supported by some of that town’s best studio musicians, such as Kenny Buttrey and Norbert Putnam, as well as David Bromberg, Joni Mitchell and many others. The program delivers eight self-penned introspective and often wistful songs about life and romantic love, plus an excellent cover of singer/songwriter David Whiffen’s “More Often Than Not.”
In 2012, 40 years after that record’s release, Andersen gave the concert featured on the newly issued Blue River Live in Tokyo. It contains readings of all nine songs on the 1972 studio LP, plus five additional tracks: the aforementioned “Violets of Dawn” and “Thirsty Boots”; “Moonchild River Song” and “Woman She Was Gentle,” both from 1975’s essential Be True to You; and “Lie with Me,” which Andersen recorded in the early 1970s and which finally surfaced on 1991’s Stages: The Lost Album.
It’s a must-hear set—even better than the original Blue River. Andersen, who plays guitar, piano and harmonica, is in fine voice. And while the long list of players on the 1972 album did excellent work there, these sensual and intimate songs seem even stronger in the arrangements in this set, which feature accompaniment only from violinist Michele Gazich and Andersen’s wife, Inge, who provides harmony vocals.
The July 25, 2025, release is available in the U.S. here and in Canada here.
Burger wrote one of the first interview-based profiles of Bruce Springsteen to be published in a national magazine. He has interviewed many other music-world luminaries as well, including Steve Van Zandt, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Wolfman Jack, Tom Waits, Foreigner’s Mick Jones, Billy Joel, Steve Forbert, Tommy James, the Righteous Brothers, Gordon Lightfoot, Deep Purple’s Tommy Bolin, and members of Steely Dan and the Marshall Tucker Band. He has also interviewed many other public figures, such as Suze Orman, Daymond John, James Carville, Donald Trump, Sir Richard Branson, F. Lee Bailey, and Cliff Robertson.
His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, all of which are published in the U.S. and Canada by Chicago Review Press. The books have been republished in numerous other countries.
Burger has been the editor of several periodicals, including Business Jet Traveler, from which he retired in 2024. During his 20 years at that
publication, it received more than 120 major editorial awards, including multiple wins for the world’s Best Consumer Travel Magazine in the annual Folio:Eddie competition.
Burger lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His wife, Madeleine Beresford, is a puppeteer and former preschool director and teacher. The couple have two grown children.
No Comments so far
Jump into a conversationNo Comments Yet!
You can be the one to start a conversation.