Can a band be considered Southern rock if they are not from the South? What if that band isn’t even from America? Foghat brings up precisely this conundrum. The band formed in London, England, in 1971. Singer/guitarist Dave Peverett, also known as Lonesome Dave, drummer Roger Earl, and bassist Tony Stevens all left Savoy Brown. Then they teamed up with guitarist Rod Price to start the band Foghat. They would go on to have seven albums that reached gold or platinum status and they achieved five Top 40 singles. Southern rock draws from rock ‘n’ roll, country, and blues elements. Bands such as The Allman Brothers, The Charlie Daniels Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and The Marshall Tucker Band are good examples of the genre.
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Foghat hit all of these musical marks.
Relocation to America
The band signed a recording deal with Albert Grossman’s Bearsville Records shortly after forming. Their self-titled debut album was recorded in Wales at producer Dave Edmunds’ Rockfield Studio. The album featured Todd Rundgren on piano and Andy Fairweather-Low on backing vocals. “I Just Want to Make Love to You” was the lead single and peaked at No. 83 on the Billboard Top 100. The band moved to New York City and benefitted heavily from the new FM radio format.
Mixing Musical Elements
Foghat’s albums were a combination of originals and cover versions. Songs written by Chuck Berry, Big Joe Turner, Buddy Holly, Robert Johnson, Al Green, and Willie Dixon were mixed in with Peverett and Price originals. The ingredients they used fit in perfectly with the Southern rock recipe. Their second album was also self-titled, but known as Rock and Roll because of the cover photo of a rock and a bread roll. The record charted higher than their debut, perhaps thanks in part to Rod Price’s slide guitar being featured prominently—he became known as “The Magician of Slide.”
“Slow Ride“
The band’s biggest success came with the 1975 album Fool for the City. Bassist Tony Stevens left the band and returned to England to eventually become a successful session musician. Producer Nick Jameson played bass and keyboards on the album. Craig MacGregor was added to the full-time lineup as bassist. Fool for the City went platinum with the success of the title song and Foghat’s biggest hit, “Slow Ride.” It wasn’t really that slow of a ride, Fool being their fifth album. But the band finally had a really big hit album, as well as a signature song.
Foghat Live
In 1977, Foghat released their first live album. Presenting most of their best-performing songs in the band’s preferred live element (and thanks to its arriving smack-dab in the middle of the heyday of the live album), the album sold well and reached No. 11 on the Billboard albums chart on its way to double-platinum certification in America with sales of over 2 million.
The next album, Stone Blue, was a return to the studio where the band worked with famed engineer Eddie Kramer, who had previously worked with Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. Their version of Robert Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago” was a noticeable shift in a traditional blues direction. It was the last Foghat album to be certified gold.
Boogie Motel
Named for the studio it was recorded in, Boogie Motel was released in 1979. The single, “Third Time Lucky (First Time I Was a Fool)” hit No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would be the band’s final appearance in the Top 40 singles chart. The band continued with different lineups and have released albums regularly since.
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The Death of Lonesome Dave and Rod Price
In 1984, Dave Peverett quit the band and moved back to England. He started a new band called Lonesome Dave’s Foghat, but eventually, at the encouragement of über-producer Rick Rubin, the four original members reunited in 1993 to record Return of the Boogie Men. The band toured again and released a live album called Road Cases in 1998. Dave Peverett died in 2000 of kidney cancer. He continued playing and recording right up to the end. Rod Price died in 2005 in Wilton, New Hampshire.
Foghat’s Southern Rock Stature
Just as The Rolling Stones liked to keep one foot in country music, Foghat was always treading the swamp waters of Southern rock. Hearing Rod Price’s slide guitar and Lonesome Dave Peverett’s voice together will still take listeners on a “Slow Ride” every time they lay that needle down (or, sure, stream it on Spotify or YouTube Music).
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
