Jul 4, 2021 – willowdot21

Good Sunday everyone it’s time again for Jim Adam’s Song Lyric Sunday. This week Jim has given us a subject so wide it’s almost an impossible choice. Here is the prompt.

July 4, 2021 – American music which is a melting pot of styles woven together, incorporating elements of Barbershop, Bluegrass, Blues, Christian, Contemporary, Country, Doo Wop, Folk, Gospel, Jazz, Motown, Patriotic, Ragtime, Rock, R&B, Spiritual, and Soul music, but what I am really looking for is music by an American group, so Aerosmith, Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Creedence, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Eagles, Journey, Prince, Simon & Garfunkel, Santana and many others would all work great.

Did I say this was an almost impossible task …. Okay I thought long and hard and the first thought I had would not be dismissed however hard I tried . The wonderful John Denver spoke to me more than anything or anyone on Jim’s list. Funny really because country is not really my type of music but my tastes are eclectic and I have a lot of time for John Denver as a singersongwriter, actor and person.

Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singer. After traveling and living in numerous locations while growing up in his military family, Denver began his music career with folk music groups during the late 1960s. Starting in the 1970s, he was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the decade and one of its best-selling artists. By 1974, he was one of America’s best-selling performers; AllMusic has called Denver “among the most beloved entertainers of his era”.

Denver recorded and released approximately 300 songs, about 200 of which he composed. He had 33 albums and singles that were certified Gold and Platinum in the U.S by the RIAA, with estimated sales of more than 33 million units. He recorded and performed primarily with an acoustic guitar and sang about his joy in nature, disdain for city life, enthusiasm for music, and relationship trials. Denver’s music appeared on a variety of charts, including country music, the Billboard Hot 100, and adult contemporary, earning 12 gold and four platinum albums with his signature songs “Take Me Home, Country Roads“, “Poems, Prayers and Promises“, “Annie’s Song“, “Rocky Mountain High“, “Calypso“, “Thank God I’m a Country Boy“, and “Sunshine on My Shoulders“.

Denver appeared in several films and television specials during the 1970s and 1980s, including the 1977 hit Oh, God!, in which he starred alongside George Burns. He continued to record into the 1990s, also focusing on environmental issues as well as lending vocal support to space exploration and testifying in front of Congress to protest censorship in music. He lived in Aspen for much of his life, and he was known for his love of Colorado. In 1974, Denver was named poet laureate of the state. The Colorado state legislature also adopted “Rocky Mountain High” as one of its two state songs in 2007, and West Virginia did the same for “Take Me Home, Country Roads” in 2014.

An avid pilot, Denver died at age 53 in a single-fatality crash while piloting a recently purchased light plane. Information from Wikipedia.

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What a beautiful man , so talented. Not without faults but he was human. He to me is the embodiment of clean cut America at it best, to my mind anyway.