John Denver was everywhere in the Seventies. His gentle take on country music may not have pleased hardcore fans of the genre, but he was enormously popular with a wider public.
Turn on the radio and it wouldn't be long before you heard one of his songs - possibly Annie's Song played by the flautist James Galway, who was everywhere in those days too. Rather more creditably, he wrote Leaving on a Jet Plane, which Peter, Paul and Mary made famous.
His pleasant personality made him a favourite on television. Notably, he was a friend of Jim Henson and starred in two Muppet Show specials: John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together and Rocky Mountain Holiday. You may enjoy The Twelve Days of Christmas from the first of these.
I see John Denver's stellar career as stemming from the same roots as the popularity of The Waltons and Jimmy Carter's election as President: a desire for a simple, wholesome America after the shocks of Vietnam and Watergate.
Denver was politically active himself as a notable supporter of environmental causes. And in the debate on harmful pop lyrics he stood with Frank Zappa and the angels against censorship. He also toured Russia and China in an era when few American artists did.
His fame dwindled after the Seventies, and he seems to have problems with alcohol, as evidenced by several convictions for drink-driving. He died in 1997 after crashing his private plane.
Turn on the radio today and you won't hear John Denver, but I still like Rocky Mountain High.
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