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Oliver Anthony Treats Fans To A Cover Of “Take Me Home, Country Roads”
Take me home.... country roads...
While probably more of a folk singer/songwriter, John Denver has always sort of found a home in the country music community, even winning the CMA Entertainer of the Year award in 1975 (a drunk Charlie Rich infamously burned the card in protest as he announced it).
And of course, the most famous song of his career "Take Me Home, Country Roads," has become a timeless classic among country music fans.
Written by Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert (who were married at the time and performing as a duo called The Danoff’s), along with some help from John Denver, it was released as a single in 1971 and also included on Denver’s Poems, Prayers & Promises album.
At a show one evening in Washington, DC in the early '70s, where The Danoff’s were opening for Denver, he went back to their house afterwards and they played the song for him, though it was still unfinished at the time. And actually, John almost didn’t even make it, because he got into a car wreck on the way there and had to go to hospital with a thumb injury.
Eventually, they finished the song at 6AM, and sang it at a show the next night. You can hear the Danoff’s singing background vocals on the studio recording, as well.
But perhaps the funniest part of the song, and why there is some debate on whether it's about West Virginia or the western part of Virginia, is that none of the three writers had ever even been to West Virginia at the time… Bill had recalled listening to the AM station WWVA out of Wheeling, West Virginia, which he heard in Massachusetts growing up.
He told NPR in 2011:
“I just thought the idea that I was hearing something so exotic to me from someplace as far away. West Virginia might as well have been in Europe, for all I knew.”
Folks from Virginia have started to claim the song, arguing that the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River, really only clip the state of West Virginia, and primarily lie in the state of Virginia. Of course, nobody knew what they were talking about so that's probably why... and regardless, West Virginia owns the song. Geography be damned.
And fun fact, the Danoff’s had originally wanted Johnny Cash to record the song, and they almost didn’t play it for Denver because they didn’t think it was his style. But Denver was having no part of that once he heard it, and knowing (or hoping, at least) it would be a huge hit, he wanted it for himself.
The single had a slow climb up the country charts that spring and summer, but eventually, became Denver’s first big #1 hit, and of course, an all-time classic and signature country song we all know and love to this day.
The song is considered a symbol of West Virginia, and is played at every West Virginia University home football game, in addition to being one of the four official state anthems of West Virginia. West Virginia native Charles Wesley Godwin has made it a staple of his repertoire, and it even inspired his own "Cue Country Roads," another fan favorite.
But now, Virginia native Oliver Anthony has answered the call of his fans and released a live version of his own, recorded in West Virginia's own Mercer County. The "Rich Men North Of Richmond" singer says fans have been begging for it:
"I have gotten hundreds of messages asking for a cover of 'Country Roads.' We filmed this over the summer and I forgot about it with all the insanity during tour. It's not much but I hope you enjoy it! Filmed on the Bluestone River in Mercer County WV."
Check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut4c-GTABwc
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