The Best Of John Denver Live

Performer: John Denver
Producer: Bob Irwin
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Recorded live at the Wildlife Concert in February 1995. John Denver's music was something of a reaction against the post-psychedelia excesses of 70's rock. He offered a bright, sunny alternative in his folkish pop songs, with lyrics focusing on the grandeur of nature, particularly the mountain region that gave him his name. Tunes like "Rocky Mountain High" and "Country Roads," with their cheery outlook and immediate accessibility, made Denver a major pop star in the 70's, and his music came to define an entire subculture of 70's mainstream pop, the heartland soft-rock sound that dominated AM radio in the middle part of that decade. Most of Denver's biggest hits are included on this live album, which doubles as a best-of. There are renditions of Denver favorites like "Annie's Song," "Leaving On A Jet Plane" and "Sunshine On My Shoulders." Rounding out this double disc are lesser-known tunes like Steve Gillete's 60's folk masterpiece "Darcy Farrow" as well as "I'd Rather Be A Cowboy" and "I'm Sorry," both previously unreleased.

As John Denver, the former John Henry Deutschendorf was a ubiquitous icon of the 1970s. Although he had been a musician and songwriter in the 1960s, penning "Leaving on a Jet Plane" for Peter, Paul & Mary, Denver hit his stride in the '70s with earnest folk songs celebrating the glories of the natural world and life's simple pleasures. Although he was sometimes savaged by critics for his overarching earnestness, his songs speak for themselves, and his records still sell in large numbers. In the wake of his premature death in a 1997 plane crash, a number of contemporary artists have recorded Denver's songs, without any hint of irony.

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