Back Home Again (RCA) [Remaster]

Performer: John Denver
Artist: Hal Blaine
Engineer: Mickey Crofford
Producer: Milton Okun
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Includes two bonus tracks. Personnel: John Denver (vocals, 6-string guitar); Steve Weisberg (guitar, dobro, dulcimer); Jim Connor (banjo, harmonica, background vocals); John Sommers (banjo); Dave Jackson, Dick Kniss (bass instrument); Hal Blaine (percussion, background vocals); Jim Gordon (percussion); Julie Connor, Denny Brooks (background vocals). Liner Note Author: Barry Alfonso. As the 1970s progressed, John Denver slowly moved away from the melancholy folk-singer mode that characterized his early albums and towards a brighter, more country-inflected sound. BACK HOME AGAIN crystallizes the latter phase, and consequently proved one of Denver's most commercially successful albums. In large part, this has to do with the fine batch of songs here, which includes the warm, comforting title track; the lazy, lilting "Cool an' Green an' Shady;" and the sprightly "Grandma's Feather Bed," which almost demands a group sing-along. As usual, however, Denver slips in some affectingly pensive unaccompanied moments. The tender "Sweet Surrender" and "This Old Guitar," a heartfelt tribute to his primary instrument, are among the finest tunes on BACK HOME AGAIN. But the record also contains the knee-slapping, full-band hoedown "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and the highly romantic, string-sweetened ballad "Annie's Song," which became one of Denver's biggest hits. With its balance of fun, joyful tunes and lovely, introspective numbers, BACK HOME AGAIN elevated Denver to the height of his mid-'70s popularity.

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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