He died in a plane crash.
Far out!
He had a lot of other good music. "Farewell, Andromeda" and "Cold Nights in Canada," for example.
He was heavily into "est," the self-actualization system devised by Werner Erhard, and it seemed to work for him ... for a while. He fell out of favor and started drinking, divorced his wife (the subject of "Annie's Song") and hit a low point.
But he was rebuilding his life when he crashed into the Pacific Ocean in an experimental aircraft. He was the son of an Air Force father and loved to fly.
I remember watching his Christmas specials as a kid. Beautiful scenery and wonderful music. He had an easy unforced voice like James Taylor.
I wasn’t a fan, but I saw him at the Forum in the late 70’s. It was an amazing concert. The concert was in the round. His band took a break but he continued to play and sing until they returned.
Not a favorite of mine, but he could write. Rocky Mountain High, Thank God I’m A Country Boy, Country Roads, Fly Away (with ONJ), Calypso and my favorite of his set Shanghai Breezes. All big bits off the top of my head with no Internet search.
No, but I remember Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.
“Oh, God! I’m an ocean buoy!”
I met him in the late 60s when he was a student at Texas Tech in Lubbock, TX. My aunt was the choir director at Pioneer Methodist Church in Lubbock and John sang in her choir. He was also a regular at her dinner table and always brought his guitar for after dinner. He was a nice guy and always had time to talk with the kids....red
“Almost heaven, West Virginia.
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River.
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze.”
Yes.
Saw him live at the old fieldhouse at the U of U in 70. The place was packed. What a voice.
Rocky Mountain High!
he had come to the Monterey Peninsula in order to buy and a very efficient and novel looking experimental plane called a longEZ.
he had briefly visited Clint Eastwood, who lives in Carmel, in that time. In his final flight he buzzed the house of Clint Eastwood several times in fact.
this particular plane had a jury-rigged fuel tank switching system and switching the tanks involved manipulation of valve that was Far Behind the Pilot’s head.
the body movement required would likely result in stronger pressure by one leg forward. this meant he unwittingly pushed the tail rudder strongly, a risk that he had been apprised of by the previous owner.
he crashed into the ocean off of Pacific Grove California.
his head came off and they never found it.
As a young man, I used to make fun of John Denver
Then I met my (future) wife, who loved his music. So for the sake of our relationship, I did not give voice to my (unfounded) opinions.
Then my opinion of him began to change.
A perfect of example of why the Bible instructs that if you want to improve your thinking, first control what comes out of your mouth.
He was a born-again Christian who got off the track in the “EST” cult in the seventies-eighties.
I thought some of his songs were pretty good although somewhat repetitious themes.
I was looking for the image of John Denver as a scoop of melting ice cream but couldn’t find it.
Grew up in Denver in the late 60s and early 70s He was a fixture. He died in the plane crash long after his recording career was over
He didn’t drop off the face of the earth, he dropped to the face of the earth.
Take me home country roads is a great song.