Best Songs for Earth Day: “Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver

Rocky Mountains, Guanella Pass.  Ellen Mackey 2012

He seems quaint now, a "aw, gosh" folk singer with a bowl haircut and big round glasses singing songs like "Sunshine on My Shoulder," and "Thank God I'm a Country Boy."

But the guy could sing. In the early 1980's, I had the quintessential Colorado experience: listening to John Denver in concert at Red Rocks amphitheater.

We were kind of far from the stage, and when someone in jeans and a t-shirt came out a couple of hours before the show and sang a rousing "Johnny B. Goode," I wondered who this rockin' warm-up act was.

It was Denver himself, showing that he could hang in with the best of them on something besides his trademark mellow and meditative ballads.

Back in 1976, Newsweek called him the "most popular pop singer in America." 

Then disco happened. And new wave. And rap. And all the rest.

But John Denver's poetry still quietly evokes the beauty of Colorado. And his music is still the kind that us old fogies will sing along with when nobody else is watching.

“Rocky Mountain High” is available for free download on Freegal.