Remembering John Denver

The Music Is You: A Tribute to John Denver comes out April 2.

Morgantown, West Virginia – Singer-songwriter John Denver, best known for his hits “Rocky Mountain High” and West Virginian’s favorite song “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, died tragically in a plane crash twenty-three days ago today.

Denver, 53 at the time, was an avid pilot and crashed his plane on October 12, 1997, ending his life prematurely.

“Take Me Home, Country Roads”, which appeared at #2 on the Billboards Top 100 list in 1971, is now an iconic song in the state of West Virginia and has been played at all West Virginia University football home games since 1972.

In 2014, Denver’s song became the official state song of state song of West Virginia and it was played at the funeral of West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd in 2010.

Denver is responsible for one of the best traditions in college football, the singing of “Country Roads” by fans as they sway arm-in-arm to his song.  Although John Denver wrote many beautiful songs during his career, none captured the spirit of an entire state like “Country Roads” did for West Virginia.

Today, we remember the great John Denver, gone far too soon but never, ever forgotten…especially in the state of West Virginia.