Almost Heaven: The Story Behind “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver

On April 17, 1861, the Virginia Secession Convention voted to secede from the Union. Not all of the delegates agreed, leading to a vote to determine whether a new state would be created. In the October 24, 1861 election, 18,408 votes were cast for the new state and 781 against. West Virginia was created. Today, tourism is one of the state’s biggest industries. Outdoor recreation, coupled with historic and cultural attractions, draws visitors each year. People want to explore, whether it’s Harper’s Ferry or the Appalachian Trail. They enjoy whitewater rafting, hiking, and hunting. The idea of taking off down one of America’s back roads is one that can bring sentimental nostalgia. To that end, let’s look at the story behind “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver.

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains
Shenandoah River,
Life is old there
Older than the trees
Younger than the mountains
Blowin’ like the breeze

Initially Written for Johnny Cash

Before he had success as a singer, Denver wrote “Leaving, on a Jet Plane.” Peter, Paul, and Mary took the song to No. 1. “Take Me Home, Country Roads” was Denver’s first of many hits as a performer. In 1975, he told Rolling Stone magazine: “I was at the Cellar Door with some friends, Bill and Taffy Danoff, who called themselves Fat City. They wrote a song for me called ‘I Guess He’d Rather Be in Colorado,’ a beautiful song I wish I’d written. After opening night at the Cellar Door, we were gonna go back to their house and jam, and we were in a car accident, and my thumb was broken. I went to the hospital to have a splint put on, and by then, I was wired, you know, after a car wreck. So we went over to their house, and in the early hours of the morning, they showed me this chorus and part of the verse to a song they were writing called ‘Country Roads,’ and I flipped over that song. They’d had it for a month and hadn’t been able to do anything with what they had. That morning, we finished writing that song, and I said we’ve got to record this on the next album, which was Poems, Prayers, and Promises.”

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, Mountain Momma
Take me home, country roads

Cutting Away the Nonsense

“I had a record on the charts, and all of a sudden, it’s not John Denver, the writer of “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” but it’s John Denver who sings the song that you hear on the radio. So a whole thing changed,” Denver continued. “All of this time, I was growing, learning more about myself, noticing what music was coming out of me and where it came from and how it worked and what it had to do with and so I was able to cut away a lot of the nonsense and the bulls–t that starts getting in.”

All my memories gathered ’round her
Miner’s lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine
Teardrops in my eye

It Might as Well Have Been Europe

Fat City consisted of Bill and Taffy Danoff. They would go on to join forces with Jon Carroll and Margot Chapman to form the Starland Vocal Band, who had the 1976 smash hit, “Afternoon Delight.” In 2011, Bill Danoff told National Public Radio, “I just thought the idea that I was hearing something so exotic to me from someplace as far away. West Virginia might as well have been in Europe, for all I knew.”

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, Mountain Momma
Take me home, country roads

All Beautiful Words

It wasn’t actually West Virginia that inspired the song. Nevertheless, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” became an unofficial state anthem.

In 2023, Danoff told the Library of Congress: “(I got) the idea riding down a country road in Maryland, but it was the idea of country roads anywhere that inspired the song. Driving down that road felt familiar, and I thought that was a feeling everybody could relate to. I repeated ‘country roads’ over and over for a month or so while working on the tune, and then the first lines came at once out of the blue—Almost heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River—all beautiful words.”

I hear her voice
In the mornin’ hour, she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
And drivin’ down the road, I get a feelin’
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday

Massachusetts

Danoff grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts, and, in the 1950s, would listen to the Saturday Night Jamboree out of Wheeling, West Virginia, on the radio. He avoided writing the song about Massachusetts because he didn’t feel the word was musical.

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, Mountain Momma
Take me home, country roads

The First of Many Hits

Denver released the song as a single in April 1971. Other hits followed, including “Rocky Mountain High,” “Sunshine on My Shoulders,” “Annie’s Song,” “Back Home Again,” “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” and “I’m Sorry.” The singer has sold more than 33 million units and appeared in several movies and TV shows.

Denver died in 1997 when his homebuilt aircraft crashed into Monterey Bay near Pacific Grove, California. The following year, the World Folk Music Association awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2007, a plaque was placed near the crash site. In 2011, Denver was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, Mountain Momma
Take me home, country roads
Take me home, now country roads
Take me home, now country roads

In 2014, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” was declared one of the official state songs of West Virginia.

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Photo by Tony Russell/Redferns