The scenic roads of Montgomery County, Maryland, a key inspiration for the iconic song. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
In the tapestry of American music, few songs are as enduring and universally beloved as John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” The lyrics, particularly the evocative phrase “almost heaven, West Virginia,” paint a vivid picture of home and belonging. But the story behind this classic is as captivating as the song itself, beginning not in the mountains of West Virginia, but on a drive down a country road in Maryland.
In the summer of 1970, musicians Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, then performing as the duo Fat City, were en route to a family reunion in Gaithersburg, Maryland. As they drove along Clopper Road in Montgomery County, the rural landscape sparked a creative fire in Danoff. “Country roads, country roads, country roads,” he began to sing, a simple phrase born from the scenery unfolding before them.
This spontaneous burst of inspiration might have faded, but Danoff and Nivert were professional songwriters. They recognized the potential in the repetitive phrase and started to mold it into a song, aiming to capture the essence of their Maryland drive. However, a lyrical hurdle soon presented itself.
As Nivert recounted to Graffiti Magazine, rhyming “Maryland” proved to be a challenge. This creative roadblock led them to explore other state names, including Danoff’s home state, Massachusetts. Ultimately, they landed on West Virginia. Ironically, neither Danoff nor Nivert had ever actually been to West Virginia at that point. Danoff later confessed, “West Virginia might as well have been in Europe, for all I know.”
From Maryland Inspiration to “Almost Heaven, West Virginia” Lyrics
Despite the geographical disconnect, West Virginia became the heart of the song. The duo drew inspiration from a previous road trip to Roanoke, Virginia. Danoff recalled driving down Highway 81, with the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River in view. He mistakenly assumed the landscape across the river was West Virginia. (Geography enthusiasts might note that the Shenandoah River sections visible from I-81 between D.C. and Roanoke are entirely within Virginia.) But factual accuracy took a backseat to the feeling and imagery the scenery evoked.
The songwriting process continued for months, with the lyrics evolving and refining until a pivotal night in late December.
John Denver’s collaboration with Fat City propelled him to new heights of fame. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Fat City was the opening act for the rising folk singer John Denver at the Cellar Door club in Washington, D.C. The musicians shared a history, dating back to the 1960s when Danoff, a Georgetown University student, managed the lights and sound at the Cellar Door. Denver had even recorded “I Guess He’d Rather Be in Colorado,” a song penned by Fat City, after hearing them perform it.
Following a show one evening, Denver joined Danoff and Nivert at their Georgetown basement apartment for a late-night jam session. On his way, Denver was involved in a minor car accident, resulting in a broken thumb. As Denver described to Rolling Stone, the accident, rather than deterring him, energized him.
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.
Danoff recalls Denver’s immediate reaction being, “Gol-ly! That’s a hit!”
Although Fat City had envisioned the song for an artist like Johnny Cash, Denver was captivated. They spent the rest of the night, until around 6 a.m., working together to complete “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
Nivert, acting as scribe, suggested incorporating the West Virginia state flower, rhododendron, into the lyrics. However, Danoff and Denver opted against it, leading to the now-famous verses.
Denver also decided to cut a verse previously written by Fat City, deeming it unsuitable for radio play:
In the foothills, hiding from the clouds
Pink and Purple, West Virginia Farmhouse
Naked ladies, men who look like Christ
And a dog named Pancho, nibbling on the rice”
Hear Bill Danoff discuss these omitted lyrics around 2:30 in this video from a 2010 Georgetown University performance:
(Danoff’s “basketball team” reference at 00:18 alludes to West Virginia’s victory over Georgetown in the 2010 Big East Men’s Basketball tournament, where “Take Me Home, Country Roads” was played in celebration).
Danoff later struggled to pinpoint Denver’s exact lyrical contributions, but he believed the phrase “all my memories” was likely Denver’s addition.
By dawn, the song was finished and ready for its debut that very night at the Cellar Door.
“Take Me Home, Country Roads” Becomes a Hit and an Anthem
That evening, with his thumb in a cast, Denver, accompanied by Fat City, premiered “Take Me Home, Country Roads” live. The audience’s enthusiastic response confirmed their intuition: they had a hit song.
The following night, New Year’s Eve and Denver’s birthday, the Cellar Door show was highlighted in the Evening Star as a top D.C. event. The advertisement mentioned “soothing folk tunes of John Denver (broken thumb and all),” but made no specific mention of the new song. However, the continued strong audience reactions throughout Denver’s residency in D.C. solidified his conviction to include “Country Roads” on his upcoming album.
Denver’s career was already gaining momentum, but he hadn’t yet reached superstardom. Earlier in December, Evening Star critic Kathy Orloff, a generally positive reviewer of Denver’s work, noted that while Denver possessed a “rich and expressive voice” and could make a song “totally real,” his albums had been somewhat disappointing.
“Take Me Home, Country Roads,” featuring Fat City, marked Denver’s breakthrough onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Denver’s next album, Poems, Prayers & Promises, released in April 1971, featured “Take Me Home, Country Roads” as a standout single, with Fat City providing backing vocals.
Danoff admitted his surprise at the song’s success. He revealed to NPR that during the recording, he felt there was “way too much echo.” “I loved the song, but I thought we’d blown the record. And millions of other people didn’t agree.”
By the summer of 1971, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” became Denver’s first single to break into the Billboard Hot 100, eventually reaching the Number 2 spot in August.
Denver reflected on the transformative impact of “Country Roads” in a Rolling Stone interview:
It really changed the whole situation. 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.
The song’s success also changed things for Fat City. The royalties enabled them to purchase a house, a Mercedes, and settle outstanding debts. Taffy Nivert told Graffiti Magazine:
We paid off a $1,500 grocery bill we had run up at Sol and Helen Butt’s mom and pop grocery store in our neighborhood… Sol dropped the check to see if it would bounce. We moved out of the last remaining slum in Georgetown, D.C. We toured small clubs all over the country as John’s opening act. We would perform, then come out at the end of John’s set and sing ‘CR’ with him. It was a great couple of years in all our lives.
Watch Denver, Nivert, and Danoff perform “Country Roads” for the BBC after its rise to fame:
Nivert and Danoff later formed half of the Starland Vocal Band, achieving their own megahit with “Afternoon Delight” in 1976, another song with District of Columbia origins.
Denver’s career soared. He became a crossover sensation, dominating Pop, Adult Contemporary, and Country charts with hits like “Rocky Mountain High” and “Annie’s Song.” Despite some Nashville reservations about his folk-leaning country style, he was named the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year in 1975, a ceremony that became legendary. In 2017, Rolling Stone recognized Denver as one of the 100 greatest Country artists of all time.
“Take Me Home, Country Roads,” however, transcended even Denver’s immense fame. It became one of West Virginia’s official state songs in 2014 and has been covered by countless artists worldwide.
Despite its Maryland origins and the creators’ initial unfamiliarity with West Virginia (and some West Virginians’ critiques of its geographical inaccuracies), Danoff believes the enduring appeal of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” lies in its universal theme of longing for home, a feeling sparked by a drive down Clopper Road in D.C.’s Maryland suburbs. The “almost heaven, West Virginia” lyrics captured a feeling that resonated far beyond state lines, cementing the song’s place as an American anthem.
