John Denver News

News

In January 2009, Higher Ground will be released on DVD - further info can be found here: Higher Ground
Our next John Denver Weekend will take place from October 09 - 11, 2009.
A few days ago, we got a hint about a page where you can download three specials ("Rocky Mountain Reunion", "Music and the Mountains" und "The Higher We Fly")and lots of photos from John.
There are more than 200 photos in super quality, many of which we did not know before, and those mentioned specials.
The photos are for free..., downloading the specials costs 4,99 $ per piece - we would like to emphazise that we have not yet tested downloading the specials, so we would be grateful to hear about your experiences...
Oh yes - you have to look here: John Denver Specials
Kerstin Siewek's this year's John Denver Tribute Concert will take place on October 25, 2008 at 8pm., Gerhard Hauptmann Realschule in Gelsenkirchen Buer
www.kerstinsiewek.de
With the titel "An Intimate Performance", the "Wildlife Concert" has been rereleased on DVD as well as on a double-CD.
Interesting about it is the fact that the track list for the CD is the same as on the DVD, not as on the "Wildlife Concert" CD - which means, it includes some different songs..
The DVD "Calypso", which is also quite new on the market, includes material from the "Wildlife Concert" as well.
And two more CDs are completely new on the market – first "Playlist – The Very Best of John Denver" (which does not only include songs, but also some pictures and a bio in PDF-format – and on the other hand a combined edition of "Back Home Again" and "Rocky Mountain High".
Our next John Denver Weekend will take place on September 27 and 28, 2008.
In The Netherlands a new CD is released, John and Jan Smit- a maxi single with "Dan volg je haar benen" from Jan Smit, a duett with John ("Calypso") and a video of "Dan volg je haar benen".
Christopher Canyon has published another book based on John Denver Songs – it is "Grandma's Feather Bed", and it is as gorgeous as all those books!
And some more releases - two DVDs which include appearances by John -
- MPI is bringing that 1975 special "DORIS DAY TODAY" out for DVD on November 20, 2007
  That 65-minute special puts Doris together with John Denver, Tim Con-way, and impersonator Rich Little
  - und -
- "BARRY MANILOW: THE FIRST TELEVISION SPECIALS" - five of the Legendary Performer's Beloved Television Specials are Collected for the First Time with a Historic DVD Boxed Set Spotlighting Programs that Aired Originally Between 1977 and 1988 - available November 6, 2007 from Barry Manilow, Rhino Entertainment, und STILETTO New Media www.manilow.com und www.rhino.com. The late John Denver joined Manilow as a special guest for The Third Barry Manilow Special, and sings What's On Your Mind and joins an Everly Brothers Medley
In October a CD- and DVD-Set was released in Australia, which is also very interesting -- 45 up to now unreleased live recordingd from 8 concerts from different years -- songlists as well as sound bits can be found here
As it looks, 2007 is a really good year for John Denver Fans, judging by new releases!
John Adams will be in Europe again this Spring - you can find further info on an extra page here.
And some exciting news again! A new John Denver CD was released, and it is "John Denver live in the USSR" - it includes about 2 hours of concert material taped during john's USSR tour 1985.
You can order it here:
http://www.wstar.org/windstar/OnlineStore/Products/russiacd.html
It costs 20$ (pluspostage) and the proceeds go to the "Windstar Foundation".
Lately, we were made aware of a VERY exciting site on the internet - Just have a look at the Cincinnati Dancing Pigs' page - there you will find many songs of John solo as well as Denver, Boise and Johnson from the late 60s in MP3 format - you can listen to them, and you can even download them!
Looking for infos for the next club newsletter, I just by chance ended up on the page www.sister-cities.org --- as we have already reported, John once sang a song for this organization (which is dealing with "sisterships" between cities) – and much to my surprise, you can now listen to and download the song there! The quality is not too great – but I an sure this song will be new to some of you: We Are One
"Rocky Mountain High" became Colorado's second official song on March 12, 2007. Lawmakers passed a resolution that puts the anthem alongside the lesser-known "Where the Columbines Grow", which was adopted in 1915. "That is very cool. He'd be very honored. We are very proud. I am going to call my mom and tell her," said Ron Deutschendorf, John's brother.

John Adams, one of the best singers presenting John Denver material, will come to Europe around Christmas and play a concert with Guido Bos in Hendrik Ido Ambacht (in the neighbourhood of Rotterdam) on the 5th of January from 1 to 6 pm.
In case you are interested (and it is certainly worth it!!), please contact Lia Helmink  as soon as possible...

And another hint for the Christmas season: in the USA, an interesting book was released - "The Littlest Cowboy's Christmas" by Michael Chandler tells about a Christmas Eve Chandler spent with his son, John and Zachary in Aspen. Incuded is a CD, of John singing "Silent Night".
You can get the book here for example.

Right on time for the Christmas season we are able to announce something especially exciting - the album "Merry Christmas, Aspen" has been rereleased on CD!
It was recorded by local musicians in Aspen 1984 and among other things includes four songs on which John is singing; two are only available on this very album, the other have different versions which are only available on this one.
Simply go to this site and click "Buy" ...
The Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura, CA, presents "Back Home Again; a John Denver Holiday Concert" from November 30, to December 24, 2006 . Further info is available here.
Our John Denver Weekend will take place on Oktober 27/28 in 2007 , again in Sinzig in the Freiwegheim.
"Special guest" at the John Denver Memorial Concerts in Aspen in October 2006 will be Kathy Mattea.
Tickets are available directly from the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen.
Hyperion/Miramax Books lately published "The Last Days of Dead Celebrities" by Mitchell Fink, and John Denver is one of the celebrities covered.
Mitchell Fink is an internationally recognized journalist and has had columns in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, People Magazine and the New York Daily News. He has appeared regularly on Fox News, CNN and CBS.
The book has 288 pages and is a hardback. The ISBN is 1401351980 and it is published by Miramax (May 17, 2006).
On July 28, 2006, Sony BMG Deutschland will release the title "John Denver - Love Songs und Balladen" in the serial "Nur das Beste". The songs are mainly taken from "Love Songs & Poetry".
The collectors among us can keep their eyes open, there are "new" CDs: the "Folk Singer "CD and the double "Collection" (as cube or Longbox), contains the albums RHYMES & REASONS / POEMS, PRAYERS & PROMISES / ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH
The MUSE Foundation announces the release of a new CD: "Flying Again - A Tribute to John Denver" with the Columbia Orchestra Featuring: Kenn Roberts, Mack Bailey, Jim Salestrom, Bill Danoff, Mollie Weaver, Chris Nole, Jim Horn, John Sommers, Ira Gitlin, and the entire orchestra.
Kerstin Siewek is planning her next concert with John Denver Songs for Oktober 27th, 2006 – as always at the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Realschule in Gelsenkirchen/Erle. Further details and driving directions can be found on her Website.
Lorenz Reichelt, or Lawrence Pripple (his stage name), is another German John Denver Fan, who keeps John's music alive by giving concerts. What I find remakable is the fact that Lorenz is "only" 16 years old!
We have some new pictures from our orchard. My, how the trees have grown!
On February 25th, 2006, another Windstar Chat with Ron Deutschendorf took place. A complete transcript can be found here .
Leon van der Meer from the Netherlands released a Tribute-CD "Leon van der Meer sings the hits of John Denver" – it came out very nice and includes the following songs: Back Home Again, Take Me Home, Country Roads, Rocky Mountain High, Annie's Song, Thank God I'm A Country Boy, Rhymes And Reasons, Follow Me, For Baby (For Bobby), Sunshine On My Shoulders, Grandma's Feather Bed, Calypso, Leaving On A Jet Plane, This Old Guitar and Sweet Surrender
Christopher Canyon's book "Sunshine On My Shoulders" has received several awards in the meantime – the National Parenting Publication Honours Award, the Benjamin Franklin Gold Award and the ABA Book Sense Selection.
The John Denver Memorial Concerts will take place in Aspen at the Wheeler Opera House on October 13th and 14th this year, the John Adams concert on October 15th. More events are planned for the week from October 11th to 16th – further details can be obtained from the site www.john-denver.org, then click on "Aspen in October".
In England, a new CD came out– it has the somewhat bizarre title "The Only John Denver Album You'll Ever Need"... Well, we all have a different opinion about this, don't we? Only ONE John Denver Album? Unthinkable... :-D
In the USA, a new CD was released as well – it is called "Love Songs".
On August 25th, 2006, a film with the title "Almost Heaven" was launched ---- it does not seem to have anything to do with John except for the title song (find further info here: ), but maybe some of you will be interested... ;-)
The soundtrack includes Country Roads in a Country and in a Reggae(!) version, so the song will appear like this in the film as well.
Kevin Stohl has been given the rights by Steve Gillette and Tom Campbell the writers of Darcy Farrow to write Four romance novels based on Darcy Farrow my first book Darcy Farrow “Remembrance” will be out summer 2006 as soon as he finds a publisher. Check out Kevin’s website.
The musical „Almost Heaven“ continues to be very successful and is, after a trip to California, now being played off Broadway in New York. Infos are available here.
The Live CD from Cedar Rapids 1987 which we announced further down, has unfortunately not been released, yet – but there is a CD with 6 Songs from this concert, which unfortunately is only available when you become a member with a TV station for 75$. Titel: Rocky Mountain High; Poems, Prayers And Promises; Rhymes & Reasons; Country Roads; Annie's Song (with one verse in Russian) and Matthew.
Our Denver Weekend will take place on September 23. and 24 in 2006, as always in the Freiwegheim in Sinzig.
Kris O'Connor's website reports that John's 1987 solo concert in Cedar Rapids will soon be releaed by BMG.

Also at the Wheeler Opera House, this time on October10, 2005, John Adams will do a concert with the titel "Rocky Mountain High: Celebrate John Denver with John Adams and Friends"

In 2005 again, Memorial Concerts for John will take place in Aspen statt - on October 7th, (Special guest is Mike Taylor, with whom John wrote "Rocky Mountain High" among others) and on October 8th. (Special guest is - in celebrtion of the 40st anniversary of John joining the trio - the Chad Mitchell Trio).
Tickets are available directly from the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen.

Organized by John Denvers Windstar Foundation, the New Choices for Your Future Symposium will take place in the Fall.
30. September - 1. Oktober 2005 - Snowmass,CO
Guest speakers:
Dr. Jane Goodall ... Jane Goodall Institute
Thomas Crum ... Aiki Works
Rodger Schlickeisen ... Defenders of Wildlife
George Sterzinger ... Renewable Energy Policy Project
Michael Reynolds ... Earthship Biotecture
Melissa Poe ... Kids F.A.C.E.
Further info is available at Windstar

In Australia, McDonald’s has been using „Annie’s Song“ for one of their advertisements.

In England, John's Autobiografie "Take Me Home" has been rereleased, this time in a paper back edition. It is the complete book, along with all the photos, just a little smaller.
You can order it for 10 engl. Pounds (incl. postage) directly from Bob.

The announced DVD "A Song's Best Friend – John Denver Remembered" is now on the market here in Europe. Jochen tells you more about it elsewhere in this newsletter.
Right now it is available f.e. from Amazon for 19,99 € .

in Japan the following albums we released "remastered", each of them with a bonus track:

Rhymes & Reasons (Bonus-Track: Rusty Green)
Poems, Prayers & Promises (Bonus-Track: No One)
Rocky Mountain High (Bonus Track: Season Suite- alternate take)
Back Home Again (Bonus-Track: Sweet Surrender - live)
Windsong (Bonus-Track: Spirit (Live-Version))
Spirit (Bonus-Track: Like a Sad Song)

It is planned to release these albums soon in Europe and the United States as well, most likely starting with “Rocky Mountain High” and “Back Home Again” in the first half of 2005.

"The Mitchell Trio - Alive" was released on CD! You can order it from here .

After a break of one year, Kerstin Siewek will do another concert with John Denver Songs in Gelsenkirchen on October 28. Further details (like directions to get there) can be found on her website.

On Sunday, March 3rd, GoldstarTV shoed a special about John. It will be released on DVD later this year as well.

John was inducted into the Country Hall of Fame Germany on January, 29 2005 in the course of the 13th Country Gala in Erfurt. The German American Country Music Federation (GACMF) was hosting this event. Roy Rivers, who was one of the performing artists (he sang “Thank God, I’m A Country Boy”) , accepted the award (photo on the left, with thanks to Roy) and will soon pass it on to John’s family. Finally, he sang “Take Me Home, Country Roads” to a standing ovation and describes this experience as very touching. The Gala was shown by the MDR on February 12th.

On Oktober 1 and 2, 2005, we will meet again for our annual Denver Weekend.
As the second book by Christopher Canyon, "Ancient Rhymes" was released.

Cherry Lane Music published a new great songbook with the title "Poems, Prayers and Promises - The Art And Soul of John Denver". It includes words and music to many familiar songs, photos of and by John, memories from family and friends and as a special surprise a CD with three previously unreleased live tracks. You can read more about the book here.

Another great tribute album - this time by Dan Monroe. It is called "Windsongs". You can learn more about it and find a possibility to order it on Dans site.

Here is a site on the web where you can download many of John's songs legally. As far as I could see, it costs 1.19 € per title -- you have to once register and then you can go ahead. I didn't try it - if you do, maybe you can report your experiences to us. There is a lot of other music as well - but here is the link directly to John.

This will be interesting especially for those of you who were in Aspen in the Fall - but maybe also for those who always wanted to once go there.... ;-))

Colorado Public Radio made a report about the events this October. You can listen to the broadcast on the web - just click here, then go down to "John Denver World Family Gathering", click again.
It can take a while until it is loaded, it's a longer report, about 25 minutes or so... ;-)

On October 2 and 3, 2004 we will meet again for our annual Denver Weekend.

Mardy Murie, for whom John wrote "A Song For All Lovers" died on October 19, 2003 at the age of 101 (!) years.If you would like to learn more about this fascinating lady and her work, you can go to her website.

The film about her, "Arctic Dance", also has its own website - here there are a few goodies, too, for us John Denver Fans - when you are on the page, go to "The Documentary", then to "See A Preview". Here you can watch a few scenes from the film, and at the veeeeeeery end, you can see a few seconds of Mardy und John, after he had sung "A Song For All Lovers" to her.
A click on "Mardy Murie" takes you to a page where you can see little photos on the left. These photos take you to the "Picture Viewer", where you can also find two photos of John ;-) Oh, yes, this link takes you to the referring site!

Guido Bos has released a CD with John Denver ballades, played on the piano. In case you are interested, you can order it directly from him. There you also find some sound samples.

Guido is a real master, and he played in Aspen and elsewhere several times with John Adams.

After a break of more than a year, on October 10th, 2003 at 8 p.m., there finally was a concert with John Denver songs, sung by Kerstin Siewek, again. You can get more detailed info here, (In German, sorry, but if you are interested, just drop Kerstin a line by email....) and directions to the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Realschule in Gelsenkirchen-Erle here.

On October 4th und 5th, 2003 we will meet again for our annual Denver Weekend.

The film "Take me Home - The John Denver Story" about John is available on DVD from amazon.de - here is the direct link. Price ist 15,99 Euro plus postage. Please note that this DVD is in region code 2 (Europe), so please make sure your player can play this format. Opinions about the film are rather different - just make up your own mind... ;-)

At amazon.com you can now order "Rocky Mountain Holiday" on video and DVD! Here is the link to the DVD. This one is in region code 1 (USA and Canada).

As you may know, John recorded the song "Perhaps Love" in Danmark together with Lene Siel - this morning, I visited the lady's website --- and believe it or not, I found a video showing John and Lene in the studio together, singing the song! Follow this link - then go down the songlist with the little arrows to the last song, and you will see "Video".

A book, lovingly illustrated by Christopher Canyon, about "Sunshine On My Shoulders" can be ordered from amazon.de - here is the referring link. This is the hard cover edition with CD (includes "Sunshine On My Shoulders" and "The Music Is You", sung by John) - the book is also available without CD and as paperback.

Two Mitchell Trio Alben with have been published on a CD - you can order it here. The CD includes "That's The Way It's Gonna Be" and "Violets Of Dawn". It costs $$ 18,95, you have to add postage.

Some of you may have heard about this guitar already – Taylor, the guitar trademark John mostly playes, release a guitar in memory of John. Here you can see some photos.

One source you can get it from is Windstar - if you order it there, the foundation will get part of the proceeds...

A tribute song for John is on the market in Germany - here you can hear a sample in mp3-format - with a heartfelt thank you to the singer , Thomas Rothfuss, for allowing us to introduce the title here. "Take me Home, John Denver" has been available as a CD Single since August 15th, 2002.

In the USA in April and in Germany in early Juli, another Live-Album from John was released - it is called "The Harbor Lights Concert" and includes two previously unreleased songs - the Country Classic "El Paso" and the John Denver composition "Kissing You Goodbye". You can get the album from here:

Country.de had a special portrait of John in January and February 2002.

For Country fans, a visit to this (German) page is always worthwhile...

Cherry Lane Music published a book in March 2002 with (as they say) all lyrics from John. Well, "all" lyrics is said a bit too much, but it is still a rather extensive compilation and should be part of any John Denver collection.

The book can be ordered from here:

On January 23, 2001, RCA - a lot of you will say FINALLY - released John's album "Autograph" on CD. Besides the songs from the LP, it will also include two bonus tracks, "Dance Little Jean" and "On The Wings Of An Eagle".

"An Evening With John Denver" is also available again as a double CD - and it also includes some bonus tracks now.

And yet another album - the often announced and long awaited live album "Sing Australia" was, now finally released on July 2nd, 2001. For further info, please follow this link. (sorry, it doesn't always work. You can also get info from us.)

Right in time for Christmas season, we John Denver Fans were in for a special treat in 2001 - a live Christmas album was just released. It was unfortunately only published in the USA, is called "Christmas In Concert" and it is soooo good!!!! About this also, you can get further info from us. If you would like to order it, you can do this here - probably when Christmas time comes around:

John's guitar player Pete Huttlinger released a John Denver guitar style instructional video - here you can learn how to play 7 of John's song "original" style. Further info can be obtained here.

"Country Roads" was one of THE party hits in Summer 2001 in a House version. (By the way exactly 30 years after John was in the charts with this song!)

More infos are available directly from the Hermes House Band, who re-recorded the song.

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