"Welcome to the '70's!"

This afternoon took me back in time and made me almost feel like I was twenty years old again.  Music, more than anything, has always been a time machine for me.  My town has a Community Concert Association which brings musical acts to perform on stage at our local arts building.  Today we attended a performance which was the first of this year's concert series.  Jim Curry, a John Denver tribute artist, was the performer.  This is the program cover from today's concert.  When the usher handed me this program, he said, "Welcome to the '70's" and then gave me a big grin.

I have to tell you when I was young, I was a big fan of John Denver's music.  I saw him in concert on four different occasions, watched his TV specials, had all of his records, and knew the words to all of his songs.  So when I heard that the concert association was bringing a John Denver tribute artist to town, I was very skeptical that he could do justice to Denver's music.  However, I was pleasantly surprised at today's concert.  


Jim Curry, who both looks and sounds the part of John Denver, gave a wonderful performance of Denver's songs.  He, of course, didn't sound exactly like John Denver, but he really did do an amazing job.  He was also personable and friendly and frequently invited us in the audience to sing along with him, which we did.  This is a picture I took from today's concert.  Curry's wife is to the right with the reddish-brown hair.  She played guitar and mandolin and sang along with him.

I was glad that we went to the concert.  Curry and his band played many favorites including, "Rocky Mountain High," "Annie's Song," "Thank God, I'm a Country Boy," "Take Me Home Country Roads,"  "Calypso," "Perhaps Love," and many others.  One of the songs Curry sang today that he did an especially good job with was "Leaving on a Jet Plane."  Denver sang and wrote that song, but it originally became popular when it was sung by Peter, Paul, and Mary.


Although this video isn't from the performance today, here is Jim Curry and company singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane" to give you an idea of how similar his voice is to John Denver's voice.

It was fun to hear the music that was so much a part of my youth this afternoon.  It's nice to know too that Curry helps to keep John Denver's music alive.