Music Album Review: The Essential John Denver
© 2007 Sony BMG/Legacy Records On February 27, 2007, Sony BMG's imprint Legacy released The Essential John Denver, a two-CD compilation album that rounds up 36 of the late singer/actor/songwriter John Denver's best-known songs. Like all of the albums in Sony's Essentials series, it contains all of Denver's "greatest hits," including Take Me Home, Country Roads (which is now one of West Virginia's four official state songs); Leaving on a Jet Plane; Sunshine on My Shoulders; Annie's Song; Rhymes and Reasons; Rocky Mountain High (Colorado's state song); Calypso; Thank God I'm a Country Boy; Goodbye Again; and Is it Love? The Artist John Denver (real name, Henry John Deustchendorf Jr.) was an "Air Force brat" who started his musical career in 1963 after dropping out of the Texas School of Engineering and entering the folk music scene in Los Angeles. He had learned how to sing in the Tucson (Arizona) Boys' Chorus while h...