Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver
Various Artists
Badman
Although not exactly my proverbial cup of tea, this is an interesting disc. The artists on it include Bonnie Prince Billy (Will Oldham of Palace/Palace Brothers), the Innocence Mission, Tarnation, Low, Red House Painters, and the Sunshine Club (amongst a few others). The artists on this album provide respectful and low key interpretations of John Denver’s better known songs as a benefit for a Northern Californian pet charity, Pets-In-Need.
Listening to this album, I realized that these songs really aren’t that bad. Although I assume most of our readers would withdraw in disgust if approached with a John Denver album, as these artists demonstrate, his songs were earnest and well-written. This is especially the case if you consider the second track, “Follow Me Down,” interpreted by the Innocence Mission. Listening to this track gave me goosebumps, it’s so beautiful. Anyway, this is all the more profound if you consider some of the other crap that was being circulated on the radio when John Denver wrote these songs.
Badman Recording, 1388 Haight, No. 211, San Francisco, CA 94117; http://www.badmanrecordingco.com
