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| Singing Nature's Song |
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A song, it is said, can lift the heaviest heart and put a sparkle in the
saddest eye. And, as John Denver showed during a remarkable life cut short
by an untimely accident, a song can also be one of nature's best friends.
NATURE presents an intimate portrait of the life and work of this popular
singer-songwriter, who used his music and his prominence to work for the
protection of some of Earth's most extraordinary wildlife and wild places.
John Denver in the wilderness he loved. |
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JOHN DENVER: LET THIS BE A VOICE takes viewers down country roads and
up to high rocky mountains. Along the way, it offers a wealth of spectacular
side trips, from the roaring rapids of the Colorado River and the serene
lakes of back-country Alaska to a golden eagle's nest high on an Idaho
cliff and a herd of wild mustangs on a Wyoming prairie.
The blond, bespectacled folk singer with the pleasing tenor voice first
came to public attention in the 1960s as a member of the Chad Mitchell
Trio. But while his guitar picking was popular, it was Denver's songwriting
that vaulted him to fame. In 1967, his "Leaving On a Jet Plane"
became an international hit for the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Soon,
he was singing his own hits, from the country anthem "Take Me Home,
Country Roads," to his ode to Colorado's high country, "Rocky
Mountain High."
As time passed, however, Denver sought to use his fame to promote protection
of the places he knew and loved -- and that had served as the inspiration
for much of his music. "My greatest inspiration has always been the
out-of-doors," he told fans during a 1995 chat on America Online.
"The out-of-doors was my first and truest best friend. It was the
desert in Arizona when I was in grade school. Later on, it was the woods
around Montgomery, Alabama. Then, it was the plains or the wheat fields
when I worked on wheat harvests. It was the forest and the lumber camp
that I worked in when I was in college. Nature has always been my best
friend. My songs are full of images from nature."
One of the first major conservation efforts to gain Denver's support was
the 1970s campaign to preserve more than 100 million acres of wild public
land in Alaska. Denver was a tireless spokesman for the effort, even making
a television documentary that highlighted the dramatic scenery and abundant
wildlife of America's final frontier. In 1980, he joined millions of other
Americans in celebrating Congress's approval of the Alaska National Interest
Lands Conservation Act, which set up dozens of new national parks, wildlife
refuges, and wilderness areas. And he was one of the dignitaries invited
to stand in the Oval Office of the White House while President Jimmy Carter
signed the bill into law.
"I experienced one of the most fulfilling days of my life when I
stood with President Carter... as [he] signed the Alaska Land Conservation
Act into law," Denver wrote in 1995. "The voice of the American
people found harmony with that of the President and the Congress. The
chorus that was raised said we will put aside this very special part of
our heritage, hopefully forever, but at the very least until a greater
need, even a national emergency, requires us to extract [the oil and gas
that may be] hidden beneath its surface."
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Singing Nature's Song
Explore Denver's life and work
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Fly Like An Eagle
See raptors in flight in Idaho
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River Roll On
Travel down the raging Colorado River
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Resources
Web links and books related to the program
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