Rocky Mountain High

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH heightened John Denver's profile as one of the key folk singers of the 1970s. The record became the artist's first to hit the Top 10 on the strength of its expansive, memorable title track and an overall sound distinguished by a more fully fleshed band, including backing vocals, fiddle, and lap steel. As opposed to ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH's predecessor POEM, PRAYERS AND PROMISES, there is some percussion here as well.
The album is suffused, in lyrical content and its earthy, folky sound, with a feel for open, outdoor spaces (which reflected the singer's growing environmental activism). Even Denver's choices of cover songs, which includes the Beatles' "Mother Nature's Son" and John Prine's "Paradise," feature pastoral imagery, as do his originals "For Baby (For Bobbie)" and the lovely, melancholic "Goodbye Again." The album's closing suite takes the listener on a musical journey from "Summer" to "Spring," and puts a cap on this '70s folk classic.