DC-Penned ‘Country Roads’ Among Latest National Registry Entries

WASHINGTON — “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” a song penned in a basement apartment in Georgetown in the wee hours of a December night in 1970, and later made famous by John Denver, was named Wednesday to the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.

“The National Recording Registry preserves our history through recorded sound and reflects our nation’s diverse culture,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden in a statement announcing this year’s inductees.

“The national library is proud to help ensure these recordings are preserved for generations to come,” she said. 

Each year since 2002 the library’s National Recording Preservation Board and members of the public have nominated recordings to the National Recording Registry. 

The 25 additions in the 2023 class span more than a century, dating from 1908 to 2012, but represent just a minuscule portion of the library’s vast recorded sound collection of nearly 4 million items.

They bring the total number of titles in the registry to 625.

Most of the new entries are exceedingly well-known and somewhat inescapable. 

“All I Want for Christmas is You,” by Mariah Carey, “Margaritaville,” by Jimmy Buffet, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” by Eurythmics, “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin and “Imagine” by John Lennon all made the list.

Among the more obscure records are selections by Cuarteto Coculense, representing the first recordings of Mariachi music from 1908 and 1909, and an early recording of Handy’s Memphis Blues Band performing “St. Louis Blues,” from 1922.

This year’s list even includes the first sounds of a video game to join the registry with the Super Mario Bros. theme.

Of all the new entries, however, none hits closer to home than “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” 

Bill Danoff and his then-wife Taffy Nivert Danoff, were struggling singers and songwriters living in Washington, D.C., in the late 1960s.

When they couldn’t scrounge up a gig at a modest venue like the Emergency Club on M Street, they played mostly house parties. 

To earn extra money, Bill Danoff worked at the Cellar Door, at 34th and M streets NW, first as a doorman, and later, as the club’s lighting and sound tech.

It was through his connection with the Cellar Door that Danoff came to know John Denver, then an equally struggling singer who began appearing at the club as a member of the Chad Mitchell Trio.

By 1970, Denver was a solo act and he’d recorded one of Danoff’s songs, “I Guess He’d Rather Be In Colorado.” 

But despite the success Peter, Paul and Mary had had with Denver’s “Leaving On a Jet Plane,” the singer hadn’t managed to break out of the clubs and reach wider acclaim.

That’s how Denver came to be booked at the Cellar Door for a week of shows just before New Year’s 1970, and how the Danoffs’ new act, now billed as Fat City, came to be his opening act.

The night of the first show, Denver mentioned he was looking for material for his next album, which would be his fourth for RCA Records and could be his last if it didn’t sell.

At the time, Danoff had a few unfinished songs he’d been working on, including a very sketchy version of “Take Me Home.” At the time, the songwriter couldn’t decide what state the character in the song wanted to get home to … for a while, it was even Massachusetts … and the “country road” was actually “Clopper Road,” in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Denver, the Danoffs and a few invited friends made plans to meet in the couple’s basement apartment on Q Street after the fourth night at the Cellar Door, but on the night of the get-together, Denver initially failed to show.

He’d been in a car accident, the Danoffs soon learned, and was in the emergency room of George Washington University Hospital.

Though Denver was battered — he’d actually broken his thumb, rendering him temporarily unable to play guitar — he went to the Danoffs’ home as soon as he was discharged.

Initially, Danoff declined to play the primordial version for Denver, deeming it unfinished — and probably a little too country — to interest his fellow singer-songwriter. But Denver heard something in the song and insisted they finish it together.

The next night, Dec. 30, 1970, Denver waited until his final encore at the Cellar Door to invite the Danoffs onstage. Together they performed the finished version of what was now “Take Me Home, Country Roads” for the first time, the lyrics taped to Denver’s microphone stand.

When they were finished, eyewitnesses later said, the capacity crowd in the tiny club stood and gave the performers a standing ovation.

Thanks to “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” which Denver recorded a week later, his next album “Poems, Prayers & Promises” was the breakthrough recording he’d been waiting for, and the song itself became the No. 2 selling recording in the country, according to Billboard.

Denver would remain a significant recording artist and performer for the rest of his life, and the Danoffs would have a second act, going on to become half of the Grammy-winning Starland Vocal Band of “Afternoon Delight” fame.

As for the National Recording Registry, Hayden said, “We welcome the public’s input on what songs, speeches, podcasts or recorded sounds we should preserve next. 

“We received more than 1,100 public nominations this year for recordings to add to the registry,” she added.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue