The first line of John Denver's song “Take Me Home, Country Roads” calls West Virginia “Almost Heaven,” and when you're up in the mountains, that description can feel pretty accurate.
But these winding country roads were immortalized by someone who had never driven them.
Correspondent Conor Knighton asked, “Had you ever been to West Virginia before you wrote the song?”
“No,” said Bill Danoff. “Well, in my dreams!”
Danoff, along with his then-girlfriend and bandmate Taffy Nivert, played a rough draft of “Country Roads” for their pal John Denver after a gig one night in Washington, D.C.
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