Musical interlude
John Denver is pretty cheesy. I concede that. But I'm not at all embarrassed to admit one of his songs comes out of my C.F. Martin almost every night.

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" was the first song I taught myself how to play on the guitar. I was 10 or 11 at the time, trying to play a cheap off-brand acoustic that my dad had borrowed from his sister, or something. You could drive a truck under the strings on the fretboard. It damn near took a torque wrench to push the strings down enough to make a note.

I, of course, quickly advanced past John Denver, and for many, many years wouldn't be caught dead playing one of his songs. But, as a gag, and because I knew it would amuse Cousin Otis, I broke out in "Country Roads" during our late-night guitar-fest last month. He caught on quickly; he had heard it sung in gawdawful harmony among our uncles at as many family gatherings as had I.

I found myself comforted by the familiar simplicity of the melody, the chord progression and the lyrics:

G
Almost heaven
Em
West Virginia
D
Blue Ridge Mountains
C                      G
Shenandoah Ri-ver

The words just came out, despite the fact that I probably haven't heard the song all the way through since about 1983. And normally, you can't take a song you haven't heard in 20 years across a bridge, but there I went:

G (walk down to Em)
Em             D
I hear her voice
G
In the morning hour, she calls me
C          G                      D
Radio reminds me of my home far away
Em                        Am                C
And driving down the road, I get a feeling
           G                                 D
That I should have been home yesterday

Yesterday

You can strum it in a very simple down-down-up-and-down pattern, or you can finger-pick the chords (a style that seems particularly suited to the Martin I'm playing.)

Yes, it's cheesy as hell. And no, I probably wouldn't play that song around people among whom I'm not totally comfortable. I certainly wouldn't admit to having John Denver in my repetoire.

But sometimes it's good to luxuriate in the familiar.