Edward Murphy, from Gilbert, at the Crossroads Mall speaks about John Denver’s classic “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” The song is 45 years old.
BECKLEY, W.Va. — John Denver’s “Country Roads,” an ode to West Virginia, hit the airways 45 years ago this week and continues to pump pride into a state besieged by low self-esteem.
Even today, “Country Roads” is as much part of modern West Virginia’s zeitgeist as coal, moonshine and Mountaineer football.
The song is in West Virginians’ DNA, bringing powerful emotions whether listening locally or exiled in some other state.
Despite being geographically wrong, the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River are in Virginia, the song still stirs powerful emotions of a home, a home far way, a place of belonging.
“There are few states that have the natural beauty…
