Celebrate John Denver’s legacy with Chris Collins and Boulder Canyon in Aspen on Saturday

It’s officially the week that celebrates one of Aspen’s most famous residents: John Denver.

One of the biggest international stars of the 1970s, Denver had the unique ability to put into words and music the celebration of the simple pleasures of life and the beauty of nature, bringing the audience along with him for the ride.

The year 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of his first album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts, “Back Home Again” — one of his most iconic albums.

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On Saturday, Chris Collins and Boulder Canyon return to Aspen to pay tribute to him with “Back Home Again,” a concert that will celebrate this album, with performances of “Annie’s Song,” “Matthew,” “Thank God, I’m A Country Boy,” “This Old Guitar,” as well as Denver’s other famous hits: “Rocky Mountain High,” “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and many others.

“This must be going on my 21st year of coming to Aspen for the John Denver celebrations,” Collins said. “The demand for John Denver is amazing. There’s something really universal about the truth of his music and the way he talked about life that still resonates.”

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Collins, who is from the countryside of Wisconsin, discovered Denver in his early 20s when he started learning how to play guitar. A fan of musicians Jim Croce and James Taylor, he was struck by Denver’s music primarily because of how his songs are about nature and the human condition.

“I’ve always loved nature, so it was an instant connection for me to hear him using metaphors about nature to express the way he felt about people and society,” Collins explained. “He had a unique voice compared to most of the pop music back in the ’70s. It resonated with me. I love the timbre and the tone of his voice, and mine wasn’t dissimilar. So singing his songs fell naturally into my lap.”

It’s hard for him to pick a favorite song to play of Denver’s, but he said he has two that he enjoys for different reasons.

“I love to play ‘Rocky Mountain High’ because I love that people think of it as John Denver’s anthem. It’s fun to play. It’s fun to sing. It’s complicated,” he said. “But my personal favorite happens to be ‘Poems, Prayers, and Promises.’ That is a song that says everything that I would like to say about life. The most important things are caring about people and loving someone. And for me, that was what hooked me into John Denver.”

This will be Collins and Boulder Canyon’s seventh year playing a tribute concert for John Denver Celebration Week in Aspen, an annual tradition that seems to get more popular each year. This year, due to renovations being done on the Wheeler Opera House, the show will be held at Aspen District Theatre.

And though the band plays up to 60 Denver tribute shows a year across the country, he understands the special connection that Denver had with Aspen and the people here, even 27 years after his passing.

“The people that live in Aspen and have lived there for a while have a deeper personal connection because many of them stumbled upon John or knew him and saw him live,” he said. “These people are deeply in love with John’s music, and they know so much about his life already that it sort of changes the way I present the show because there are not many things you can surprise them with anymore. So when we do the show, we don’t do an imitation act. It is a true tribute.”

 

Sarah Girgis is the Arts and Entertainment Editor for The Aspen Times. She can be reached at 970-429-9151 or sgirgis@aspentimes.com.