Jim wasn't the only artist RCA didn't appreciate!...
Posted by Mike Slater on March 6, 2015, 11:49 pm
Just saw a new documentary on John Denver on public TV tonight, and in it, his manager Jerry Weintraub mentioned that after all the millions that John Denver made for RCA, they suddenly dropped him from the label a few years before he died. Weintraub said that the label was always hiring new management that was so young, they didn't care about him or his music- most of which was probably released before they were born! It's no wonder that Jim was treated much the same way!
Re: Jim wasn't the only artist RCA didn't appreciate!...
John Denver was a very unique and talented artist. I had heard it said he was a lousy guitarist, but when I saw him in concert he proved that to be untrue. He had 11 different guitars on stage with him and when his band took a break, he remained to entertain an arena filled with people. Hs guitar playing was VERY impressive.
Before the show began, a man sitting in front of me was grumbling to his wife about her insistence they attend John's concert, but the minute Mr. Denver began performing, the guy in front of me was singing along, clapping his hands, cheering, jumping up and down, and thoroughly happy to be there!
That's how good John Denver was! He completely won over a skeptic and converted him into a fan.
I had my own close encounter with John Denver years ago when I was part of the press contingent in Florida that covered a Space Shuttle launch. The press is allowed to get much closer than the general public. There were a million spectators estimated to be in the area at the time, and it was a 7 a.m. launch. I had arrived in the afternoon the day before, amidst high security checkpoints that included military personnel armed with machine guns! We had to sign waivers stating that if we were killed, our families could not sue the government. I participated in a press conference with the astronauts, that was televised live around the world, during which I got to ask a question and was subsequently interviewed by foreign press about what Americans thought about the space program. We were told to wear long sleeve shirts because of the spray of sparks, but we still felt them on our faces. After the launch, when I returned to my car, it was covered with a strange kind of colored soot, that permanently pitted the finish on my car! (I wasn't too happy about that as I was driving my first Cadillac).
Anyway, on the morning of the launch, it was the most awesome spectacle I had ever witnessed. The roar of the fire shooting out of the bottom of this rocket as it took off was other-worldly and you could feel the concussion on your chest. Suddenly, as the shuttle was climbing, the wind shifted, and there was an announcement over the public address system for members of the press to take cover! This caused a stampede of people running toward me, and we all ran for cover in the press building to escape the acrid smoke that was quickly blowing in our direction.
Well, John Denver was standing somewhere in front of me, and -- true to form -- when the shuttle lifted off the launch pad, he yelled "FAR OUT!" Then he turned around to run and almost collided with me. We both side-stepped each other and laughed about it.
Years later I got the idea I wanted to do an interview with John Denver for my magazine. You may know that he was seriously considered on the short list of civilians who would be allowed to fly on a shuttle mission. John, despite how his life ended tragically in a plane crash, was a skilled pilot, even certified to fly jets.
Anyway, I made contact with his reps and a time was set up to interview him on the phone. (FYI, during the time Julie was in college in Minnesota, she knew John's girlfriend, who then became his first wife, Annie).
Just 3 days before I was scheduled to interview him, I was shocked late one night to read that a plane registered to John Denver was reported down, and they were trying to locate the singer to confirm that he was safe. But I had already had a terrible premonition about him earlier that day (!) which I shared with my wife and her sister, who was visiting. I told them I had the strong feeling that John Denver had been killed. But there had not been anything on the news about it at that time!
Sad to say, my premonition later turned out to be true.
I have been a member of his Rocky Mountain John Denver fan club for years, and admire him as one of the greatest talents America has ever produced. Not only was he an incredible song writer with a poet's soul, he was a committed environmentalist long before it became fashionable, and a genuinely nice guy. I have devoured the YouTube videos on him and would recommend to you a clip of him performing on Ralph Emery's "Nashville Now" show -- "A Country Girl In Paris." The strings on that live performance are just so beautiful and exciting to watch as well as listen to them play. (This is why I am so addicted to using Nashville strings on my overdubs, such as the 8 CD "The Great Jim Reeves" set).
Also pay attention to the song lyrics, that tell a story with such profundity but with also with such grace. John wrote both the words and the melody and I think it's a quintessential John Denver composition and performance. He was SO superb, and notice how he sang so effortlessly and joyfully, and used falsetto to hit those high notes for which he was famous.
There was nobody else like him and the gift of music he gave to the world is of immeasurable value. The fact he was disowned by his record label, RCA, demonstrates again the egregious stupidity of the people at the top of the big labels.
John's fans have never gotten over his loss, just like the fans of Karen Carpenter have never recovered from her premature death at such a young age. And it goes without saying Jim Reeves' fans are still lamenting his departure from this world. Why is it the greats have to die so young and meanwhile, the no-talent phonies are still reaping the hundreds of millions of dollars or living to a ripe old age despite no discernible talent beyond self promotion?
Click the link below to enjoy John's splendid singing on the Nashville TV show (which, strangely, has been posted by someone overseas with subtitles).
Here's John Denver himself explaining how he came to write the song. It was apparently based on a real life experience involving a girl named Cassie (does that ring a bell with any of you?), whom he had taken to Paris. After he wrote the song, she accompanied him back to France to film the music video, which you also get to see by clicking the link below... It makes it all the more poignant.
A nice tribute to John Denver, Larry. I had no idea you were a big fan of his. John was always another one of my very favorites, and yet another that was taken from us way too early in a plane crash. He was only 53. You're very fortunate that you got to meet him in person! I can't imagine how a story ever got started that John was a lousy guitar player because he was a GREAT one! I was lucky enough to see him in concert twice at the Nassau Coliseum here on Long Island. Both shows were outstanding! It really is terrible how RCA has treated some of their greatest artists so unfairly--with the exception of Elvis, of course! Elvis made them so much money, they weren't about to let him go! Of course, Jim Reeves and John Denver made them quite a lot of money too, but I'm sure, but nearly as much as Elvis. Of course, that doesn't mean they shouldn't have been treated with any less appreciation because they were two of the biggest selling stars on the music scene in their day. For those who are fans of John Denver, you should check out the new PBS special, "John Denver-Country Boy". It gives a lot of insight into the man, and his life and music.
Re: Jim wasn't the only artist RCA didn't appreciate!...
Next to Jim Reeves, John Denver might be my second favorite singer. He was the favorite of my girlfriend in college. We listened to his records a lot back in the seventies. I think he was a great singer, and probably an even greater songwriter. I got to attend a concert he did in Asheville, NC in the early 80's. "Country Girl in Paris" is a nice song. I had never heard it, but I really enjoyed the videos. Some excellent musicians in that Nashville version. Thanks Larry.
Re: Jim wasn't the only artist RCA didn't appreciate!...
John Denver recorded one of my most detested songs - "Thank God I'm A Country Boy." Oh how I dislike that song!
Hank Snow is another artist RCA treated rather shabbily toward the end of his recording career. They let him go from the label I think in his 46th or 47th year with the label. If he wasn't selling fine, don't record any more records, but at least they should have left him officially on the label to celebrate 50 years. Of course, they hadn't been giving much push to the last records he recorded for them.
Re: Jim wasn't the only artist RCA didn't appreciate!...
You may know that the famed cylindrical tower that Capital Records erected some years ago for their offices and state of the art studio, was nicknamed "the tower that Nat Cole built." It's because he made the label so much money off the sale of his records.
Therefore, Nat was said to be rather shocked and infuriated by his inability to get people to come on the line when he'd call the label; they'd leave him dangling on hold while he listened to recorded promos for all the Capital artists EXCEPT HIM.
Re: Jim wasn't the only artist RCA didn't appreciate!...
Cole should have put his wife Maria on the line - ha! I doubt she would have stood for that. I saw an interview with her where she stated Nat Cole would just go along with things and not make waves.
Re: Jim wasn't the only artist RCA didn't appreciate!...
It seems that RCA isn't the only record company that treated their big money making artists so badly. Nat Cole certainly deserved a lot more respect from Capital Records, if that was the way they treated him. Nat was much like Elvis. He went along with everything too, and never wanted to make waves. There was only one time that Elvis went against Colonel Parker's wishes. When Elvis was signed to do his first TV special in 1968, Parker wanted him to do nothing but Christmas songs in the show. Elvis refused, and instead, he returned to his roots and gave some of the greatest performances of his life in this special, which became his big comeback after years of making movies and being absent from doing live concerts.
Re: Jim wasn't the only artist RCA didn't appreciate!...
If you haven't done so already, you should check out the Analouge Productions reissue of Nat King Cole Story on SACD and other AP SACD reissues of NKC. These were mastered by Steve Hoffman from the original 3-track tapes and the sound quality is nothing short of mind-blowing!! Of course, the better the system, the better you're going to hear it.