By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
RICK Price has had his own (tambourine) mountains to climb but he has taken on an equally vertically challenging task in a salute to country immortal John Denver.
“There’s not many who don’t know a Denver song,” Price observed on the line from Nashville where he has been based for some years.
Price’s narrative concert tells the John Denver story while paying tribute to his music, covering 20 of Denver’s memorable songs.
Price is backed by the Colorado Quarter, an “incredible” group of Aussie musos providing much of the soundtrack as the story unfolds through song and story-telling.
Denver’s private life belied his public persona as a fresh-faced country boy, with the show revealing how his pristine public image was far removed from his troubled personal life.
“It’s a nice break away from my own music. This is completely different but I have to emphasise it’s not an impersonation of John – I’m not putting on a blonde wig and glasses,” Price laughed.
“But it is a salute to his music. He wrote so many timeless classics.
“When I was a kid he was on radio. He was part of the fabric of my musical world – even my grandmother was a big fan.
“When I was learning the material for the show I realised why this guy had been so successful. He had such a prolific period where he wrote a lot of music.
“His melodies are very strong, which is why they have stood the test of time, and his lyrics had a powerful message that struck a chord with everyone.”
Price also works on his own albums as well as writing and producing for other artists.
A number of Australian artists had sought him out in Nashville to help with albums, he said.
“If I have a connection with the songs or I have written the songs for that artist, if the artist has great songs and is a great singer, then the rest is just chopping wood, really.
“I’m there as a co-writer to help them get their ideas out. I don’t aim to write from my own perspective but get inside the head of the artist to help them get their material out as they hear it in their head.”
Price will perform in Take Me Home Country Roads – The John Denver Story at Geelong Performing Arts Centre on 30 May.
