Discover the story of the song > Take Me Home Country Roads – John Denver

- The song was written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver about West Virginia.
- It was released as a single performed by Denver on April 12, 1971, reaching number two on the Billboard US Hot 100 singles chart for the week ending August 28, 1971.
- The song became one of John Denver's most popular songs.
- It is considered a West Virginia icon.
In March 2014, it became one of the four official state anthems of West Virginia.
- The inspiration for the title line came as Nivert and Danoff, who were married, were driving down Clopper Road in Montgomery County, Maryland, on their way to a Nivert family reunion in Gaithersburg.
For Danoff, the bridge's "(t)he radio reminds me of my home far away" lyrics are quintessentially West Virginian, an allusion to his time listening to Saturday Night Jamboree, broadcast from Wheeling, West Virginia, on WWVA at his home in Springfield, Massachusetts, during his childhood in the 1950s.
Mr. Danoff was also able to draw on other associations with West Virginia. He befriended actor Chris Sarandon as well as a group of hippies in a West Virginia commune who sat in the front rows of the small clubs his bands played in.