Rocky Mountain High spectacular evening
Every tribute concert should be like this one.
With no disrespect to tribute artists — some of them are amazing (Marty Edwards, Adam Fitzpatrick) — an awesome tribute is when skilled musicians perform the songs of an established artist without trying to sound like the original ... and certainly not trying to look and dress like the artist. A great tribute night is not limited to the hit singles — it’s nice to hear some B sides. When a tribute dresses like the artist, it often distracts from the music.
Rocky Mountain High, an Evening of John Denver is the way a tribute should be done. It opened a three-night stand, Thursday at the Kelowna Community Theatre.
A labour of love for more than a year of Kelowna musician Rick Worrall, the evening offered two sets of songs popularized by Denver, backed by members of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, plus a full country band.
Beginning with the orchestra playing The Eagle and the Hawk (great choice) and ending with an ensemble performance of Annie’s Song (another great choice), Worrall created a new appreciation for Denver, perhaps the most underrated songwriter to come out of the 1970s.
Denver had an incredible string of crossover hits between 1971 and 1975, appealing to a wide demographic of folk, pop and country fans. He was cheesy and his career stalled due to overexposure. Denver was everywhere — hosting the Grammys, on talk shows, recording with The Muppets and co-starring with George Burns in Oh God. Denver was also far from an overnight sensation, his first few albums didn’t sell and included covers by the likes of James Taylor and The Beatles.
Perhaps Denver’s biggest snubbing was when he was turned down for participation in We Are the World, even though he was a long-time supporter of global humanitarian causes. (Instead musical superstars including Tito Jackson, John Oates and Dan Aykroyd were invited.)
Back to the concert. Worrall introduced audiences to some excellent tracks that never hit the top 40, but are still great songs.
Worrall generously gave Denver’s best song to vocalist Delphine Litke to perform — Leaving on a Jet Plane, which Denver first recorded but was a hit for Peter, Paul and Mary. It’s still a tear jerker, 40 years later.
Other highlights were his band — Gary Smyth, Chris Stevens, Scott Grant, Brian McMahon, Neville Bowman and Susan Aylard — belting out 1983’s Wild Montana Skies.
Worrall, who sang lead on most of the numbers, was joined for duets by soprano Mia Harris of Penticton (Fly Away), and tenor Justin Moore from Vernon (Perhaps Love, a minor comeback for Denver which introduced North Americans to Placido Domingo.)
Conducting the 42 members of the OSO was seven-time Emmy winner Lee Holdridge, who worked with Denver and Domingo, among others. The orchestrations were fabulous, none better than on Calypso, the closing song before intermission.
It was also brave to honour Denver, he’s seldom mentioned in the same sentence as members of The Highwaymen. But it was refreshing. How many Beatles cover bands have you seen? Elvis Presley? Roy Orbison? This was the first John Denver tribute show I’ve ever seen advertised.
To summarize, this show in one word — superb.
The final night will be tonight at the Vernon Centre for The Performing Arts. Purchase tickets at: tickets.ticketseller.ca.