John Denver

As John Denver, the former John Henry Deutschendorf was a ubiquitous icon of the 1970s. Although he had been a musician and songwriter in the 1960s, penning "Leaving on a Jet Plane" for Peter, Paul & Mary, Denver hit his stride in the '70s with earnest folk songs celebrating the glories of the natural world and life's simple pleasures. Although he was sometimes savaged by critics for his overarching earnestness, his songs speak for themselves, and his records still sell in large numbers. In the wake of his premature death in a 1997 plane crash, a number of contemporary artists have recorded Denver's songs, without any hint of irony.

• America (Rock)
• Cat Stevens
• Dan Fogelberg
• Don McLean
• Gene Clark
• Harry Chapin
• J. D. Souther
• Jackson Browne
• James Taylor (Popular)
• John Sebastian (Pop)
• Jonathan Edwards (Folk)
• Neil Young
• Paul Simon
• Rick Nelson
• Roger McGuinn

• Bob Dylan
• Dolly Parton
• Eric Andersen
• Fred Neil
• Gordon Lightfoot
• Jacques Brel
• Nick Drake
• Pete Seeger
• Peter, Paul & Mary
• Simon & Garfunkel
• The Byrds
• The Lovin' Spoonful
• Tom Paxton

• Dave Elder
• David Roth
• Jewel (Pop)
• Mojave 3
• Red House Painters
• The Innocence Mission

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