Maps of Music

It's About Time (1983)

Where the lyrics of It's About Time take you, and where it was really made.

The album's best-known honor went to one of its songs, "Wild Montana Skies", which a Western writers' group placed among the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

Key places

Where It's About Time was recorded (1983)

Recording site Criteria Studios — The album was recorded at Criteria Recording Studios in Miami before its release in November 1983. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• It's About Time: seventeenth studio album by American singer-songwriter John Denver
• Recorded at Criteria Recording Studios in Miami
• Released in November 1983
• All tracks composed by John Denver, except where indicated
• Eleven tracks in total on the track listing, with one track not featured on the cassette version or the original LP
• Title track credited to Denver and Glen D. Hardin
• "Flight (The Higher We Fly)" adapted from a poem by John Gillespie Magee Jr.
• Album carries a dedication from Denver to the memory of his father, Lt. Col. (Ret.) H.J. "Dutch" Deutschendorf

Background

• Album featured several notable supporting vocalists
• Guest vocalists included Patti Austin, Rita Marley (and The Wailers), and Emmylou Harris
• Glen Hardin served as a musician on the album, playing piano, Rhodes and B-3
• James Burton played lead guitars, electric and acoustic
• Jim Horn played saxophone, flute and recorder
• Muscle Shoals Horns section added on the album

Recording

• Roger Nichols credited as recording and mixing engineer
• John Slywka and Patrice Carroll-Levinsohn credited as assistant engineers
• Lee Holdridge credited for strings
• "World Game" features The Wailers, with Rita Marley and Marcia Griffiths of The I Threes

Cover

• Cover details not given in the source

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. on December 31, 1943, in Roswell, New Mexico; took the name John Denver on the advice of Randy Sparks, founder of the New Christy Minstrels.
• Attended Texas Tech University and sang in the folk group "The Alpine Trio" before dropping out in 1963 and moving to Los Angeles.
• Joined The Chad Mitchell Trio in 1965, replacing Chad Mitchell; the trio later became "Denver, Boise, and Johnson".

Members

• Solo artist; worked closely with producer Milt Okun early on and later with manager Jerry Weintraub.
• Collaborated with friends Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, who later formed the Starland Vocal Band.

Career

• Left the trio in 1969 for a solo career; first album Rhymes & Reasons on RCA Records.
• "Leaving on a Jet Plane" became a number one hit for Peter, Paul and Mary.
• Breakthrough with Poems, Prayers & Promises (1971) and "Take Me Home, Country Roads", which reached number 2 on the Billboard charts.
• Reached number 1 with "Sunshine on My Shoulders", "Annie's Song", "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and "I'm Sorry" in 1974–1975.
• Named Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year in 1975.
• Starred in the 1977 film Oh, God! with George Burns.
• Co-founded The Hunger Project and worked for environmental causes through the Windstar Foundation.
• Died in a plane crash off Pacific Grove, California, on October 12, 1997.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Album released in November 1983 as the seventeenth studio album by John Denver
• Single from the album: "Wild Montana Skies"
• Supporting vocalists on the album included Patti Austin, Rita Marley (and The Wailers), and Emmylou Harris

Reappraisal

• Western Writers of America: members chose "Wild Montana Skies" as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time

Records

• Source gives no chart positions for the album
• Source gives no sales or certification figures for the album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album is dedicated to the memory of John Denver's father, Lt. Col. (Ret.) H.J. "Dutch" Deutschendorf.
• Emmylou Harris sang background vocals on "Wild Montana Skies", the album's single.
• The Wailers, with Rita Marley and Marcia Griffiths, performed on "World Game".
• "The Way I Am" was not featured on the cassette version or the original LP.
• Patti Austin served as both a background vocalist and an arranger on the album.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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