On This Day in 1975, John Denver Was at No. 1 With a Song Penned by a Bar Band Guitarist

On this day (June 3) in 1975, John Denver was at the top of the Hot Country Songs chart with “Thank God I’m a Country Boy.” A week later, it topped the Hot 100 for a week. While Denver is remembered as a prolific songwriter, he didn’t write this hit. Instead, it was penned by John Martin Sommers, who was playing guitar in an Aspen, Colorado, bar band when he met the “Sunshine on My Shoulders” singer.

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Denver initially recorded “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” for his 1974 album Back Home Again. The album rendition didn’t become a hit, though. It was the live version taken from An Evening With John Denver that brought him his second country chart-topper.

How John Denver Met the “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” Songwriter

John Martin Sommers wasn’t a country boy. He was born and raised in Los Angeles. As an adult, he moved to Aspen, Colorado, where he later met John Denver. Before he became a full-time musician, Sommers was a pilot in the United States Navy. As a result, he and Denver bonded over their shared love of aviation and good music.

When the two met, Sommers was playing in an Aspen-based bar band called Liberty. According to Songfacts, Denver saw the band play. After the show, he approached them and asked if he could cut their song “River of Love,” another of Sommers’s compositions. They agreed, and he flew the band to New York to record the track for his 1973 album Farewell Andromeda.

Shortly thereafter, Sommers joined Denver’s band as a guitarist and fiddle player. He wrote this ode to the simple things in life while driving from Aspen to Los Angeles. It is possible that he wrote the song on the way to the RCA studio in Hollywood, where Denver recorded Back Home Again.

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