The Great ‘70s Aspen Music Scene

After our return from New York in November, 1970, Jack Hardy and I ended our gig early one night and went to the Hotel Jerome, where we listened to Jan and Vic Garrett, a country-folk duo from Loveland, Colorado.  They had been drawn to Aspen just as I had.  I enjoyed their music, and we began a friendship and musical collaboration that has lasted and grown to this day. 

Shortly thereafter, I met John Sommers, who if memory serves, had piloted submarine-chasing aircraft in the Vietnam War.  He had come to Aspen for a vacation on his way to St. Louis for flight training with TWA.  He was typical of many people I met in Aspen who came there for a vacation fifty years ago and never left.  Jan and Vic and John got together and played at the Blue Moose, one of Aspen’s numerous subterranean music clubs.  Occasionally I was asked to sit in with them.  They got a gig at the Hitching Post in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and I was invited to join them for a couple of weeks.  Two weeks of playing with these fine musicians was unexpected and very exciting!  I felt I was riding a magical wave.

Liberty, 1973, in their native habitat

Back in Aspen, we decided to name our little band Liberty, after an old fiddle tune.  One day we took a break from rehearsing in the Blue Moose, and I went up the stairs to the street for some fresh air.  There was John Denver, walking down the sidewalk right towards me.  We had met previously through mutual friends, and in Aspen in 1973, John could walk down the street unmolested by autograph seekers.  It didn’t occur to me then to wonder about the “coincidence” of arriving at that point on the sidewalk at that exact moment to arrive face-to-face with him.  It would take me a few years to arrive at a broader and more satisfying explanation. 

We started up a conversation, and John asked me who had written the song, “River of Love,” that he had heard us play one night in the Blue Moose.  I replied that the writer was John Sommers who was just downstairs at the rehearsal.  John Denver went back downstairs with me and announced to all of us that he wanted to record it on his new album.  He asked if we could be in New York in a few days.

 “Uh... Sure!” we said, trying not to sound too anxious. 

We were playing the Moose five nights a week, so we had Sunday and Monday off.  We flew to New York on Sunday, recorded the song on Monday, and were back at the Moose Tuesday night for the gig.  The short trip was certainly exciting, but I was continuing to ride the wave, not realizing the significance of it all.  The song later appeared on John’s album called Farewell Andromeda.  The dedication of that album reads, “Farewell Andromeda is for all of you from Werner and EST and me.”