Chris Collins & Boulder Canyon: The John Denver Experience at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse -- April 4.
Thursday, April 4, 1 & 7:15 p.m.
Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, 1828 Third Avenue, Rock Island IL
Delivering a pair of live performances of iconic country and folk favorites, touring artists Chris Collins & Boulder Canyon bring their concert event The John Denver Experience to Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse on April 4, presenting a salute to the Grammy-winning legend that will boast such unforgettable songs as “Sunshine on My Shoulders,” “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” “You Fill Up My Senses,” and “Thank God I’m a Country Boy.”
Born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. in 1943, Denver was a songwriter, record producer, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success came as a solo singer. After traveling and living in numerous locations while growing up in his military family, Denver began his music career with folk-music groups during the late 1960s, and by the start of the '70s, he was one of the most popular and best-selling acoustic artists of the decade, with AllMusic.com calling him “among the most beloved entertainers of his era.” Denver recorded and released approximately 300 songs, about 200 of which he also composed. He had 33 albums and singles that were certified Gold and Platinum in the U.S by the RIAA, with estimated sales of more than 33 million units, and he recorded and performed primarily with an acoustic guitar, singing about his joy in nature, disdain for city life, enthusiasm for music, and relationship trials.
Denver's music appeared on a variety of charts, including Billboard's country music, Hot 100, and adult contemporary, with the artist earning 12 gold and four platinum albums with his signature songs "Take Me Home, Country Roads," "Annie's Song," "Rocky Mountain High," "Calypso," "Thank God I'm a Country Boy," and "Sunshine on My Shoulders." Prior to his 1997 death in a plane crash, Denver was inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame, earned an Emmy Award for his TV special An Evening with John Denver, and received three American Music Awards, two Country Music Association Awards, and an Academy of Country Music Award for 1974's Back Home Again, which was named Album of the Year. A year after Denver's passing, he also received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and having lived in Aspen for much of his life, Denver was named Colorado's poet laureate in 1974, with the Colorado state legislature adopting “Rocky Mountain High” as one of its two state songs in 2007.
Performing in the Circa '21 concert event are Chris Collins & Boulder Canyon, tribute musicians whom, according to the Daily Anthenaeum, "completely captured the essence of everything that was John Denver." Collins and some of the original artists of Boulder Canyon originally met in Aspen, Colorado, at the largest annual celebration of John Denver’s life and music. Since that initial meeting, the group has gone on to tour from coast to coast in celebration of Denver's music. Award-winning singer/songwriter Collins has been lauded for echoing the energy and unmistakable enthusiasm that was a hallmark of a John Denver performance, and the consummate musicians of Boulder Canyon include: Alexander Mitchell on fiddle, guitar, and vocals; Nigel Newton on piano and keyboards; Ralph Gordon on upright bass; and Robbie Saunders on bass, dobro, and guitar.
Chris Collins & Boulder Canyon's The John Denver Experience will be performed at 1 and 7:15 p.m. on April 4, admission is $62.50-65.65, and plated meals will be served at both concert events. For more information and tickets, call (309)786-7733 extension 2 and visit Circa21.com.
