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John Denver - "Christmas at the Opry"
Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, TN, 1993-12-09
Audience Recording

1st Set

0:00:00 Twelve Days of Christmas [Tape]
0:04:02 Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
0:05:48 Aspenglow
0:08:03 The Marvelous Toy
0:10:52 A Baby Just Like You
0:16:15 Christmas Like a Lullaby
0:20:25 Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
0:23:31 Away in a Manger
0:26:42 Jingle Bells
0:28:32 What Child Is This?
0:31:48 Please, Daddy, Don't Get Drunk This Christmas!
0:35:38 Falling Leaves
0:39:21 Alfie, the Christmas Tree
0:41:19 Silent Night
0:46:01 Christmas for Cowboys
0:48:39 Grandma's Feather Bed

2nd Set

0:50:55 Rocky Mountain High
0:55:04 Take Me Home, Country Roads
0:58:11 Back Home Again
1:03:27 Homegrown Tomatoes
1:06:02 Band Introduction
1:08:59 Matthew
1:14:04 Whispering Jesse
1:17:34 Eagles and Horses
1:22:25 A Country Girl in Paris
1:27:21 Shanghai Breezes
1:30:36 For You
1:36:43 The Ballad of Gary Hart
1:43:06 What Are We Making Weapons For?
1:49:32 Annie's Song
1:52:37 Calypso
1:58:41 Perhaps Love

John Denver - acoustic guitar, vocals
Jim Horn - flute, saxophone, recorder
James Burton - electric guitar
Glen D. Hardin - piano
Jerry Scheff - electric bass
Michito Sanchez - drums, percussion
Nashville Chamber Orchestra - orchestra
St. Joseph Children's Choir - vocals

John Denver did a lot of Christmas tours after 1988. One of these Christmas shows from 1996 would later be released as "Christmas in Concert", but most of his Christmas shows are not released so far. Hope you'll enjoy this recording!

This recording has some historical value, not only because it's a Christmas concert, but it's also the second only time John Denver performed at the Grand Ole Opry. Though John has achieved great success on the country music charts, he was not so well-received by Nashville country music industry, probably because of his sweet voice and folk roots. However, he seemed to be welcome by the Nashville audience. I love the way the audience reacted when he sang "Memories of Tennessee, Nashville in the rain..." It's also one of the few times Jim Horn reunited with John after leaving John's band in 1992.

The first set is mainly Christmas songs and the second set is "as far from Christmas as you can get". The "furthest" one is Tom Paxton's ballad of Gary Hart, where John not only covered the song, but also borrowed Tom's stage banter: "Compared to what?" It's also possible that Tom got it from John - who knows!

John Denver's first performance at the Opry was in 1976, but I don't know if a recording exists.

For mp3 samples from this show and a bunch of other John Denver shows, please visit my John Denver setlist page at http://ddpro.ucoz.com/setlists/johnde.... The setlists of all John Denver live recordings I know will all be posted there, along with a 90-second sample for each recording.

Merry Christmas!!!