John Denver-Behind the Iron Curtain-1985

40 years ago today, on June 29th, 1985, John Denver held the first of eleven public concerts in the former Soviet Union. The cultural agreement between the USA and the USSR had lapsed in 1980 after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Denver, the world-renowned singer/songwriter and humanitarian, used his formidable international presence to build the first bridge between the two countries, thus opening the door to other artists to follow, and played a role in moving President Regan and Soviet leader Gorbachev towards The Geneva Summit. 

 

Those concerts were captured by the brilliant Roger "The Immortal" Nichols on a digital recording rig he built that fit into a couple of suitcases, forever cementing Denver's voice and message into the archives of history.

 

On this podcast, I talk with Roger's daughter, Ashlee Nichols, about how her dad designed and produced the recordings, as well as comments from John's brother, Ron, about the CD that would eventually be produced. Also, Dr. Cheryl Charles joins me to talk about Denver's "Windstar Foundation" that was a pivotal part of that time as a global think tank and action center in the Rocky Mountains, and last but not least, some incredible archived audio from Denver's concert in the USSR and subsequent appearances on American television with Maria Shriver and David Letterman. 

 

"Though the singer is silent, there still is the truth of the songs."