Question: Did you know that John Denver’s song, “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” was inspired by a road in Montgomery County?

It’s true! The song, “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” made popular by John Denver in the 1970s was inspired by Montgomery County’s very own Clopper Road, which back then was still a country road. Singer/songwriters Taffy Nivert and Bill Danoff (Fat City) were driving to a family reunion along Clopper Road in the fall of 1970 and to pass the time they made up a song about winding roads in the country. Denver met up with them in December after Danoff and Nivert opened for him at the Cellar Door in Georgetown and they stayed up all night re-writing and re-arranging the song. John Denver first sang the song at the Cellar Door on December 30, 1970 and received a standing ovation. He then went on to record “Take Me Home, Country Roads” on the album “Poems, Prayers & Promises” that came out the spring of 1971 — and the rest is history.

Source: Germantown Historical Society

Do you have a fun fact to share about your county? If so, please send it to Kaley Schultze to be featured in MACo’s weekly Fun Fact on Conduit Street.