Lee Holdridge is a legend! He has a wonderful talent for composing music and arrangements for film, television, opera and recording artist. One of the major stars Lee composed symphonic arrangements for was John Denver.
As life-long John Denver fans and long-time tribute artists, you can imagine how thrilled Jim and I were when we first met Lee! It was difficult not to behave like giddy school kids, but we did our best to act like grown-ups and hopefully we didn’t embarrass ourselves too much.
Since our first meeting, Lee has honored us by conducting many of our John Denver symphony shows, featuring Jim singing John Denver’s music with major symphony orchestras. It is always a surreal experience performing with the original arrangements Lee wrote for John, never in our lives could we imagine that we would be doing a tribute performance on that level. But thanks to Lee’s kindness and willingness to work with us in our efforts to preserve and present John’s music, we have a new friend, and we are living a dream come true!
Another major recording star Lee worked with was Neil Diamond. Neil and Lee collaborated on many projects, including the music in the movie “Johnathan Livingston Seagull.”
Now, imagine a show that would put Lee Holdridge and the music of Neil Diamond and John Denver together with members of the La Mirada Symphony Orchestra in one amazing concert…..and you will be imagining the show we will be presenting this May 24 in La Mirada, California! Tribute artists Jim Curry will be singing John Denver, tribute artist Jay White will be singing Neil Diamond, backed by a band and Lee Holdridge conducting the Symphony!
Join us for this exceptional ensemble of musicians and performers that will bring an unforgettable afternoon filled with timeless classics, rich orchestration, and powerful performances that honor the enduring legacy of these American music legends.
One of the very best things that can result from a performer’s hard work is a sold-out show! It means that the work we do is still in demand, and that WE are still in demand!
Lots of people think that we are the actual ticket sellers, but that is almost never the case. We are the hired band, and before we get hired, we are thoroughly vetted in every way…..but most important is our potential to bring in ticket buyers (aka “the audience”). Thankfully, we have a long history (25 years plus!) and we perform the best music in the world! (Yes, we are biased, haha!) AND we have the best audience on the planet!
So, hearing that a show is sold out is MUSIC TO MY EARS! And I am very happy to say that the band and I are looking forward to some sold-out shows coming soon! Bookings are still happening, so if you’ve missed your opportunity to get a ticket to one of our shows, be sure to check our website tour calendar often, because new concerts are added throughout the year and we may return somewhere nearby. OR sign up for our monthly newsletter and you will get a tour schedule emailed to you with updates every month.
The newsletter sign up is on our website front page: https://jimcurrymusic.com/
How can you help a band succeed? Here’s how to support the band you love:
Attend the shows when you can.
Bring your friends and family.
Comment on social media as much as you can….algorithms are based on activity, popularity is based on algorithms. Comment on blogs, posts and ads, even if the show is not going to be in your area.
Let your local theater know the band you would like to see.
Lastly, I cannot overstate how much we appreciate the love, support and prayers of the wonderful people who continue to stay engaged. Music to our ears (sold out shows) will continue to bring music to YOUR ears for many years to come!
I am probably not alone when I say that I am a dental chicken.
I am THAT person. I clench my fists, wiggle my foot nervously, and I tighten every muscle in my body into “fight-or-flight” mode. When I hear the dentist coming into the exam room (they always sneak up from behind) I imagine myself rolling sideways off the exam chair and sprinting towards the exit, ripping off the bib and throwing into the air like a glorious flag of freedom!
Who knows where the fear began? As a child who was told to stop squirming? As a teenager with braces? As a young adult with impacted wisdom teeth? I don’t know where it began, but it evolved from general fear to a real issue of delaying proper dental care. As a more-than-middle-aged-grown-up adult, I found it was nearly impossible to voluntarily drive myself to a scheduled torture session. The chicken inside me thought someone should be dragging me in kicking and screaming!
I suppose I thought if I ignored them long enough, my dental issues would go away…. But they didn’t.
Finally, my loving husband convinced me to visit HIS dentist. I was so reluctant, I was absolutely dreading it, and I began reliving every bad dental experience I’ve had in the past and projecting it into my future. Hubby drove me to the DNTL STUDIO (to make sure I didn’t drive myself to an undisclosed location) and he introduced me to the staff. From that moment on, I began to understand what a difference a good dentist can make.
Fast forward several years of excellent care.… My dentist is Dr. Amin. He is thoughtful, gentle and kind. He is perfectly suited to handle a dental chicken like myself, but he also does the same for normal people! Now I go to regular appointments without fear – something new after 60+ years. If I must go in for an emergency issue, I am still fearful, but I’m also confident that I will be treated with compassion (important) and all the up-to-date technology that modern dentistry has to offer (super important).
Everyone at the DNTL STUDIO is friendly, professional and caring. If you live in Southern California, PLEASE do yourself a favor and consider visiting them if you have a dental issue…..or better yet, go see them BEFORE you have an issue!
Fun Fact: Chickens don’t have teeth…..think about it.
This is a true story. There are no names to change to protect the innocent. Any malicious inference to the population living in North Kentucky is unintended and overblown (like most of my stories). Only one individual is described here with total accuracy, and I doubt he will be offended because I’m pretty sure he can’t read.
Here’s what happened:
Jim and I were traveling North in Kentucky and at some point, we needed gasoline. Reluctantly, we pulled off the highway onto Mudlick road and entered the gas station cautiously (who knows what evil lurks on Mudlick road).
We pulled up to a pump – the place wasn’t busy – and we glanced around for suspicious mudlickers (they could be anywhere). We felt very self-conscious with our big white van and our California plates. Someone is bound to notice that we are outsiders, so we quickly begin to fill the tank.
It’s a big tank….it takes a while to fill, and before we knew it, a local mudlicker walks up and starts to tell us everything we would want to know about him and more (much more…too much more). Then he began the expected interrogation, “Are you really from California? What part of California?” and “What brings you to Kentucky?” and finally, “did you push the red button inside the bathroom?”
Inside? We hadn’t yet gone inside. In fact, we were inclined to cut and run as soon as we finished gassing up, but ol’ mudlicker wasn’t having it, “Oh you gotta go inside and push the red button….go on…you HAVE to (wink wink) see what happens!” He crossed his arms and planted himself firmly in front of our vehicle to prevent our exit. He smiled toothlessly, and had an expression on his face that was exactly like you would see on a 10-year-old boy waiting for you to sit down on a sofa with a fart bag hidden under the cushion. We hesitated…..then we went inside.
Store…normal. People…friendly. Nothing to see here. Bathroom….very clean, modern, updated with all the conveniences modern plumbing has blessed us with.
One addition: a big red button that is clearly labeled: DO NOT PUSH THIS RED BUTTON.
I looked around, I was all alone. Normally, I’m a rule-follower but ol’ mudlicker was standing outside waiting for my reaction so I took a deep breath and pushed the red button.
The lights went out and I was standing in total darkness…uh oh! Then, disco music started and a spotlight was activated to shine on a rotating mirrored disco ball that scattered spots of white light throughout the room. It made me feel like dancing, but instead, I left the bathroom laughing.
This is a thing. They are called disco bathrooms and you can find them at stores called “Hop Shops” in various locations. This one was in Verona, Kentucky, a lovely place with lovely people (with ONE exception). I put a YouTube link here so you can see for yourself. They only had the men’s room version so the girls will have to use their imaginations and picture a ladies’ room.
Also, there is no giant cartoon frog in their bathrooms, only in the video.
If you read the blog last month, you already know that I’ve called attention to the acapella singing group called Home Free. I criticized them singing the wrong lyrics in the song, “Country Roads” (they sang “Blowin’ like a breeze” instead of singing the correct lyrics “Growin’ like a breeze”).
I called it a rookie mistake.
Yes…….I poked the bear.
There is some satisfaction for a ‘little guy’ like me to razz the ‘big guy”. It’s probably a little bit of envy,
and a little bit of spite….for instance, what’s so special about singing acapella?? Singing AND playing an instrument at the same time is TWICE as hard, isn’t it? Pfffft! They needed to get over themselves! I didn’t understand, with more than 6 million views, why no one seemed to notice that they sang it wrong.
So, while I was preparing my blog for this month, I was thinking I would write about another example where song lyrics were mysteriously changed over the years.. There was an odd change in the song “Goodbye Again” written by John Denver that didn’t make much sense. An early OFFICIAL John Denver songbook printed the words, “It seems a shame to leave you now, the day is soft and warm.” The words were actually: “It seems a shame to leave you now, the day is soft and warm.” What is the purpose of this change? The story in the song is about getting up and leaving someone at 5 in the morning….. why talk about the weather at that moment? Makes no sense, and I can clearly hear John singing, “Your lay so soft and warm”.
While I was pondering this….I got a phone call from a venue I was really looking forward to performing at. We had a date all set up in 2026, perfectly lined up with another good date, making travel easy and maximizing the profit margin. Well, it turns out that the venue made a mistake and booked another band (a REALLY popular band, they said, a band that’s hard to get, they said) and they bumped our engagement to 2027.
That band was HOME FREE.
Karma kicked my butt.
Here’s another really good version of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” performed by twin brothers Clint and Bob Moffat. Sounds like they got it right! With an astounding 46 million views…maybe the words of the song won’t be changed after all!
I’m posting a song below, and I’ll bet in less than 1 minute, most of you will hear a mistake… a HUGE mistake in my opinion!
When I heard it, I was very surprised, I’m not a super picky person, but I do think this very popular singing group should have been told at some point that the lyrics were WRONG.
I checked their official music video on YouTube. Home Free has almost 2 million followers and their video “Take Me Home” has more than 6 million views. Couldn’t someone have told them? Couldn’t someone have Googled the lyrics before filming? I scanned the comments under the YouTube video to see if anyone called them out. There were LOTS of comments from people who live in West Virginia or had lived there at one time – there were also LOTS of comments from people saying how proud John Denver would be if he’d heard their version, and LOTS of people saying that they were big John Denver fans and this was their favorite song.
I didn’t have time to read ALL of the comments, but I sure expected to see something. We all know how happy ‘internet trolls’ are to point out things that are wrong and make people mad….but there was nothing…….. NOTHING! Are you kidding me? This is the state song of West Virginia and nobody said anything? Are we all going to learn the wrong lyrics and assume that West Virginia ‘blows’? Well, with 6 million views and more views coming, the lyrics might be eventually be changed permanently in the minds of people all over the earth who sing this song in the car, in bars, in stadiums or around a campfire.
I’ve heard this mistake before, and I considered it a “Rookie” mistake. The wrong words are easier for people to sing (the phrase “blowing like a breeze” is more natural than “growing like a breeze”) so it kind of made me feel like I was part of a secret John Denver fan club, knowing and singing the correct lyrics.
I wonder how this makes Bill Danoff feel? Bill and Taffy Danoff co-wrote this song with John Denver, and it was a HUGE success for them, but does it irritate them to hear their words changed?
One more small correction. If you continued listening to the entire song you might have also caught this: for some reason, Home Free sang ‘modest lady’ instead of ‘miner’s lady’. Weird. I wondered about that too, and I did see a couple of comments about that change.
What do you think? Am I being too picky? Should Home Free check the lyrics before making an official video? Is West Virginia ‘Blowin’ or ‘Growin’? Please write your comments in the box below!
I’m gonna say, for Jim and I, MOST days are diamonds, but if you are familiar with the song John Denver recorded for RCA in 1981, you know that the song goes on to say, “Some days are stone.”
It would be absurd to think everything in life should be perfect and flawless (like a diamond). We do our best to make good plans and avoid as many problems as possible but….
Sometimes, life throws a big fat stone in our way!
Right now, we are in the middle of another cross-country road trip. This time our drive starts in California (our home) to Maryland, Pennsylvania, back West to Arizona, then Colorado, then back home to CA (whew!) When we get ready for these trips, we do everything possible to be fully prepared and anticipate any obstacle. We make detailed lists…everything is checked and double checked.
Off we go! June 16, 8:00 am… But our tally-ho suddenly turned into a tally-NO! 4 hours into our trip, driving through Havasu Lake (a balmy 113 degrees) when the air conditioner stopped working. We rolled the windows down and suffered. We stopped at an auto shop in Kingman, AZ, but our van is too big for his lift, so we went to the Ford dealer – they needed 2 days to work on it. We didn’t have 2 extra days; we HAD to get to where we were going….so we moved on.
Thankfully, with some midnight mechanics and a new compressor from Auto Zone, Jim was able to get the air conditioner working a little bit. The entire system eventually needs to be taken apart and flushed to get it to operate correctly, but Jim did the best he could do in hotel parking lots along the way….and we made it to our destinations on time. We sure appreciated the air-conditioned comfort of the beautiful theaters we performed in!
How did we ever survive without air conditioning? What is your experience in a car without such luxury? Share your experience in the comments!
Never say never is a term we all use when we are caught doing something we said we’d never do. Well, I got caught twice this month!
Never say never #1 is the fact that there is a black car sitting on my driveway. I am KNOWN for saying I’d never own a black car….but there it is, gleaming in the sunlight and soaking up the heat from the sun to temperatures that would cook a Christmas goose. Other than the heat, black cars show the most dirt and dust – so I prefer white cars (because I’m lazy).
Never say never #2 was my stubborn dislike to be TOLD I should have an electric car in California. I was determined NOT to have one just for the pure reason that I thought it was ridiculous to own an electric car in a place where electricity is very expensive and sometimes restricted in use during the hottest summer months.
So yes, makes sense that I am now a proud owner of a black EV……right??!!! I was perfectly happy with my white 2007 Pontiac but it wouldn’t pass the smog test – we tried everything – mechanics wouldn’t work on it, so we were forced to replace it. We were lucky to find a 2017 (old by EV standards – but it had a new battery) Chevrolet Bolt in a price range we could barely afford
There she sits, in the driveway next to Kirby2 (the van): A politically correct vehicle next to a non-politically correct vehicle – yin and yang – order and anarchy – cooperation and defiance. Our neighbors can’t quite figure us out and I can’t quite figure us out either.
The only thing that made this possible is also in the picture. If you look up, you will see (new) solar panels on our roof and these are what will make it all work. The van will be used for long distances and the car will be used for city driving. We are making lemonade out of lemons here, not solving any world issues.
Husband Jim and son Matthew are very optimistic about the economic advantage we will have with solar panels and an electric car. They are not as optimistic about dragging the dinosaur (me) out of the tar pits of the past.
I have a long way to go before feeling comfortable with the changes. What do you think? Do any of you have a good or bad experience with solar panels? What about an EV? Let me know in the comments below:
In the past, Jim and I have organized 3 different John Denver Tribute Cruises. Each time we did a group cruise we had so much fun, people asked us right away when we would do the next one. Well, we haven’t done a group cruise since 2017! It’s hard to believe that so much time has passed, and it really feels like we need to do another one. The memories of our travels, the friendships that we’ve made, the places that we’ve seen, it’s a shame that it’s been so very long since we’ve planned and organized another opportunity to travel with our friends.
So guess what?
WE ARE GOING TO DO ANOTHER GROUP TRIBUTE CRUISE!!!
This time, in true Curry fashion, we are going over the top by adding MORE:
MORE…. Entertainers!
James Taylor – presented by Sam Hyman
Carole King – presented by Suzanne O Davis
Neil Diamond – presented by Jay White
John Denver – presented by Jim Curry, featuring Chris Nole
MORE….. Concerts, Activities, Sing-A-longs and Group Meetups!
MORE….Cruisers! We’ve reserved over 100 rooms for this cruise (that’s over 200 cruisers!)
Norwegian Cruise Line adds MORE with great food, entertainment and amenities on their beautiful ship, the Escape!
All of this means MORE FUN for ALL OF US!!
Come and join us! Follow the links and reserve your room today…The cruise departs April 12, 2026 from New Orleans and returns to New Orleans April 19. Ports are Cozumel Mexico, Harvest Caye Belize, Roatan Bay Islands Honduras, Costa Maya Mexico
We can only hold rooms for our group for a short time, so you need to get your reservation in for the room you want before the ship sells out. We already have MORE than 50 people signed up to go on this cruise with us since announcing it earlier this month!
Join us now for MORE because….
NONE of the group activities will be available to cruisers who have not signed up with our group.
John Denver died on October 12, 1997. Almost 30 years later, one of his hit songs re-appears on 2 Billboard charts that didn’t exist during his lifetime.
The song is “Take Me Home Country Roads,” written by Bill and Taffy Danoff (Fat City) and John Denver. If ever a song stood the test of time, this one has and will continue to stand, and it will be “growing like a breeze” for generations to come.
The event that propelled the song back to the Billboard charts was February’s 2025 Superbowl game, with the innovative idea to make a television commercial interactive with a live audience by inviting everyone to sing along – joining the fans and players of opposing teams in a few moments of blissful unity.
Of all the wonderful John Denver songs we are privileged to perform, the very first notes of “Country Roads” brings the most excitement and happy reactions during our tribute shows. Heck – in West Virginia, we are required to sing it twice, once at the beginning of the show and again at the end…lol, it’s how they do it in West Virginia!
In my years of performing. I’ve heard a lot of stories about how this song has brought back many memories of home and family.
Please, take a moment and share in the comment section what Take Me Home Country Roads means to you:
"It was an amazing evening. We have had many different performers at our conferences; The Beach Boys, Tony Bennett, Three Dog Night, America. Jim Curry ranks among these acts. I would book Jim and his band again in a heartbeat."
Daniel Young Corporate Function, Keystone, CO
"I have to tell you I don't know when we've enjoyed a show as much as we enjoyed yours. It just swept us away and we did not want it to end! You are all so gifted. And the music of John Denver speaks for itself. It touches the heart."
