STUCK MOJO Guitarist/Vocalist RICH WARD On 'Country Road' Cover - "For The Longest Time My Mother Would Ask Me, 'Could You Just Play A Song I Know?'"
November 15, 2008, 16 years ago
STUCK MOJO guitarist/vocalist Rich Ward is featured in a new interview with Hard Rock Magazine France. An excerpt is available below:
Hard Rock: Can you tell us more about the 'Country Road' song? Is it a cover of the classic John Denver song? I must admit that I don't really know this traditional country song, but listening to it on the internet, the only strong similarity I could find between both songs would be the steel pedal guitar playing, since both the lyrics – except for a small part of the ending chorus – and the melodies have nothing to do with John Denver's song, at least not exactly. So, is it your own version of this song or has it nothing to do with it? Was it a song that just inspired you and from which you drew a few elements to write a very specific song? It really sounds different from the rest of the album, it even doesn't sound as if Lord Nelson was singing it. Is it Rich on the vocals?
Rich Ward: "I took the chorus from the original John Denver song and built an entirely new song around it. I sing the first verse and Lord Nelson on the second verse. The idea for recording the song came from a request that my mother made over 10 years ago. On some level, I'm sure my Mom was proud of me for teaching myself to play guitar and for sticking with it, but she never understood the music I chose to play. You know, in her mind NOISE! For the longest time she would ask me, 'Could you just play a song I know?' I asked her what song she would like for me to play and she said, 'How about Country Road by John Denver?' I agreed to learn and play it for her the next time I came home for a visit. So for the next 7 or 8 years, every time I would come home, she would ask me if I had learned the song. After all these years, I finally realized that for my Mom, it was more about living up to my word, my commitment, than it was about playing the song for her. Keeping your word means a lot to my Mom and I'm glad that I can finally keep my promise and play her the song she loves so much. As for Lord's connection to the song, his mother died of cancer when he was young, so he wrote the second verse as a tribute to her."
Go to this location for the complete interview.