John Denver's 1983 Duet With This Legend Became A Beloved Western Classic

Most folks probably consider John Denver a pop or folk artist, but his music had a strong country streak as well. He won the Country Music Awards entertainer of the year in 1975, and in 1983, he took this streak even further with the song "Wild Montana Skies," a duet with Emmylou Harris. By the time Harris collaborated on the song with Denver, she'd already had five No. 1 Billboard Hot Country hits and had become the darling of the country music industry. Denver, on the other hand, wasn't as beloved in Nashville, with some determined that he was and would always be a folkie.

Still, together Denver and Harris produced a country song that revisited the wide-open space of the Western U.S. and its rugged inhabitants, as he'd done earlier in his career. 

Unlike "Rocky Mountain High" or other '70s classics, the song didn't chart on the Hot 100, although it did climb Billboard's Hot Country chart. When Denver released the song as his first single from his 1983 album "It's About Time," it peaked at No. 14. "Wild Montana Skies" became his seventh song to crack the Top 20 on that chart, along with tunes like "Annie's Song" and "Some Days are Diamonds (Some Days are Stone), two of the best John Denver songs that aren't "Take Me Home Country Roads.

John Denver wrote "Wild Montana Skies" in a single night after performing at Harrah's casino in Tahoe. "It's like that sometimes," he told the Associated Press in 1983. "A song comes and totally takes over." When Denver wrote the song, he had Emmylou Harris' voice in mind. They'd known each other since the late 1960s, having met at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and Denver fell in love with Harris' voice. When the two collaborated, the song really began to shine. The two singers' voices paired beautifully, giving the song an emotional depth and clarity that didn't go unnoticed. In contemporary reviews, "Wild Montana Skies" is spotlighted as the standout song from Denver's album "It's About Time."

Unlike Denver's 1975 duet with an uncredited Olivia Newton-John on "Fly Away," Harris' name was front and center on "Wild Montana Skies." It was just one of numerous duets Harris would record over her long career, having worked with everyone from Roy Orbison to Dolly Parton, Beck, and Bob Dylan. Harris would go on to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and racked up numerous awards and accolades. And while it may not be Harris' best song, "Wild Montana Skies" remains a beloved western classic.