WVU Professor Says ‘Country Roads’ An Anthem for West Virginia | News, Sports, Jobs

John Denver, seen performing Nov. 7, 1988, says he hasn’t been a “radio darling” despite his success in producing hit albums. “I still like to use a real orchestra, not a synthesizer or a drum machine,” he says. (AP Photo/Chad Surmick)

WHEELING — “Country roads, take me home to the place I belong – West Virginia” is part of the chorus of a song popular worldwide, even among those who have never visited the Mountain State.

The enduring popularity, global appeal and wistful nostalgia evoked by the song was the topic of Sarah Morris’ presentation at Tuesday’s “Lunch with Books” program at the Ohio County Library. Recordings from artists as disparate as Israel Kamakawiwo’ole and Marie Laforet exist, with some covers changing the lyrics completely to better reflect their own homelands.

Morris, an English professor at West Virginia University, told the assembled crowd how the song evokes a kind of nostalgia – the Welsh call it “hiraeth” – for an idealized, unrealistic memory, associated with perpetual homesickness. Critically for Mountain State natives, Morris felt the song evokes a strong, personal sense of identity that took rapid hold at a time where West Virginians needed a positive identity.

“Country Roads has this distinctive, simple melody that’s easily sung, with a message of universal heartache for a home, whether the listener is from West Virginia or not,” she said. “… It’s a felt sense for a place, a person, a home we know, but an idealized home. One that we can’t quite return to, but the home of our memories and hearts that exists in a tangible space.

“When we think about the home in ‘Country Roads,’ it’s not about the house or the town or the state so much where we grew up, but the place we belong,” Morris added. “West Virginians have long felt that particular form of homesickness. ‘Country Roads’ gives us a framework to talk and think about our identity as West Virginians in a new way, and it can influence the stories that we tell about ourselves.”

Morris said that common themes and perceptions associated with Appalachia, according to those who study the topic, typically focus on the weaknesses of the region, such as poverty, poor education, and other negative stereotypes. “Country Roads” provides West Virginians an accessible, widely popular song to associate with their song, and with themselves.

“The narratives that we hear and tell about Appalachia, according to Appalachian studies scholars, reflect common assumptions, with an emphasis on themes related to poverty, educational deficits, illiteracy, and other stereotypes,” she said. “Framed through the scope of tellability, stories … fit within frameworks that are easily read as true, because they align with cultural expectations.

“Untellable narratives, the ones that we don’t share in the media, are ones that defy categories of experience and are closer to individuals’ lived experiences, and may be closer to the truth, but they don’t fit within the acceptable expectations.”

To better tap into the heart of West Virginians, Morris offered songs such as John Ellison’s “West Virginia State of Mind” and Colleen Anderson’s “If You Love My West Virginia,” which provide a more heartfelt, homegrown look at the Mountain State and the people therein. She also pointed out that West Virginia has three other official state songs, adopted simultaneously in 1963: “West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home,” “The West Virginia Hills,” and “This Is My West Virginia.”

While the songwriters of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” had comparatively less lived experience in West Virginia, Morris said West Virginians can both embrace the song as an ideal while also lifting up the voices of locals to represent their own state more distinctly across myriad art forms.

“I think the truth that I’m coming to is that we can love it, and still bring forward the voices of West Virginians,” she said.

“There are so many amazing West Virginian singers, songwriters, and musicians. For many years, as a kid growing up in West Virginia, I didn’t know there were any writers in West Virginia.”