John Denver

I still don't like Denver, who purveys privacy in hockey rinks and who never wonders how we are to "maintain our society" by contact with wilderness without destroying said wilderness. But except for the odious "Follow Me"--so that's why he loves his Annie so much--I find this stuff inoffensive when it's not likable. Twice it's brilliant: "Leaving, on a Jet Plane" and "Goodbye Again" are the essence of domesticus interruptus. Not that he's as talented as many of his supposed rivals. But he aims lower. (Grade: B-)