Finding Safety in Nature
Denver’s grandmother gave him a 1910 Gibson acoustic guitar when he was 11 years old. In his chaotic upbringing, the guitar was his only constant. He never knew where he belonged. In an interview, he stated: “When I was a child, I felt like I didn’t have a lot of friends. My father was in the Air Force. We moved around a great deal, and I used to go out into the desert, or I’d climb up into a tree, or I’d be up in the mountains, just anywhere that I could get out in nature.”
Finding Safety In Nature
From Deutschendorf to Denver
Denver had grown more comfortable by the time he got to college and began performing acoustic guitar at local venues. He enrolled at Texas Tech University in 1961. (known as Texas Technical College at the time). Denver dropped out of college to pursue a career in music. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1964. He started performing at Leadbetter’s nightclub there, where he met Randy Sparks, the founder of the folk band The New Christy Minstrels. His last name, Deutschendorf, wouldn’t help him advance in his career, according to Sparks.
From Deutschendorf To Denver