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Jim Curry is not leaving on a jet plane, high in the Rocky Mountains, or driving country roads.

Last week, Curry was taking a brief break in a Costa Rica hotel, between trips on cruise ships where he performs music of the late John Denver.

Curry has devoted his performing career to music of the 1970s folk/pop/country icon.

The California songster and guitarist sounds remarkably like Denver himself when he sings hits such as "Take Me Home, Country Roads," "Rocky Mountain High," "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Thank God I'm a Country Boy."

On Saturday, he and his six-member ensemble will perform them in a Carolina Pops concert with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra.

His ensemble features three former Denver band mates -- Pete Huttlinger, Richie Gajate-Garcia and son, Tristan Gajate-Garcia -- as well as Diane Ireland, Christopher Wills and Curry's wife, Anne.

The show at Westover Church goes beyond music. Projected scenes of nature and Denver's life and his music videos accompany songs that celebrate America's vistas.

"We are careful to say that it is a tribute to the music of John Denver, that it is not like a memorial to the man himself but to his music," Curry says via e-mail.

How Curry added symphonic orchestrations to his shows is a piece of music lore in itself.

Curry had started performing with a small band, just as Denver had. Denver also had sung with an orchestra, with arrangements by composer and arranger Lee Holdridge. But after Denver's death in a 1997 aircraft crash, those orchestrations inadvertently were destroyed.

Luckily, Holdridge had stored the original penciled scores in a vault. He and Curry embarked on a project to restore them.

Greensboro's audience will be only the second to hear those restored arrangements.

So, brush up your Denver lyrics (who among baby boomers doesn't know some?) and prepare to sing along. Curry says he doesn't mind.

In an e-mail exchange, Curry describes how he became a Denver tribute artist, and how he and Holdridge brought the music back to symphony orchestras.

Here are excerpts: 

When did people start commenting that you sounded like John Denver -- in college, while you were singing opera?

The comments came when I began to sing in public. That was in high school. I have always sounded like John Denver. It's just the way my natural voice is.

When the producers of the 2000 TV movie "Take Me Home: The John Denver Story" wanted a soundtrack, did you audition?

I did not audition for the job of doing the voice-over work. I heard rumors that CBS was making the movie and called CBS to see if they were looking for a sound-alike. They patched my call to Mike Flicker, who was in charge of the music parts. He said, "Send me something to hear," so I sent by same-day delivery the only thing I had, which was a recording a friend had done. Mike Flicker called me that day to tell me I had the job.

Later that year, I was in the studio singing small parts of songs that they needed. It was not a lot of the movie, but it was enough to give me a starting point.

When did you start performing Denver music in concert?

My first concert as a tribute to the music of John Denver was in April of 2000 in California with John Denver band mates. The movie was done and about to air in May of 2000, so I thought it would be a fun thing to do before it came out.

When did you and Lee Holdridge restore the orchestra charts?

It was an idea that Anne and I had to bring the music back to the symphony level. So, I got on the Internet in July or August of 2008 and looked up Lee Holdridge and wrote him an e-mail asking if he wanted to do this with me. He replied almost instantly with a "YES, Call Me." He told me the bad news about the charts being destroyed. I said, "Let's get going, then, to restore them."

By April 2009 we were ready to do the first performance. Kansas City Symphony had called Lee long before to ask if the music was available. They were first on my list of calls even before we started the restoration. When they heard that the music was going to be restored, they set a date with me for the first performance.

It was the first time in over 15 years that these arrangements with a symphony have been performed. In addition to Greensboro, we now have contracts with Toledo, Ohio; Santa Rosa, Calif.; Phoenix, Ariz., Wichita, Kan., and the Pacific Symphony in Irvine, Calif.

Greensboro is the second time for this performance.

What has doing a John Denver tribute show meant to you and to your career?

My career as a performer has never been anything but performing John Denver music. These are environmental, earth-friendly messages written by one of our early, contemporary conservation-minded, environmental and worldly writers. His delivery of this music spanned the globe, and we are trying to maintain that message and that reach.

What songs will you perform in Greensboro?

The set list is mostly the big hits. There will be a song or two that are not as well known. One is the last song John was known to have written. It was never recorded, only performed live a few times. It was performed 15 years ago with the Houston Symphony and arranged for orchestra by Lee Holdridge then. It's called "Yellowstone: Coming Home."

He has recorded close to 300 songs, and Lee and I are in the process of rebuilding as much of the lost scores that were charted for symphony as we can. It is an ongoing project that will take years to do.

Contact Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane at 373-5204 or dawn.kane@news-record.com

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