Alex Mitchell Professors Corrigan and Feinman-Todd Washington Confidential 10.18.16

Beyond the Country Roads

On a frigid January morning, I stood inside the lackluster interior of a

Capriotti’s sandwich shop at 1201 34th Street. The restaurant, along with its artery- clogging fare, was largely forgettable. Its brick walls, faux-steel finishes, and clanking metal chairs could have been in any fast-casual eatery from San Francisco to San Juan. But, what made this restaurant stand out wasn’t its 860-calorie

“Steakenator” sandwich, but its esteemed place in American musical history.

This compact building at 1201 34th Street had once been “considered one of the top… clubs in the country” (Harrington). It had housed two famous performance venues during the mid-twentieth century. First as “The Shadows” in the early sixties, the venue had seen the early stand-up acts of comedians like Woody Allen and Bill

Cosby (“Clinking Glasses and Swinging…”). Later, in 1963, when this

“undistinguished gray building” transformed into “The Cellar Door,” it cemented its place in American music history (Harrington). It was at this club in December 1970 that the American Folk hit, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” was performed for the very first time. What’s more, the song was written by a Georgetown graduate only a few blocks away from the storied nightclub. In this essay I plan to explore the unlikely story of a young Georgetown student who found himself written into the annals of American music history and the long-forgotten musical venue that made it all possible. The Cellar Door existed in an almost unimaginable time. It was a time when

Georgetown real estate was cheap enough for Georgetown University students and graduates to operate their own businesses right on M Street. This was the case for the two clubs that existed at 1201 34th Street. The first, The Shadows, began operations in June 1962. Georgetown senior Bob Cavallo and a few friends pooled their money together to start a little club (The Metropolist). In its relatively short lifespan, The Shadows was part of a Georgetown that hummed with a certain bohemian “Greenwich Village humor” (“Clinking Glasses and Swinging …”). But The

Shadows didn’t last long; as it was moving out of its 34th Street basement location in

December 1962, the newly-christened Cellar Door was moving in. The Cellar Door began its 16-year tenure on M Street under the ownership of two recent

Georgetown alumni, Tom Lyons and Dave Marantette (Singer). The new club attracted an eclectic crowd “where jackets and ties [mixed] with sweaters and sport shirts” (“Clinking Glasses and Swinging…”). Both young and old came to the club for its low prices (Singer). In fact, tickets for “major acts” averaged at only three dollars

(McKenna). These major acts included up-and-coming celebrities like Muddy

Waters, Richard Pryor, Neil Young, James Taylor, and Jackson Browne (Harrington).

Even an 18-year-old Stevie Wonder had a week’s residency at the club in May 1968

(Reger).

Students and artists became enamored with the stout little structure at the corner of 34th and M. To many, its intimacy was invaluable. Buzz Lerch, who performed at The Cellar Door in the early 1980s, remembered it as just “the shell of a 2-story house” where “[lines] to get in would form around the block.” Dwight Wernecke, a teenager who would frequent The Cellar Door, remembered driving into Washington from Virginia with his high school friends and pretending he was eighteen to watch some of “the best acts around.” To those who participated in the

Washington, D.C. music scene, The Cellar Door became “a place of camaraderie”

(Danoff “A Journey Down…”). “Performers often hung out with the club's young staff long into the night drinking and telling stories” (Danoff). Legends and aspiring musicians would come together and bond over their love of music. Some even remember The Cellar Door as a sort of incubator for amateurs: “Big acts would jam with anyone,” recalled Wernecke warmly, and often “amateur local musicians traded licks with nationally known pickers” (McKenna). The Cellar Door brought in talent and bred talent. It was in this friendly, collaborative environment that a young

Georgetown student got his first job in the music business.

Bill Danoff came to Georgetown in the fall of 1964, and by 1965 he began working at The Cellar Door as a doorman (Danoff “A Journey Down…”). Pursuing a major in Chinese at the university, Danoff did not believe that he would have time to further his love of playing guitar. However, his job at The Cellar Door introduced this unassuming 19-year-old to many talented young artists. He met Nina Simone,

Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderly (Reger). It was at The Cellar Door in 1966 where Danoff first met aspiring musician, John Denver (Danoff, “A Journey

Down…”). Danoff maintained their friendship while being promoted through the ranks of the club. From doorman, to sound technician, to manager, Danoff gained status and grew closer to Denver whenever the musician returned to perform at the club (Danoff, “A Journey Down…”). Meanwhile Danoff continued to write and sing “in the corridors of… LXR” (Reger). After graduating in 1968, he moved into an apartment at 1531 31st Street with his wife, Tammy Nivert (Starlin). In this bright yellow Victorian townhouse, they formed a duo named Fat City (McKenna). Then, one day, while driving along Clopper Road in Montgomery County, Maryland on the way to a family reunion, Danoff and Nivert got the idea for a song (Danoff, “A

Journey Down…”). When they returned to their little basement apartment, the duo began to write the first draft of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (Reger). But, the piece would not be completed until one fateful night in December 1970.

Danoff and Nivert’s band managed to secure a spot opening for John Denver during his week of shows beginning the day after Christmas 1970 (Denver and

Tobier 92). However, this was not the first musical collaboration between Denver and Danoff. While Danoff had been working at The Cellar Door, he and Nivert penned a song for Denver titled, “I Guess He’d Rather Be in Colorado.” Denver included it as the first song in his 1971 album, Poems, Prayers, and Promises (Denver and Tobier). On December 29th, after Denver’s third performance at The Cellar

Door, Danoff and Nivert invited him to their apartment (Reger). On the way to

Danoff’s apartment, however, John Denver was involved in a car accident that landed him in the emergency room in the early hours of the morning. The accident broke Denver’s thumb (Fleishman). But the adrenaline from the mishap kept Danoff,

Nivert, Denver, and a few others up all night. It was that night, in an apartment in one of the last remaining “slums” of Georgetown, that they crafted the American

Folk hit, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (Reger). “Take Me Home, Country Roads” was just one of about 350 songs that Danoff and Nivert had written (Reger). Denver, still relatively obscure, had already been a fan of the duo’s work. Following his visit to the emergency room, Denver suggested that Nivert and Danoff play some of their new music. The Danoffs and Denver began playing songs for one another when they debuted an early edition of “Take Me

Home, Country Roads.” Denver loved it and suggested that they finish it immediately

(Fleishman). For rhyming purposes, he suggested that they change the song’s existing location, “Maryland,” to “West Virginia.” He also “tweaked a verse” and

“added a bridge” (McKenna). The trio worked through the night at the quaint yellow townhouse on 31st Street. And, by the morning of December 30th, 1970, “Take Me

Home, Country Roads” was ready to be played.

The song debuted at The Cellar Door on the chilly evening of December 30th,

1970 during an encore of Denver’s performance (Denver and Tobier 93). Denver, with his thumb in a cast, sticking straight up, sang along with the Danoffs

(Fleishman). They recalled that the audience, packed into the little brick building on

34th Street, “would never stop applauding” (Danoff “A Journey Down…”).

John Denver’s career took off following his release of “Take Me Home

Country Roads” in 1971. Bill Danoff and Tammy Nivert went on to form the Starland

Vocal Group and found fame singing about another Georgetown institution, Clyde’s, and its afternoon appetizer menu, “Afternoon Delight” (Reger). Meanwhile, The

Cellar Door did not fare as well. In 1978, the club had its seating capacity slashed by the fire marshal, dropping from 199 to 125. Such a decline in ticket revenues made it challenging for the venue to pull in the same quality of performers and slowly attendance dwindled (Harrington). In the mid-70s, one owner, Jack Boyle, formed

Cellar Door Productions, which boomed into a large concert promotion enterprise

(McKenna). But The Cellar Door itself had a very different fate. By 1981 the club was closed. The structure itself changed ownership a number of times before becoming a

Philadelphia Cheesecake Factory and eventually a Capriotti’s sandwich shop

(Reger). Today, the small storefront is once again vacant, with no plaque commemorating the structure’s place in American music history.

The tiny brick structure on M and 34th Street offered countless opportunities to students, amateur musicians, and professionals alike. It was there that

Georgetown graduate Bob Cavallo could practice entrepreneurship and form his own business. It was at The Cellar Door that a young, confused Georgetown student planning on majoring in Chinese would fall into music legend. It was at The Cellar

Door that careers were made. The Cellar Door was woven into the fabric of the

Georgetown community and offered an artistic outlet that Georgetown sorely needs today. While increased real estate prices in the Georgetown neighborhood make it impossible for another Cellar Door to exist, the memories can still be heard in John

Denver’s 1971 classic. After learning about the unusual origin of the Folk hit,

Denver’s country roads might sound less like West Virginia and little more like

Wisconsin and M.

Works Cited

Danoff, Bill. "Bill Danoff & John Denver’s Careers - Intertwined." BillDanoff.com, Bill Danoff, 29 Sept. 2016. Web. Accessed 9 Oct. 2016.

McKenna, Dave. "Neil Young’s ‘Live at the Cellar Door’ is a Window Into D.C.’s Musical Past." Washington Post, 9 Dec. 2013. Web. Accessed 9 Oct. 2016.

Reger, Jeff. "Take Me Home." Georgetown Voice, 13 Mar. 2008. Web. Accessed 9 Oct. 2016.

"Clinking Glass and Swinging Sound Change the Image of Georgetown." New York Times, 25 May 1964. Web. Accessed 9 Oct. 2016.

Singer, Bill. "Hoya Makes Survey of District’s Night Life." Georgetown Hoya, 26 Sept. 1963. Web. Accessed 9 Oct. 2016.

Brace, Eric. "Nightwatch - Live." Washington Post, 4 Dec. 1998. Web. Accessed 9 Oct. 2016.

Harrington, Richard. "2 From DC Buy The Cellar Door." Washington Post, 31 Jan. 1981. Web. Accessed 9 Oct. 2016.

Danoff, Bill. "A Journey Down a Country Road." Washington Post, 14 Oct. 1997. Web. Accessed 9 Oct. 2016.

Metropolist, The. "Remembering Lost Places in D.C.: The Shadows, Sherrill’s and the Music Fair." Washington Post, 15 May. 2009. Web. Accessed 9 Oct. 2016.

Fleishman, Tamar. "’Country Roads’ Kept Taffy Nivert Danoff Home." Graffiti WV, 3 Jun. 2008. Web. Accessed 9 Oct. 2016.

Denver, John, and Arthur Tobier, Take Me Home: An Autobiography.Danvers, MA: Crown Archetype, 1994. Kindle.

“Tangent." Phillips Music, 2014. Web. Accessed 9 Oct. 2016.

Wernecke, Dwight. Personal interview. 11 Oct. 2016.

Lerch, Buzz. Personal interview. 12 Oct. 2016.

Starlin, Dwane. Personal interview. 9 Oct. 2016