Lana Del Rey Covers John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads"

Lana Del Rey has released a cover of John Denver's most iconic track. Her rendition of "Take Me Home, Country Roads" came out on the morning of Dec. 1.

Most of the track features Del Rey singing with nothing more than a simple piano accompaniment. At the end of the song, there's an emotional swell when a group of backup singers join her for the final chorus.

The cover was released just a few weeks after Del Rey completed a brief tour of the American South. That stint ended in Charleston, West Virginia – the state's capitol. Denver's 1971 version of "Country Roads" was made an official anthem of West Virginia in 2014 and inducted into the Library of Congress in April, WOWK reported.

Commenters below the YouTube video of Del Rey's cover were impressed. "The melancholy in her voice should be preserved in a nostalgic museum," one said. "Lana’s voice sounds like home," said another. "It’s comforting, so soft, so soothing, like a mom singing a lullaby to her kids, all I feel when I listen to her is warm, peace, and I can’t help but smile and sigh in content because the universe brought me to a point where I can enjoy her music."

The cover was released just two days after Del Rey performed a rendition of "Unchained Melody" as part of NBC's Christmas at Graceland program in honor of Elvis Presley. Although the track was originally written for the movie Unchained in 1955 and made famous by the Righteous Brother a decade later, it became associated with Presley after he performed a cover during his final TV special.

Del Rey could pick up her first Grammy win in 2024. Her critically-acclaimed March LP Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd earned her nominations for Album of the Year and Best Alternative Music Album of the year. The release's biggest single "A&W" was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Alternative Music Performance.

The pop artist was recently named one of Spotify's ten most streamed musicians of 2023.