“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.”

Introduction

Imagine you’re at a bustling, vibrant music festival, the evening air cool against your skin, stars beginning to peek through as dusk settles over the Gabba in Brisbane. This is where Sara Berki, a relatively under-the-radar artist with a voice that can only be described as soul-touching, takes the stage. The crowd quiets, anticipation hanging thick in the air. She strums the first few chords, and suddenly, you’re not just at a concert—you’re on a journey.

“Take Me Home, Country Roads,” originally by John Denver, is more than just a song; it’s a feeling, a nostalgic pull to the places and people that ground us. Sara’s rendition, however, does something magical. Her voice, raw and evocative, carries each word with a poignant clarity that feels like it’s speaking directly to you. There’s a sincerity in her performance that transforms the classic anthem into something deeply personal and incredibly universal all at once.

As she hits the chorus, her voice soaring over the crowd, it’s not hard to see why this song, performed at this place, at this moment, feels like it was meant to be. Sara’s cover connects with the audience on a visceral level, tapping into the collective longing for a sense of home, whatever and wherever that may be. Her live performance at the Gabba doesn’t just replicate Denver’s original—it reinvents it, breathing new life into the familiar lyrics and melody.

For those few minutes, everyone in the audience is connected, not just by the shared experience of live music, but by the shared emotion that Sara evokes. It’s a reminder of the power of music to transport us, to comfort us, and to bring us together.

This cover by Sara Berki isn’t just a tribute to a timeless classic; it’s a testament to how a song can be reborn, finding new meaning with each rendition. It’s a reminder that sometimes, you can go home again, even if just through a song.

Video

Lyrics

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, growin’ like a breeze
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
All my memories gather ’round her
Miner’s lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
I hear her voice in the mornin’ hour, she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
Drivin’ down the road, I get a feelin’
That I should’ve been home yesterday, yesterday
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
Take me home, (down) country roads
Take me home, (down) country roads

You Missed

THE CARTER FAMILY RECORDED AMERICA’S FIRST COUNTRY HIT IN A HAT FACTORY WAREHOUSE. MAYBELLE WAS 18 AND EIGHT MONTHS PREGNANT. A.P. Carter had to hoe his brother’s corn patch for two days just to borrow the car. Then he loaded his wife Sara, two small kids, and Ezra’s 18-year-old pregnant wife Maybelle into a borrowed sedan and drove 26 miles of dirt road to Bristol, Tennessee. The car stalled in a swollen river. Sara and Maybelle hiked up their dresses, held the instruments above their heads, and pushed. Sara thought it was pointless. “Ain’t nobody going to pay us fifty dollars to sing a song.” She was wrong. Ralph Peer from Victor Records had set up on the second floor of an empty hat factory. August 1927. Sara nursed the baby between takes. On day two, A.P. stayed behind to fix a flat tire, so Sara and Maybelle recorded “Single Girl, Married Girl” without him. Maybelle played a guitar style she’d invented alone in a cabin on Clinch Mountain — melody on the bass strings, chords brushed above. Every guitar textbook in America now calls it the “Carter scratch.” She was 18 when she figured it out without a teacher or a book. Six songs. $50 each. That session launched country music. But within a few years, Sara fell in love with A.P.’s cousin — and what happened next on a live radio broadcast reaching all of North America is the part that splits people right down the middle. Sara kept singing beside a husband she’d already left so the music wouldn’t die. Maybelle kept playing through a pregnancy that would’ve kept most people home. Was the Carter Family built on love — or on stubbornness that just happened to sound beautiful?