Country Music

Ken Burns has delivered touchstone documentaries on many subjects, the Civil War and Vietnam War amongst them. This on its face is less serious and certainly much more enjoyable but it also delivers a story every bit as important to America's cultural, social and political life. Essential stuff

The first episode of Ken Burns' "Country Music" was in most respects an excellent show. It was particularly interesting to see the heavy African-American influence on country music documented, including astonishing photos of Black and white musicians in the same bands at a time when the races were rigidly segregated through most of the South. Indeed, at times it seems as if all American popular music mixes Black roots with something else. Put Black music together with the white marching-band tradition and you get jazz. Put Black music together with Jewish folk music, and you get Tin Pan Alley, Broadway musicals and the "Great American Songbook." Put Black music together with the English and Irish folk traditions, mix in influences from Latin America and Hawai'i, and you get country music. The portrayals of the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers were especially interesting and moving -- including those awesome photographs of Rodgers' funeral train drawing the same mourning and apprehensive crowds that President Lincoln's funeral train had drawn nearly 70 years earlier.

But one important name in the history of country music is virtually omitted: Vernon Dalhart. (His name is briefly seen in a newspaper clipping but he's totally unmentioned in the narration.) He was an operatically trained pop singer who had signed a contract with Thomas Edison's record label in 1916. In 1922 Dalhart recorded for Edison "The Wreck of the Old 97," a song he'd written about a real-life mail train disaster outside Danville, Virginia in 1903. Two years later he remade the song for the Victor label and that version sold over one million copies, the first country record to break the million mark. It was the huge success of "The Wreck of the Old 97" that established country music as a commercial genre and led both Victor and its competitors to seek out more artists in this style. "The Wreck of the Old 97" became a country standard and had many cover versions, including ones by Johnny Mercer, Hank Snow and Johnny Cash. A history of country music that omits Vernon Dalhart is woefully incomplete.

In this day and age, it is difficult to hold anyone's attention on one topic for 16 hours. That only makes documentarian Ken Burns even more impressive for his ability to enthrall over the long-haul. If you have absolutely any interest in the topic at all, you'll have no trouble working your way through "Country Music" sooner rather than later.

In typical Burns fashion, he takes the deep-dive approach to this topic, beginning with the very roots of country music and continuing up until about 2000. While certainly focusing on the big names of the industry (Hank, Cash, Merle, Waylon, Patsy, Carter, Garth, etc.), he also branches off into other more subtle areas. Things such as country's roots in mining territory, its pulling from African-American culture, it's movement "West" (literally and figuratively), and it's settling in Nashville (as well as later transcending that distinctive sound and even physical place). A core group of interviewees (performers and songwriters, mostly) give their thoughts in basically every episode.

As a fan of the country genre, I have no qualms about saying that "Country Music" either entertained or informed me all the way through. In all honesty, the only reason I can't quite give it the full 10-star rating is because Burns has already set his own bar so high. Through no fault of its own, this doc just lacks the emotional punch of, say, our grandparents talking about WWII or our parents reflecting in his Vietnam doc. "Country Music" is more "informational" than "emotional" (though it will stir you, at times). Granted, in some ways this makes it all the more impressive, as it can't just rely on emotion to grab viewers.

Overall, I can easily and heartily recommend this longform series to anyone with an interest in Burns' previous work, music in general, or country music specifically. While certain eras/discs may speak to you more than others, I can almost guarantee that you'll learn something substantial from every two-hour episode.

Ken Burns has delivered a 16 hours worth documentary of country music from the beginning to the current. It's addictive to watch on television but you can't look away or want too. The story of country music is so rich, diverse and never so simple. The country music series is a must see television with Peter Coyote as the narrator. You get rare archive footage from the thirties. You hear about the Carter Family Trio and Bob Wills. Whether you know country music or not, you will become easily enthralled into the country music world. Country music has inspired and influenced the world in so many ways. It has reached out to everybody in someway. I remember being lucky to visit the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee where the weekly Barn Dance became the Grand Ole Opry. To me, the Ryman Auditorium is hollowed ground and beautiful. The Grand Ole Opry found a new home in the outskirts and I was lucky to have seen a show with Loretta Lynn, Roy Clark, Jessica Simpson making her Opry debut and more. That evening was one of the best shows I have ever seen on stage. The Grand Ole Opry is a run like a well-oiled machine. The sixteen hours of this documentary flows by. Ken Burns has really outdone himself this time.

"Country Music" (2019 mini-series; 8 episodes) is the latest documentary mini-series from Ken Burns. This time around, Burns and his team are bringing us the story of country music. As "Episode One - The Rub (Beginnings - 1933)" opens, we are given some introductory comments from various country celebrities (Kris Kristofferson: "Country is a white man's soul music"), and then we go back to the 1920, when almost in parallel paths, the rise of both radio and the phonograph were instrumental to the exposure of country music to a wider audience. Along the way, we get a country music instruments 101 on the fiddle, the banjo (did you know the banjo was brought over from Africa?), the mandolin and the guitar (mobility of these instruments was key--hence no role in country music for the piano). The second hour of the first episode zeros in on the origins of the Grand Ol' Opry, the Carter family (yes, of June Carter fame), and Jimmie Rodgers.

Couple of comments: "Country Music" aims to achieve what Ken Burns did with the "Jazz" documentary mini-series hoped to achieve. "Country Music" comes in 8 episodes of 2 hours each. That gives Ken Burns and his team a lot of room to explore. I love how the film makers set us up for the detailed account of what happened in the summer of 1927 in Bristol, TN when the Carter family and Jimmie Rodgers are "discovered". In the end, a great documentary is all about great story-telling, and Ken Burns and his team have proven, time and again, that they are masterful at that. Having researched this meticulously (and finding a treasure trove of historical recordings, pictures and footage), only enhances the viewing experience.

"Country Music" premiered last night on PBS, and will continue with new 2 hour episodes this week and next through Thursday the 26th. I absolutely loved Episode 1, and can't wait to spend 7 more evenings watching this unfold. If you like a great documentary or are a fan of music history, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it on TV, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion. "Country Music" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

*Update 9/17/19* Episode 2 "Hard Times (1933-1945)" aired yesterday evening, and was more of the same (in the best possible way). "Hard times and country music were made for each other" comments someone, and that is very clear as we see the country struggling through the Great Depression, while hillbilly music continues to grow in popularity. Gene Autry gets extensive coverage, as does Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. But the star of this episode is the Grand Ol' Opry, which finally finds a permanent home in the beautiful Ryan Auditorium...

*Update 9/19/19* Episodes 3 ("Hillbilly Shakespeare 1945-1953") and 4 ("I Can't Stop Loving You 1953-1963") are now in the books, marking the half-way point of the mini-series. Episode 3 focuses on Hank Williams a/k/a the Hillbilly Shakespeare although certainly others are highlighted too: Eddy Arnold, Bill Monroe, Earle Scruggs, the Maddox Brothers & Rose, just to name those. Episode 3 feels like it is the very best of the series. Episode 4 focuses on Johnny Cash, when rockabilly almost destroyed "country" music ("country died on the vine", one comments). Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson and Ray Charles are some of the others highlighted in this episode. I get the sense that we have reached crescendo and going forward it will all start to sound quite familiar. Episode 3 marks THE highlight of this documentary mini-series.