Country Music - General Discussion

[proserpina65]

6 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

I didn't call anyone disgusting and I certainly haven't passed judgement on her. 

You didn't.  Another commenter did.

[Mrs Shibbles]

17 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

Every single artist featured in Country Music has experienced a significant sales bump in their recording catalog. Evidently something similar occurs during/after the airing of all Ken Burns documentaries. I'm thrilled to see so many people "discovered" Emmylou Harris! 

The Ken Burns Effect: How ‘Country Music’ Doc Surged Sales for Country Legends

I’ve been listening to music from the show on Spotify. There are official playlists from the show and other user created playlists inspired by the show.

https://newsroom.spotify.com/2019-09-10/ken-burns-country-music-enhanced-playlist-experience-comes-to-spotify/

[Brattinella]

1 hour ago, ProudMary said:

I'm thrilled to see so many people "discovered" Emmylou Harris! 

I just had to listen to "One of These Days" again.  Love her!

[Rough Draft]

2 hours ago, ProudMary said:

 I'm thrilled to see so many people "discovered" Emmylou Harris! 

I hadn't listened to Emmylou in a long time, but when they played a few notes of Boulder to Birmingham I was instantly and totally transported back to another place and time. What an absolutely beautiful song.

[stonehaven]

I will say that I have a new appreciation for Willie Nelson after this aired and will no doubt be looking at the others who were featured...and yes, at the ones that say "..but what about????"

[mightysparrow]

7 hours ago, ProudMary said:

Every single artist featured in Country Music has experienced a significant sales bump in their recording catalog. Evidently something similar occurs during/after the airing of all Ken Burns documentaries. I'm thrilled to see so many people "discovered" Emmylou Harris! 

The Ken Burns Effect: How ‘Country Music’ Doc Surged Sales for Country Legends

This is good news!  I had a feeling this would happen because it happens after every one of Burns' documentaries.

It's nice to think that so many people have been turned on to some great but long forgotten country musicians that really need to be re-examined, especially now that there's an interest in 'roots' music.  Before this documentary a lot of people might have thought that country music was just one thing and know they know it's so much more than that. 

The one thing I miss most about the conclusion of the series is hearing Marty Stuart talk about country music.  I could listen to that man talk about country music every night.  Not to mention other musicians, performers, executives and Hazel who was a real gas! 

I've been a Ken Burns fan ever since I was transfixed by The Civil War.  I'd really like him to work on a series about hip-hop.  I experienced the birth of hip-hop and would love if Burns gave the same scholarly approach to an art form that started in the ghettos of New York and took over the world.  Who knows?  Maybe Marty Stuart knows something about hip hop too!!!

[Constant Viewer]

56 minutes ago, mightysparrow said:

I'd really like him to work on a series about hip-hop.  I experienced the birth of hip-hop and would love if Burns gave the same scholarly approach to an art form that started in the ghettos of New York and took over the world.  Who knows?  Maybe Marty Stuart knows something about hip hop too!!!

I was thinking the exact same thing! Especially as I am woefully ignorant about hip hop and would like to learn more.

[LittleIggy]

I would love to sit around and drink and gossip with Hazel! 😆

[Kip Hackman]

16 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

I didn't call anyone disgusting

I know. Another poster did. It was quoted in my original post.

[annzeepark914]

10 hours ago, mightysparrow said:

The one thing I miss most about the conclusion of the series is hearing Marty Stuart talk about country music.  I could listen to that man talk about country music every night.  Not to mention other musicians, performers, executives and Hazel who was a real gas! 

Loved listening to Marty Stuart. And Hazel Smith... does anyone remember a movie show in which she'd introduce the movie, talk about who was featured in it, while hosting a celebrity in her kitchen?  She'd also appear at the end of each commercial break, making a comment about the next segment of the movie. Hazel made the commercial breaks bearable...such a funny lady!

[mightysparrow]

6 hours ago, Kip Hackman said:

I know. Another poster did. It was quoted in my original post.

It's been so long and the Vietnam war is still dividing people.  I'm not American and I was a little girl at the time but we watched the CBS News every night (Walter Cronkite)  and I remember all the reports from Vietnam and how the anchors would give the daily death count. 

The most terrible thing about Vietnam is how the politicians manipulated and used people's loyalty and love of their country to justify that awful war.  Who can imagine the grief of a woman who lost two boys to that obscenity  And she STILL believes that her boys died to keep America free.  Maybe that's how she bears it.  She isn't disgusting.  But what was done to her was.

[AllAboutMBTV]

By way of a thank-you, I threw some money to PBS and bought the Country Music 2-CD set (the 5-CD set seemed a bit too much of a muchness).

My Emmylou go-to's are Evangeline and Ashes By Now, oh and Mr. Sandman and To Know Him is To Love Him off the Trio CD she did with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt (worth it for the cover alone!).

Please, Mr. Burns, a documentary on The American Musical before you shuffle off.

[Constant Viewer]

6 hours ago, AllAboutMBTV said:

Please, Mr. Burns, a documentary on The American Musical before you shuffle off.

PBS had a documentary over musicals in 2012, but i don't think Burns directed it.

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/

[JudyObscure]

16 hours ago, AllAboutMBTV said:

Now, oh and Mr. Sandman and To Know Him is To Love Him off the Trio CD she did with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt (worth it for the cover alone!).

The Trio CD is one of the best things, ever!

16 hours ago, mightysparrow said:

It's been so long and the Vietnam war is still dividing people.  I'm not American and I was a little girl at the time but we watched the CBS News every night (Walter Cronkite)  and I remember all the reports from Vietnam and how the anchors would give the daily death count. 

The most terrible thing about Vietnam is how the politicians manipulated and used people's loyalty and love of their country to justify that awful war.  Who can imagine the grief of a woman who lost two boys to that obscenity  And she STILL believes that her boys died to keep America free.  Maybe that's how she bears it.  She isn't disgusting.  But what was done to her was.

I agree the loss of two children would be the worst grief ever and if it helps her to think they died protecting America I'm all for it.  I just take it personally that she's still threatening any protestor who knocks on her door with her Magnum because I took part in anti-war marches at the time, so that would be me.  We didn't do anything to her.  We were trying to keep other mothers from suffering the same grief.  The fact that, to this day,  she can't see that makes me think she is one of those who wanted all the "draft dodgers" to die  as a sort of vengence for her loss.

[SuprSuprElevated]

Country. Music.

[JudyObscure]

Ken Burns. Documentary.

[proserpina65]

9 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

The fact that, to this day,  she can't see that makes me think she is one of those who wanted all the "draft dodgers" to die  as a sort of vengence for her loss.

I wouldn't make that assumption.  She lashed out at someone who intruded upon her grief, and, right or wrong, still feels anger about that.  It says nothing about her attitude towards the war in general.

Edited October 3, 2019 by proserpina65

[JudyObscure]

"Intruded on her grief."  He knocked on her door and asked her if she would like to do something other such mothers had done that he thought might actually help with her grief.  I'm sure lots of people, from salsemen to ladies with cassaroles came to her door in the weeks following her sons'  deaths.  I've never heard that people who have born a loss should be kept in isolation so I don't see them as intruding on her grief.  If she really wasn't up to talking to anyone why even answer the door?  

[Kip Hackman]

13 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

"Intruded on her grief."  He knocked on her door and asked her if she would like to do something other such mothers had done that he thought might actually help with her grief.  I'm sure lots of people, from salsemen to ladies with cassaroles came to her door in the weeks following her sons'  deaths.  I've never heard that people who have born a loss should be kept in isolation so I don't see them as intruding on her grief.  If she really wasn't up to talking to anyone why even answer the door?  

If, right after one of my kids is killed by a drunk driver, someone from M.A.D.D. shows up on my front door, asking me to take part in a protest, they can eff right off.

If I want to get involved, I'll call you.

These guys obviously knew where she lived. They should've just sent her a letter.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Kip Hackman

[Gemma Violet]

I finally finished all 16 hours.  I've never been a big country fan (with the exception of the Eagles, John Denver, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, and a few other artists or individual songs I liked), but I wanted to watch this as I knew it would be excellent if it was a Ken Burns project.  And I was right.  It gave me a whole new appreciation for the genre.  And the stories!  Wow, some of these old country artists had such sad backgrounds.  

On another note, as was said upthread, there was waaaay too much Johnny Cash.  I'm not saying he wasn't a huge artist and a huge influence in country music, but couldn't they have subtracted, oh I don't know, maybe 20 minutes out of the 60 minutes (or at least it seemed like 60 minutes) of Johnny's story to give people like Glen Campbell and others more than 15 seconds each?

That's my only beef.  Otherwise, excellent.

Edited October 5, 2019 by Gemma Violet

[msrachelj]

On 10/1/2019 at 3:39 PM, proserpina65 said:

You didn't.  Another commenter did.

Because she was disgusting. Threatening someone with a firearm when they were only asking you if you wanted to join a protest for a disgraceful, unnecessary war that cost the lives of way too many men is disgusting, among other things.  She sounded like a fool. All she did was prove to some people the stereotype is true. In her case anyway.

[Snookums]

Hey Everybody:

Just a reminder: obviously the topic of the Vietnam War/Jan Shepherd is a very live wire, and please keep in mind the number one rule: Be Civil. It's okay to have strong feelings but don't take them out on fellow posters.

[sinycalone]

Don't know that I can be too critical of Jean Shepard;s reaction and comments.  Not only did she lose one son in Viet Nam,and  another to suicide....but if you will recall, when she was 8-months pregnant....her husband was killed in the plane crash that took Patsy Cline.

I agree with a poster who pointed out that, since the protesters actually knew where she lived, they could have contacted her first with a letter asking if she would be interested in joining them.  To knock on her door with no forewarning was a terrible idea.

[ProudMary]

38 minutes ago, sinycalone said:

Don't know that I can be too critical of Jean Shepard;s reaction and comments.  Not only did she lose one son in Viet Nam,and  another to suicide....but if you will recall, when she was 8-months pregnant....her husband was killed in the plane crash that took Patsy Cline.

Jan Howard is the singer who lost her sons to the Vietnamese War. Jean Shepard is the singer whose husband, Hawkshaw Hawkins was killed in the plane crash with Patsy Cline.

[sinycalone]

14 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

Jan Howard is the singer who lost her sons to the Vietnamese War. Jean Shepard is the singer whose husband, Hawkshaw Hawkins was killed in the plane crash with Patsy Cline.

Ooops....you are right.  My goof.  Stilll think it was a very bad idea to just show up at Jan's door.

[msrachelj]

On 10/1/2019 at 2:07 PM, proserpina65 said:

Perhaps not, but she may have felt that way.  And she may not have agreed that she was being offered a chance to express her grief meaningfully.  She had a right to express her grief differently, in a way that felt meaningful to her, and to not want people bothering her about it.  That's how I took her story.

Yep. And threaten to kill them. That's her right also, correct.? A very closed minded woman to say the least.

Edited October 5, 2019 by msrachelj
edit

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Thought it was a great series, especially the first 3.  I learned a few things which gave me a new appreciation for the musicians and their music.  I must have fast forwarded through the opportunity to buy cd’s so will have to google that.

I love Johnny Cash but do agree he was profiled way too much and this took away from other great singer songwriters like Glen Campbell and many I have forgotten about until I hear their name.  

I dvr’d the series and will rewatch it!  Ken Burns makes great documentaries and with Peter Coyote’s reflective voice makes them a winning combo.

[proserpina65]

On ‎10‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 11:54 AM, sinycalone said:

I agree with a poster who pointed out that, since the protesters actually knew where she lived, they could have contacted her first with a letter asking if she would be interested in joining them.  To knock on her door with no forewarning was a terrible idea.

Exactly.  There were ways to contact her which would've been less intrusive, even a phone call would've been better.  Just showing up at someone's door like that was inappropriate, and yes, was intruding on her grief in a way that neighbors with casseroles or door-to-door salesmen would not have been.  Not that threatening to shoot them was right, but the young man was way out of line.  And that's my last thought on that subject.

I was at a sort of work-related gathering Friday night, and the person who takes care of background music used the Spotify playlist from this show.  I spent a fair amount of time trying to identify each song/artist as it came up.

[Neurochick]

On 10/3/2019 at 7:19 AM, JudyObscure said:

The Trio CD is one of the best things, ever!

No kidding, I even have the vinyl record, LOL.  I LOVE that record.

My mother grew up listening to country music; she even remembered a radio station that broadcasted from the Grand Ole Opry.  As I child my parents and I used to watch Johnny Cash's TV show when it was on ABC.  I remember Barbara Mandrell and her sisters' variety show.  

I think variety shows turned people on to different types of music, it's a shame they are a thing of the past.

In the early 90's I started listening to a great radio station here in NYC, a college radio station.  During the day they played a lot of country, bluegrass, folk and zydeco music.  I'm grateful to that station for exposing me to artists I would never have heard of otherwise.

[larapu2000]

LOVED this documentary.  

I grew up with grandparents that were county (AND western!) fans, so I was familiar with many of the Patsy Cline-Loretta Lynn era, along with Hank, of course.  In fact, Hey Good Lookin' is one of the first songs I remember my grandpa singing to me while he played the guitar.  However, according to my grandma, Johnny Cash was a no good drug addict and cheater, so she never listened to him, haha.  

I could watch interviews with Loretta and Dolly being adorable interviewees all day long.  I have long loved watching Jack White's puppy dog adoration of Loretta.  I remember her dragging him up with her to the stage when she won the Grammy for Van Lear Rose and him just in absolute awe of her force of nature personality, it was charming and sweet.

I don't know or care enough about Garth Brooks to have an opinion on him, but I will say this in his defense:  Callin' Baton Rouge is one of the best pop songs of the 90's.  Any genre.  

The Hank Williams story about writing a song for that one guy and then recording it himself is the second funniest story in the series.  The first is obviously Willie Nelson and his legendary kissing skills, lol.  I had NO idea Willie wrote Crazy!  What a shame he languished in Nashville, but perhaps it's also good considering how that allowed him  to make his music on his own terms.

Does anyone else remember the Time Life collection that was advertised constantly around 6 years ago, lol?  Like a 30 minute infomercial  My sister and I would just sit there and watch it, we were so amused by the music, artists, outfits, etc.  It was great!

How has no one made the obvious connection on Marty Stuart's fashion/hair inspo??

Edited October 9, 2019 by larapu2000

[dcalley]

On 9/24/2019 at 5:28 PM, mightysparrow said:

I'm upset that he stops before the Dixie Chicks (who were a kickass country group)

And still are! They're releasing a new studio album soon (the first since 2006). I like their collaboration with Beyonce on her "Daddy Lessons," in which they insert a bit of "Long Time Gone." They all performed this at the 2016 CMA Awards (story, video).

On 9/24/2019 at 6:24 PM, susannot said:

Just love the clips from Johnny Cash's show.  I never watched it back in the day.  Big mistake!!

I particularly like Linda Ronstadt's appearances. Here she is alongside Johnny.

On 9/24/2019 at 1:29 PM, AllAboutMBTV said:

Kris Kristofferson. ... (Does anyone know if his mother ever came around?)

There's a bit more on Kris Kristofferson and his mother in this article from 2016, which also talks about his memory problems. I'm gonna say no, she did not. She would have preferred he be a dead soldier than a living singer/songwriter. He calls her an asshole.

On 9/25/2019 at 8:40 PM, bosawks said:

I remember listening to NPR a few years ago and they were doing some segment on country female singers and it ["He Stopped Living Her Today"] came up.  One of the singers commented that the woman in the song probably went to see “him” to make sure the bastard was dead.

I confess to laughing out loud hearing that.

One of the Youtube rabbit holes I went down as a result of this program was for the Stoneman family. Ernest "Pop" Stoneman and his wife, Hattie, had 23 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood. (*Turns up "The Pill" to 11* - thank you, birth control!) Roni Stoneman was on Hee Haw and is still alive, along with her sister Donna. I found a video with Donna and Patsy when she was still alive (link, but I only watched a little bit), where Patsy says her husband divorced her after she had cancer, and she told him she would live to pee on his grave, and she eventually did! Donna, now a preacher, doesn't care for this story.

On 9/25/2019 at 3:41 PM, annzeepark914 said:

Could someone explain what they were saying?  I thought she was explaining how the music should emphasize the words in a particular section of the song but maybe I was not hearing it correctly?  I've always had a hard time understanding Loretta because of the way she speaks.

I think this is about Jack White on Loretta Lynn. Sorry if I'm mistaken. He was talking about the song "Portland Oregon" from Van Lear Rose, and the lyric "Next day we knew last night got drunk," which he didn't understand (and later, "In the morning when the night had sobered up"). He didn't see the night as capable of doing anything at first, but she told him it was the night that got drunk, not them. I really like the video for that song. They're cute--hot, even--together.

On 9/26/2019 at 5:43 PM, AuntiePam said:

While everyone's here, is there anyone new we should be paying attention to? 

I have only listened to half the album one time so far, but The Highwomen just released an album (RS goes through it here). Of the members, I was only familiar with Brandi Carlile. I have her self-titled album and need to seek out some of her others.

[AuntiePam]

1 hour ago, dcalley said:

One of the Youtube rabbit holes I went down as a result of this program was for the Stoneman family. Ernest "Pop" Stoneman and his wife, Hattie, had 23 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood. (*Turns up "The Pill" to 11* - thank you, birth control!) Roni Stoneman was on Hee Haw and is still alive, along with her sister Donna.

Roni's memoir Pressing On is available at Amazon.  I'd never heard of her until I met a musician who knows her well, and he recommended the book.  Lots of inside stuff, not all of it positive.  (She didn't need a Me Too movement to put people in their place.)  She comes across as someone who makes no excuses for anything, good or bad, that happened in her life.  Lots of insight about the business, as well as making music.

I think I saw a brief glimpse of her on the show, in a scene from Hee Haw.  She was usually at the ironing board.

[dcalley]

36 minutes ago, AuntiePam said:

Roni's memoir Pressing On

The university library near me has this; thanks!

And at my public library, the Country Music 2-CD set has a nice long hold list! (There's a 5-CD one, too, but not at my library.)

Edited October 13, 2019 by dcalley

[dcalley]

I finally finished this today.

On A.P. Carter being a songcatcher, there's a movie of that title (but not about him) that I saw so long ago I can't remember too much about it now. I do remember it's set approx. a hundred years ago.

I would just like to take a moment to state my love of Guy Clark's hat flick when he says of Nashville, "They're here to make money, not to support your ~artistic bent~ [*flick*]." That made me laugh out loud. It's in ep. 7 at approx. 38 min. if you want to see it again.

There was a picture shown of Dwight Yoakam behind a sound board in between two women I immediately recognized as Amy Ray and Emily Saliers (The Indigo Girls). I didn't know the connection, but it turns out they sang backup on his album If There Was a Way. He'd met them at the Grammys and asked them to sing on "Dangerous Man."

I was so happy to see Mary Chapin Carpenter briefly, but I selfishly wish they'd played a bit of "He Thinks He'll Keep Her."

I recently watched the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony and noticed Fred Foster was included in the in memoriam segment.

I saw Willie Nelson this year and he was a bit forgetful. I was surprised he didn't have another guitarist on stage with him. It's not like another guitarist ever raises eyebrows. Willie's sister, Bobbie, was on piano and sounded great.

On 10/9/2019 at 4:20 PM, larapu2000 said:

The Hank Williams story about writing a song for that one guy and then recording it himself is the second funniest story in the series.

Though a bit different, this reminded me of how Waylon Jennings asked Stevie Nicks to write the title track "Leather and Lace," a duet for Jennings and his wife, Jessi Colter. Stevie wouldn't let him do it by himself once it turned out Jennings and Colter had broken up. So she sang it herself with Don Henley on her album Bella Donna. (Jennings and Colter didn't stay broken up, of course.)

[annzeepark914]

Oh wow! I *love* this song. And I remember watching this performance back in the 90's. I think it was on PBS, a special about women in country music. A couple years ago we went to MCC's concert at Wolf Trap. Unfortunately, she didn't sing this song. Every song was so  incredibly depressing. I just about crawled out of there that night. Thanks for this video!!

Edited October 14, 2019 by annzeepark914

[Tdoc72]

On 9/24/2019 at 9:04 PM, susannot said:

The Highwaymen.  Cash, Kristofferson, Jennings, and Nelson.  What a band!!

I have to say Jessi Colter looks great.  She has aged well.

I thought Emmylou Harris (72) & Barbara Mandrell (70) looked amazing as well.  

On 10/2/2019 at 12:45 AM, LittleIggy said:

I would love to sit around and drink and gossip with Hazel! 😆

I think lunch with her and Dolly Parton would be a hoot and a half. 

[Tdoc72]

On 9/26/2019 at 4:37 PM, AllAboutMBTV said:

It's odd that while I'm sorry the series is over I was also ready for it to be over. I blame myself for watching it nightly instead of banking all the episodes on my DVR and then watching one a week, almost as a treat. I wish I knew why PBS airs Burns' documentaries nightly with a break for the weekend instead of once a week. I do love his work, but next time I'm going to dole them out to myself. (Or so I say now...)

I wasn’t ready for it to end. I wanted another 2 hours from 1996-present. The Dixie Chicks, Taylor Swift, & Darius Rucker, the current state of country or how to preserve the tradional vibe could have been possible topics. 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

I have never seen a better accounting of race in American culture than what Burns has done in this remarkable documentary.

The eps recalling the roots of this music are spectacular.  As was depicted later, no other American art form has retained its origins and continues to honor them as well as this one.  Jimmie Rodgers would recognize what he would see and hear today.  

I had no earthly idea who Marty Stuart was.  I do now.  Fabulous storyteller and historian.  Rhiannen is an absolute gem.

My concerns for the relative strength of this doc as it played out were borne out, though.  I knew there would be "hands washing hands" with some of the folks who appeared on camera.  Trisha Yearwood, for example, was given much too much time in an incredibly packed finale where where each second was precious.  There were also some repetitive elements, most prominently the Smith/Stuart "romance."  I counted at least four tellings/allusions.  These were entirely, and should have been, avoidable.

Without question, short shrift was given to the phenomenal rise of the genre in the 80s and the new understandings, forced largely by the marketers, of what the "sound" was.  No mention whatsoever of the absolute dominance of the rock and roll stylizations of this time.  

Garth was given his proper due.  But, Strait and Travis were not.  Where the heck was Shania?!!!!!!!!  The crossover of "country" at that time was never seen before, and has not been seen since.  It deserved much more examination.

Burns made the correct choice to move things along so deliberately as he constructed the first 5 or 6 eps.  Unfortunately, he boxed himself in as to the later permutations and superstars.  I wonder if he went back to the foundations and PBS and asked for more support to add at least one more ep.

Stuart's final appearance was excellent.  "I invite you to come in."  So, too, were Burns' choices and sequencing of images as he was fading to the end.  Pretty much perfection, these all were. 

[ProudMary]

8 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

Garth was given his proper due.  But, Strait and Travis were not.  Where the heck was Shania?!!!!!!!!  The crossover of "country" at that time was never seen before, and has not been seen since.  It deserved much more examination.

The date stamp on the final episode ended with 1996. Shania Twain didn't break big until 1998. I suspect Burns chose to end the documentary at '96 just prior to the crossover explosion of Shania Twain, Faith Hill, etc.

As I've mentioned above, Ken Burns did make one exception outside the '96 boundary and that was for Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt.

[annzeepark914]

25 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

As I've mentioned above, Ken Burns did make one exception outside the '96 boundary and that was for Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt.

But, of course!  I think it was obvious that Ken Burns was devoted to J. Cash.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

On 10/22/2019 at 11:02 AM, ProudMary said:

The date stamp on the final episode ended with 1996. Shania Twain didn't break big until 1998. 

I recalled her from 1995.  Her first monstrous album dropped in February that year.  20 million sold to-date.  Several million almost instantly. Her celebrity took off during that year and she became an icon immediately.  The marketers saw to it.  

Martina McBride also broke big in 1995.  Independence Day, y'all?  

Another name which ought to have been at least mentioned in passing is Amy Grant.  She grew up in...wait for it...Nashville.  Sure, she was marketed as a Gospel artist.  Yet, her sound was absolutely informed by Bluegrass.  A significant number of her offerings got pretty good play in certain "country" radio formats, too.  She was a Queen of Nashville, forever promoting and representing the area.  Her crossover appeal helped the country wave build, as well.

I was going to mention Alan Jackson being given short shrift in my first post.  Also, if Burns' wanted to bring in politics of war with Vietnam and how music played a significant role (it really did), he should not have omitted Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA (1984), which became, and remains (for good or for ill), a cultural touchstone.

The Carter marrow and legacy was pretty much played out before the 90's hit.  It was overwhelmed by the modern crossover explosion of the genre of that time.  Burns lowered his standard and broke format to shoehorn JC into the last ep.  Again - the seconds were beyond precious in Episode 8.  How many hits did we get with RC?  Not justified.  

Thank God I'm a Country Boy.  It does not get more "Country" than that.  The name (alias), "Denver?"  How does it get more "Western?"  I don't much blame Burns for not giving the man more of a presence in the doc, but it's one of the wackiest musical heritages evah that he was not seen as a full-on country artist in his ascendancy.  He probably made more money by being handled more as a "pop" artist.  As his character Deputy Dewey Cobb, on one of my favorite McCloud episodes (remember that?!) would have said, "Farrrr out."

Did we have even one appearance by Connie (Mrs. Stuart) Smith?  I'd love to know that backstory.  Surely, she was asked.

[Dowel Jones]

I am surprised that they never interviewed Robert Oermann (sp?), a historian and journalist in Nashville.  He chronicled the first Circle album with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, a well as many other developments in the industry. He would have added a lot of insights.

Every time I see that video clip of Charlie Rich, in his spangled up tuxedo, burning the envelope that announced John Denver as Entertainer of the Year, I get pissed.  You ain't one to talk, Rich, considering the crap you sang and got on the radio. 

There's so many side stories that might have been told, but I'm sure Burns didn't want to anger any of his interviewees, Ralph Emery especially.  For those who don't know, Emery was the all night dj on WSM back in the day, and he was a gatekeeper for country music. 

I had been fortunate enough to work at a community radio station earlier in my life, and was exposed to a variety of music, country and not-.  I remain, to this day, convinced that alternative radio is the only way to hear real music.

[DoctorAtomic]

Wow is this series long. I'm on 1968-72 now and it's taken me months to get through it. It's dense.

I was surprised how much of the songs I knew. I wasn't really a country fan too too much, but I didn't realize that how popular these songs were growing up. I didn't know they were all basically Jimmy Rogers' songs. I guess on the variety shows in the 70s had a lot of country.

It's also interesting how great songwriters all of these people were.

I was surprised that Dolly Parton wrote so many songs.

Edited November 3, 2019 by DoctorAtomic

[DoctorAtomic]

One thing I really like is how they're all talking about listening to the radio. I used to because there was no internet. But I still do, probably 97/3 v streaming. I don't have spotify or anything.

Now, you can listen to the radio from anywhere! And any station!

[dcalley]

On 10/26/2019 at 2:59 AM, Lonesome Rhodes said:

Did we have even one appearance by Connie (Mrs. Stuart) Smith?  I'd love to know that backstory.  Surely, she was asked.

She was one of the interviewees per https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/country-music/biographies I remember her being on screen but can't remember what she said.

[dcalley]

Washington Post Magazine article about the Stoneman Family and the documentary:

Ken Burns’s ‘Country Music’ shines a spotlight on an unsung Washingtonian

Quote

For sisters Roni and Donna, the Ken Burns segment on Pop is welcome, if also thin gruel, especially with so much focus on the famous “First Family of Country Music,” the Carters. “It’s always Mother Maybelle! Mother Maybelle!” says Roni, scorching the phone line. “Well, what about our mother? Where in the cat-hair is Hattie? Mama had been recording with Daddy on Edison years before the Carters. Well, p--- on it!” Then, her voice still in fine fettle, she began to sing an old-time tear-jerker recorded by Pop in his heyday, “Somebody’s Waiting for Me”; the family had performed the song when they won a talent show at D.C.’s Constitution Hall in 1947.

Now in their 80s, the sisters watched the PBS series in Nashville where they reside. Their favorite part is a close-up of a young Pop in a record-label publicity shot from his glory years in the ’20s. He wears a suit in a pensive pose, resting his head in his hand. Neither Donna nor Roni had seen it before. “It’s the greatest picture I’ve ever seen of Daddy,” says Donna. “He looks very serious and very handsome.”

I hope they get a copy of that photo!

[annzeepark914]

8 hours ago, dcalley said:

Washington Post Magazine article about the Stoneman Family and the documentary:

Ken Burns’s ‘Country Music’ shines a spotlight on an unsung Washingtonian

I hope they get a copy of that photo!

Thanks for posting this. Roni was right!

[DoctorAtomic]

Wow I had no idea Willie Nelson invented Austin City Limits.

The lady who coined the term 'outlaw' is an absolute charm.

Edited November 10, 2019 by DoctorAtomic

[Dowel Jones]

I think that was a bit of a stretch, similar to a certain politician claiming that he invented the internet.  Looking at the Wikipedia page, it was created by three people, none of of them Willie, but he likely had some input on the idea and the staging, as he was the very first guest to appear.

[DoctorAtomic]

I knew of Dwight Y most likely because I just listened to a lot of radio then, but I didn't know much about him. Really interesting guy.

It was really touching seeing Gill struggle through the song and having the other singer help him through it.

Same thing about Brooks. The clip of everyone going nuts to Low Places just looked like a blast. Super nice of him to help out Yearwood.

Well, I hope sometime in your lives you come across that country song that speaks to you and gets you through where you need to go.

Edited November 30, 2019 by DoctorAtomic