Ken Burns has dug deep once again with his pursuits. This time into
Country Music. I found this series compelling. This is not an "entertainment" series in that there are no long renditions of songs. It's more about the history. The stories, the words, the amazing footage, but most of all, the engaging music.
The series begins in 1933 with the music described as "3 chords and the truth". Early stars included Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family, Woody Guthrie, Bob Willis. Hank Williams, "the hill billy Shakespeare", is highlighted in the series as he wrote a string of hits, such as "I Saw the Light", "Jambolaya", "Your Cheatin Heart". He died at age 29 of alcohol and drug abuse. Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Elvis are also featured. Amid all this are the stories and photographs of the artists, mostly from dirt poor beginnings, with apt, current comments interspersed by Rozanne Cash, Marty Stuart, Hank Williams Jr., Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Emmy Lou Harris, Kris Kristofferson and many others.
As this series of 8 episodes of 2 hours each goes on, it just gets richer. Classics such as Patsy Cline singing "I Fall to Pieces", Ray Charles singing "I Can't Stop Loving You" and Loretta Lynn singing "Don't Come Home Drinkin' with Lovin' on your Mind" are other highlights. Bob Dylan gets some references but he's not part of this scene. There is reference to the "Bakersfield Sound" headed up by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, who did a lot of time in prison when he was younger, but "came to a fork in the road and took it." He decided his best bet was to become a model prisoner, and this saved him. He became a "poet of the common man". "Okie from Muskogee" was one of his big hits. Charlie Pride first appeared at the famous Rhyman Auditorium in Nashville, and the audience went silent when they saw the color of his skin but came around to him after they heard him sing.
Johnny Cash is another highlighted star. He married June Carter and they did a Folsom Prison concert together. He sang "A Boy Named Sue", and the audience roared. He and Bob Dylan sang together the great Dylan song "Girl from the North Country". There's reference to a profound Waylon Jennings title, "Ain't It Hard When It Ain't". Kris Kristoferson, another highlighted star, and an acclaimed song writer, had a very different upbringing, but after a successful academic career and becoming a Rhodes scholar, he veered into the country music world. His mother wrote him a scathing and nasty letter saying she didn't want to see him again or any of the people he was associated with. He told Johnny Cash about this, who said "nothing like getting a letter from home".
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band sing one of the country standards "Will the Circle Be Unbroken".
Dolly Parton sings "Jolene", "I Will Always Love You", "Here You Come Again". George Jones and Tammy Wynette were married and later divorced. Garth Brooks is the most recent highlighted country star. He is shown at one of his concerts soaring over the crowd like a some high-wired acrobat/drone. I guess country music has come to this need to over-entertain. Regardless, it's a great series. I love talking about it, but find I have very few friends who are interested.
