Country Music: A Film by Ken Burns
September 18, 2019 6:19 PM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe
PBS: Explore the history of country music – from its roots in ballads, hymns and the blues to its mainstream popularity – and meet the unforgettable characters and storytellers who made it “America’s Music.” Directed by Ken Burns.
The Ringer: Ken Burns’s ‘Country Music’ Gives the Genre the Sepia-Toned Nostalgia Trip It Deserves
Rolling Stone: Why Nashville Needs a Reckoning
Vulture: Ken Burns’s Massive Country Music Is Powerful, Beautiful, and Somehow Still Incomplete
Daily Beast: What Ken Burns’ 16-Hour ‘Country Music’ Epic Leaves Out
The Ringer: Ken Burns’s ‘Country Music’ Gives the Genre the Sepia-Toned Nostalgia Trip It Deserves
Rolling Stone: Why Nashville Needs a Reckoning
Vulture: Ken Burns’s Massive Country Music Is Powerful, Beautiful, and Somehow Still Incomplete
Daily Beast: What Ken Burns’ 16-Hour ‘Country Music’ Epic Leaves Out
He does a better job with Country than he did with jazz. And while he doesn't get a 100, he does far, far better on country music and race than any reasonable person would have expected.
The big let down for me is that there really ought to have been a thirteenth chapter detailing the inexplicable Eagles-ification of pop country, the railroading of the Dixie Chicks, the slide into bro country, country's increasing problem with gender, the siloing out of Americana, and signs of a possible future in Lil Nas X. And Rhiannon Ghiddens and other black artists reclaiming ground.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:18 AM on September 19, 2019 [6 favorites]
The big let down for me is that there really ought to have been a thirteenth chapter detailing the inexplicable Eagles-ification of pop country, the railroading of the Dixie Chicks, the slide into bro country, country's increasing problem with gender, the siloing out of Americana, and signs of a possible future in Lil Nas X. And Rhiannon Ghiddens and other black artists reclaiming ground.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:18 AM on September 19, 2019 [6 favorites]
A chapter on Ghiddens, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Lil Nas X... Hard to square up why we were denied this.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:24 AM on September 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:24 AM on September 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
I got sucked into this last night--noticed it was on PBS, planned to watch just a few minutes before I went to bed, and ended up staying up WAAAAY too late. I'm really looking forward to making a point to watch the full series now.
posted by bookmammal at 7:51 AM on September 19, 2019
posted by bookmammal at 7:51 AM on September 19, 2019
Just found out there are only eight episodes. Bummer. I don't know where I heard there were twelve.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:25 AM on September 20, 2019
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:25 AM on September 20, 2019
Matt Braunger: Seriously tho, have you seen what Dolly Parton looked like in the 70s? Who the FUCK was Jolene??
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:30 PM on September 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:30 PM on September 20, 2019 [4 favorites]
A chapter on Ghiddens, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Lil Nas X... Hard to square up why we were denied this.
I would guess because they're too of-the-moment/happening-as-we-edit-this-together to have accurately gauged or represented their ultimate importance. Ghiddens, at least, is used as a commentator in the series.
Ultimately, though, when doing something like The History of [insert ongoing subject], you have to declare a stopping point, otherwise the project never ends. There are always new, exciting acts, and fresh directions appearing. Depending on when shooting wrapped-up and editing began in-earnest, it's entirely possible that Lil Nas X wasn't yet the big event that he became. I mean, Merle Haggard adds a ton of on-screen commentary in the show, and he died three years ago. So, who knows when the cut-off for shooting was?
posted by Thorzdad at 6:20 AM on September 22, 2019 [5 favorites]
I would guess because they're too of-the-moment/happening-as-we-edit-this-together to have accurately gauged or represented their ultimate importance. Ghiddens, at least, is used as a commentator in the series.
Ultimately, though, when doing something like The History of [insert ongoing subject], you have to declare a stopping point, otherwise the project never ends. There are always new, exciting acts, and fresh directions appearing. Depending on when shooting wrapped-up and editing began in-earnest, it's entirely possible that Lil Nas X wasn't yet the big event that he became. I mean, Merle Haggard adds a ton of on-screen commentary in the show, and he died three years ago. So, who knows when the cut-off for shooting was?
posted by Thorzdad at 6:20 AM on September 22, 2019 [5 favorites]
Ken Burns came out with a tenth inning for Baseball, sixteen years after the original aired.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 11:50 AM on September 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 11:50 AM on September 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
From an interview with writer/producer Dayton Duncan:
Why did you decide to end the series when you did, in 1996 and a little bit farther until the death of Johnny Cash in 2003?posted by Mothlight at 12:16 PM on September 23, 2019 [5 favorites]
As we do in any of these large series that aren’t just a biography of a person or a story of a war, we stop our narrative storytelling about a generation away from the time that we’re doing it. You need that distance in time to separate it as history versus journalism. The reason we picked 1996 – we don’t hold precisely to that because we get to the story of Johnny Cash’s death – but by 1996, Garth Brooks had rocketed to fame, setting new standards of popularity for country music and taking it to new heights of permeating the American culture. 1996 is also when he demonstrated a theme that we developed throughout the eight episodes, which is the incredible and unique connection between country stars and their fans. That year, he goes to a fan fair and stands there for more than twenty hours signing autographs, and that is the apotheosis of that theme.
In ’96, the Telecommunications Act permitted a dramatic consolidation of radio ownership, and that has had a great impact. ’96 is when Bill Monroe dies. He’s a towering figure in our film.
And in the ’94, ’95 era is when Johnny Cash, having been unceremoniously discarded by his label and given up as a has-been, has his own redemption. He’s brought back into the studio by, of all things, a hip hop producer, to go back to the very beginnings of the whole thing: a person, a guitar, and a voice singing songs that meant something to the person singing those songs. Through that, he restored his reputation and popularity and cemented his rightful place as one of the giants of country music. We don’t pretend that this is therefore the end of country music history. The history is still being made.
Do you have any thoughts on country music today?
I would just say that one thing that our film shows is that a debate about ‘what is country music’ is nothing new. There has always been a tension between so-called purists and people who are trying to push the boundaries. That’s another thing that’s I think unique about country music: that its artists are more aware, in general, of their traditions and their roots than many other genres.
People are surprised that a black artist [Lil Nas X, whose “Old Town Road” set a record for longest length of time on the top of the U.S. Billboard chart] is blowing the roof off of the charts today, and I think our film shows that African American artists and country music are not strangers at all. That’s been part of the story of country music since the beginning.
How have I managed to get this far in life without ever hearing the godlike awesomeness of Emmylou Harris?
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:10 PM on September 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:10 PM on September 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
How have I managed to get this far in life without ever hearing the godlike awesomeness of Emmylou Harris?
Awesome, ain't she?
.......
So, with one episode to go (which I'm not sure I'm going to bother watching) I have to say I've been alternately moved and underwhelmed by the show. I think the last three episodes (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, for fellow OTA viewers) were definitely the high points of the series, dealing with the upheaval of the 60s and 70s and the arrival of the new guard of younger, more diverse (in their backgrounds) talent, challenging the bland, by-the-book music Nashville had imposed on the music.
The rest of the series, though, was really uneven for me. Much of the time, it seemed to settle into the pattern of "and then this artist appeared. And this other one came to Nashville" which felt a lot like name-dropping for the sake of name-dropping. Occasionally, the show bothered to go further into why this artist matters in the history of country music, but a lot of the time it seemed like they were just going down a list of names.
Overall, though, the real story that was running throughout the show was the way business interests created, shaped, and molded the genre into a sort-of factory, with Nashville being the factory town. I suppose that's what made those three episodes stand-out, as they told the story of artists rising up and overthrowing a lot of what Nashville had become.
And, Johnny Cash flipping the musical bird right in Nixon's face? Punk. As. Fuck.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:40 AM on September 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
Awesome, ain't she?
.......
So, with one episode to go (which I'm not sure I'm going to bother watching) I have to say I've been alternately moved and underwhelmed by the show. I think the last three episodes (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, for fellow OTA viewers) were definitely the high points of the series, dealing with the upheaval of the 60s and 70s and the arrival of the new guard of younger, more diverse (in their backgrounds) talent, challenging the bland, by-the-book music Nashville had imposed on the music.
The rest of the series, though, was really uneven for me. Much of the time, it seemed to settle into the pattern of "and then this artist appeared. And this other one came to Nashville" which felt a lot like name-dropping for the sake of name-dropping. Occasionally, the show bothered to go further into why this artist matters in the history of country music, but a lot of the time it seemed like they were just going down a list of names.
Overall, though, the real story that was running throughout the show was the way business interests created, shaped, and molded the genre into a sort-of factory, with Nashville being the factory town. I suppose that's what made those three episodes stand-out, as they told the story of artists rising up and overthrowing a lot of what Nashville had become.
And, Johnny Cash flipping the musical bird right in Nixon's face? Punk. As. Fuck.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:40 AM on September 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
Yes to Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn, who are particularly highlighted in the later episodes. The series ends in the late 1990, early 2000 era, but as noted above in Mothlight's post, it had to stop as a retrospective, not as current affairs.
I would be interested to see an update series about the effects of internet and listening trends independent of what is coming out of Nashville on the current country music industry.
Episode Eight mentions changes in federal legislation in the mid 1990s concerning radio station ownership and the shifting of the music industry from listener-driven tastes via local and regional radio stations to a smaller, even more insular and profit-driven marketing conglomerate.
Harris noted that shortly after she and Lynn received several honors at the CMA Awards, she attempted to interest a radio station in one of Lynn's songs. "Oh, no, we can't play her music. It's not on our playlist," she was told.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996, Wikipedia article:
"The Act was claimed to foster competition. Instead, it continued the historic industry consolidation reducing the number of major media companies from around 50 in 1983 to 10 in 1996 and 6 in 2005. An FCC study found that the Act had led to a drastic decline in the number of radio station owners, even as the actual number of commercial stations in the United States had increased. This decline in owners and increase in stations has reportedly had the effect of radio homogenization, where programming has become similar across formats...."
posted by TrishaU at 9:06 PM on September 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
I would be interested to see an update series about the effects of internet and listening trends independent of what is coming out of Nashville on the current country music industry.
Episode Eight mentions changes in federal legislation in the mid 1990s concerning radio station ownership and the shifting of the music industry from listener-driven tastes via local and regional radio stations to a smaller, even more insular and profit-driven marketing conglomerate.
Harris noted that shortly after she and Lynn received several honors at the CMA Awards, she attempted to interest a radio station in one of Lynn's songs. "Oh, no, we can't play her music. It's not on our playlist," she was told.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996, Wikipedia article:
"The Act was claimed to foster competition. Instead, it continued the historic industry consolidation reducing the number of major media companies from around 50 in 1983 to 10 in 1996 and 6 in 2005. An FCC study found that the Act had led to a drastic decline in the number of radio station owners, even as the actual number of commercial stations in the United States had increased. This decline in owners and increase in stations has reportedly had the effect of radio homogenization, where programming has become similar across formats...."
posted by TrishaU at 9:06 PM on September 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
This makes me weirdly nostalgic for Opryland. We went there several times when I was a kid and I have fond memories.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:23 AM on September 29, 2019
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:23 AM on September 29, 2019
5 episodes in, I have several thoughts:
1. Marty Stuart's hair was initially shocking. Then I got used to it so much that when I went to show my spouse a clip I didn't realize what he was laughing at right away. I love Marty.
2. I had no idea how many of these people were the children of sharecroppers!
3. The way they deal with race is so weird. It's like "the studios were real racists. But the artists were so wonderful and supportive and made sure when they toured with the 2 black people in country, those people got to eat." Ok? What about the audience? Or how few black performers there were and still are today??
4. Roseanne Cash's speaking voice is lovely and I would like her to record an album of bedtime stories to put me to sleep.
5. My friend and I regularly talk about how we hate yet love the song "Redneck Yacht Club" and I probably won't have another place to share that information, so I'm leaving it here.
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:06 PM on October 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
1. Marty Stuart's hair was initially shocking. Then I got used to it so much that when I went to show my spouse a clip I didn't realize what he was laughing at right away. I love Marty.
2. I had no idea how many of these people were the children of sharecroppers!
3. The way they deal with race is so weird. It's like "the studios were real racists. But the artists were so wonderful and supportive and made sure when they toured with the 2 black people in country, those people got to eat." Ok? What about the audience? Or how few black performers there were and still are today??
4. Roseanne Cash's speaking voice is lovely and I would like her to record an album of bedtime stories to put me to sleep.
5. My friend and I regularly talk about how we hate yet love the song "Redneck Yacht Club" and I probably won't have another place to share that information, so I'm leaving it here.
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:06 PM on October 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
It took about 3 weeks but I have watched the whole thing. Now I kind of miss it.
I listened to country starting as a teenager. My parents do not like country so I started hearing it with friends in 4-H. When I worked as a dishwasher, I had a radio in my work area, and the line cooks had their own radio where they played the rock station. One cook used to come into my workspace where I was singing along to country. He would laugh and then say "You're just a country lovin' fool." which I often think of still.
But, I did not know anything about the history. To the point where the phrase "George and Tammy" rings a bell, but I didn't actually know their story at all. This documentary gave me a ton of information and a storyline to follow. It also helped me recognize some of the production and instrumentation decisions that affect the music I hear, which is cool and even mildly improves the unfortunate reality that is Top 40 country. (Yes, I know there are other ways to listen to current country. I spend a lot of time driving so Top 40 is still part of my life.)
Of course I wouldn't know what parts of this story are left out, but what was there gave me a better appreciation for country and the show was very engaging for me.
posted by Emmy Rae at 5:31 AM on October 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
I listened to country starting as a teenager. My parents do not like country so I started hearing it with friends in 4-H. When I worked as a dishwasher, I had a radio in my work area, and the line cooks had their own radio where they played the rock station. One cook used to come into my workspace where I was singing along to country. He would laugh and then say "You're just a country lovin' fool." which I often think of still.
But, I did not know anything about the history. To the point where the phrase "George and Tammy" rings a bell, but I didn't actually know their story at all. This documentary gave me a ton of information and a storyline to follow. It also helped me recognize some of the production and instrumentation decisions that affect the music I hear, which is cool and even mildly improves the unfortunate reality that is Top 40 country. (Yes, I know there are other ways to listen to current country. I spend a lot of time driving so Top 40 is still part of my life.)
Of course I wouldn't know what parts of this story are left out, but what was there gave me a better appreciation for country and the show was very engaging for me.
posted by Emmy Rae at 5:31 AM on October 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
My family thinks I am kidding when I say I am going to let my silver hair grow out into "the full Marty Stuart." I haven't decided if I am kidding or not, though.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:32 AM on October 19, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:32 AM on October 19, 2019 [4 favorites]
1. Marty Stuart's hair was initially shocking. Then I got used to it so much that when I went to show my spouse a clip I didn't realize what he was laughing at right away. I love Marty.
He owns the hell out of his look.
I liked how he explained what it was that made what Bill Monroe was doing novel at the time by picking up his mando and blasting out a bit of "Bluegrass Breakdown."
I'm five episodes in, and there are for sure gaps in the whole narrative and history.
3. The way they deal with race is so weird. It's like "the studios were real racists. But the artists were so wonderful and supportive and made sure when they toured with the 2 black people in country, those people got to eat." Ok? What about the audience? Or how few black performers there were and still are today??
Yeah, I'd agree that's a yawning gap in the series. There's so much there. Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music is a pretty interesting read on what's underexplored by Burns here.
Of course I wouldn't know what parts of this story are left out, but what was there gave me a better appreciation for country and the show was very engaging for me.
I had a recent discussion with someone who's a jazz player who's been dabbling in the banjo and getting into country/bluegrass stuff over the last couple of years, and it was interesting to hear his take on the series, which was basically that since he was coming to it cold, he was finding it super-informative and musically satisfying.
Oh. And. Speaking of radio station ownership, one of the earlier episodes touches on John Brinkley and his radio station in Mexico oh-so-briefly, but there's a whole batshit history of that guy you can get into via the Behind the Bastards podcast, where they delve into his quackery that consisted primarily of transplanting goat testicles into humans, often while shitfaced drunk. It's quite the tale.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:03 PM on October 20, 2019
He owns the hell out of his look.
I liked how he explained what it was that made what Bill Monroe was doing novel at the time by picking up his mando and blasting out a bit of "Bluegrass Breakdown."
I'm five episodes in, and there are for sure gaps in the whole narrative and history.
3. The way they deal with race is so weird. It's like "the studios were real racists. But the artists were so wonderful and supportive and made sure when they toured with the 2 black people in country, those people got to eat." Ok? What about the audience? Or how few black performers there were and still are today??
Yeah, I'd agree that's a yawning gap in the series. There's so much there. Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music is a pretty interesting read on what's underexplored by Burns here.
Of course I wouldn't know what parts of this story are left out, but what was there gave me a better appreciation for country and the show was very engaging for me.
I had a recent discussion with someone who's a jazz player who's been dabbling in the banjo and getting into country/bluegrass stuff over the last couple of years, and it was interesting to hear his take on the series, which was basically that since he was coming to it cold, he was finding it super-informative and musically satisfying.
Oh. And. Speaking of radio station ownership, one of the earlier episodes touches on John Brinkley and his radio station in Mexico oh-so-briefly, but there's a whole batshit history of that guy you can get into via the Behind the Bastards podcast, where they delve into his quackery that consisted primarily of transplanting goat testicles into humans, often while shitfaced drunk. It's quite the tale.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:03 PM on October 20, 2019
[Marty Stuart] owns the hell out of his look.
posted by mandolin conspiracy
We all know what's going on here!
posted by Emmy Rae at 6:08 PM on October 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by mandolin conspiracy
We all know what's going on here!
posted by Emmy Rae at 6:08 PM on October 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
I haven't decided if I am kidding or not, though.
The real commitment is to the hairspray.
posted by Emmy Rae at 6:09 PM on October 20, 2019
The real commitment is to the hairspray.
posted by Emmy Rae at 6:09 PM on October 20, 2019
My hair has evolved in verticality naturally from Patton Oswalt to Shoney's Big Boy to David Byrne to David Lynch. I believe I can get to Stuart level without product. I have faith.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:29 PM on October 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:29 PM on October 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by box at 7:03 AM on September 19, 2019 [1 favorite]