09-20-2019, 02:53 PM
Watching this on PBS this week.
I am not really a big country music fan, but I do have a lot of bluegrass and some Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Main reason it is so interesting to me is because where I live in east Tennessee is a big part of the roots of country music.
For several years I passed a statue of Dolly Parton as I entered the Sevier County Courthouse.
I now practice some in Maynardville which is the hometown of Roy Acuff.
Archie Campbell is from Bulls gap about 25 miles away.
Every time I drive to Knoxville I pass through the little town of Luttrell (population 1,000) which has produced both Chet Atkins and Kenny Chesney.
I live about 60 miles from Maces Spring VA, home of the Carter Family. The Carters were the first ones to record the hillbilly folk music in the 1920's that would spawn all the different types of country music (Folk/string band, Texas swing, Bluegrass, Honkey-tonk, Pop-country, Americana, Southern Rock, and even the jazz that Chet Atkins played and sold as "country). Maybelle Carter's daughter June Carter married Johnny Cash.
Knoxville also has a rich tradition in country music because of "The Mid-day Merry-Go-Round" which was a famous country radio show in the 30's and 40's. It produced many stars who went on to stardom in Nashville.
I also lived in Nashville for 2 years, and my parents performed on the radio in a gospel quartet when I was growing up. So while I am not a big country music fan I was raised in it and am surrounded by its influence.
I am not really a big country music fan, but I do have a lot of bluegrass and some Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Main reason it is so interesting to me is because where I live in east Tennessee is a big part of the roots of country music.
For several years I passed a statue of Dolly Parton as I entered the Sevier County Courthouse.
I now practice some in Maynardville which is the hometown of Roy Acuff.
Archie Campbell is from Bulls gap about 25 miles away.
Every time I drive to Knoxville I pass through the little town of Luttrell (population 1,000) which has produced both Chet Atkins and Kenny Chesney.
I live about 60 miles from Maces Spring VA, home of the Carter Family. The Carters were the first ones to record the hillbilly folk music in the 1920's that would spawn all the different types of country music (Folk/string band, Texas swing, Bluegrass, Honkey-tonk, Pop-country, Americana, Southern Rock, and even the jazz that Chet Atkins played and sold as "country). Maybelle Carter's daughter June Carter married Johnny Cash.
Knoxville also has a rich tradition in country music because of "The Mid-day Merry-Go-Round" which was a famous country radio show in the 30's and 40's. It produced many stars who went on to stardom in Nashville.
I also lived in Nashville for 2 years, and my parents performed on the radio in a gospel quartet when I was growing up. So while I am not a big country music fan I was raised in it and am surrounded by its influence.
