Ken Burns "Country Music"

[fredtoast]

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.

[BakertheBeast]

(09-20-2019, 02:53 PM)fredtoast Wrote: 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 Partin 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.

Did her statue depict her with giant breast also?

[fredtoast]

(09-22-2019, 08:05 AM)BakertheBeast Wrote: Did her statue depict her with giant breast also?

Not really



BTW noticed I misspelled her last name Parton.

and she deserves that statue.  she has doen amazing things for that area.  Sevier County is the home of "Dollywood", but she has dome so much more.  Her "Imagination Library" sends free books to over 1 million preschool children EVERY MONTH.

[grampahol]

Perhaps it's just me or has Ken Burns run out of interesting topics to make films about? 
I think he should do a 10 part introspective on the long history of sawdust, better known in some circles as "man glitter"..  Boy! That would draw in the viewers..

[BakertheBeast]

My favorite Dolly song is the duet she did with Kenny Rodgers, Islands in the stream.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

As a fan of the "outlaw" niche and bluegrass music, I've thoroughly enjoyed it so far. There was a lot I knew, but some very interesting things I did not know about. Very well done.

[fredtoast]

(09-24-2019, 02:03 PM)Wyche Wrote: As a fan of the "outlaw" niche and bluegrass music, I've thoroughly enjoyed it so far. There was a lot I knew, but some very interesting things I did not know about. Very well done.

Speaking of the "outlaw niche" how about the fact that Merle Haggard was a prisoner in San Quinton when Johnny Cash did his concert there. I never knew that.

I have this poster of Johnny Cash in the front room of my office.

[coachmcneil71]

It is very well done, and some of his best work IMHO. Burns is a fantastic historian and story teller. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Good stuff!

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(09-25-2019, 05:45 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Speaking of the "outlaw niche" how about the fact that Merle Haggard was a prisoner in San Quinton when Johnny Cash did his concert there. I never knew that.

I have this poster of Johnny Cash in the front room of my office.

Killer picture of Johnny Cash.

I knew that Merle was in the audience that day, what I didn't know was that Johnny broke the news on his show in order to keep the media from making it a big deal. I thought that was pretty neat of him. Cash was all heart.

[fredtoast]

(09-26-2019, 02:04 AM)coachmcneil71 Wrote:  Burns is a fantastic historian and story teller. 

I am sure he films hundreds of hours of interviews to get the few hours he uses, but he has a skill in finding great "story tellers" to interview.

[fredtoast]

(09-30-2019, 11:36 AM)Wyche Wrote: Killer picture of Johnny Cash.

Good story behind it.

I have a couple of large "wall art" posters of a classic car, a 1972 Nissan Skyline GTR, on the walls of the front room of my office.

My daughter pointed out that where I practice I should have an American muscle car (and Jesus) instead of a rice burner.

So the combination of Cash and an American flag was perfect to balance out the room.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(09-30-2019, 03:59 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Good story behind it.

I have a couple of large "wall art" posters of a classic car, a 1972 Nissan Skyline GTR, on the walls of the front room of my office.

My daughter pointed out that where I practice I should have an American muscle car (and Jesus) instead of a rice burner.

So the combination of Cash and an American flag was perfect to balance out the room.

Hell yeah....Skyline GTR is one helluva foreign ride. I'd have to agree about that balance.  :andy:

[*jason*]

(09-30-2019, 11:36 AM)WychesWarrior Wrote: Killer picture of Johnny Cash.

I knew that Merle was in the audience that day, what I didn't know was that Johnny broke the news on his show in order to keep the media from making it a big deal. I thought that was pretty neat of him. Cash was all heart.

Merle Haggard wasn't still in prison when Johnny Cash recorded Live at San Quinton. He was there in the earlier days of his career. Johnny Cash played in prisons multiple times.

My only beef with the documentary was that it straight up ignored some of the seedier musicians that are a big part of country. Not a single word of David Allen Coe or Johnny Paycheck... Also not enough Marty Robbins... And you and I know that he could've brought it all the way up to the modern day. They did leave the last episode open ended (he did the same thing with Baseball), so maybe it will eventually be expanded. I'm nitpicking here though. I thought it was great. I liked the photo of Sturgill Simpson in the closing of the film.

[*jason*]

(09-20-2019, 02:53 PM)fredtoast Wrote: 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 didn't know it til this year, but Hank Williams recorded I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, My Bucket's Got a Hole In It, and Lovesick Blues at Herzog Studios in Cincinnati. This year was the 70th anniversary of them. Ken Burns touched on radio signal strength in his documentary, but apparently WLW was catching flack for it's signal being so strong. They said it was so they could bring radio to people in rural America. To make their claim believable, they started broadcasting Hillbilly Music over the air.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(10-05-2019, 11:26 PM)jason Wrote: Merle Haggard wasn't still in prison when Johnny Cash recorded Live at San Quinton. He was there in the earlier days of his career. Johnny Cash played in prisons multiple times.

My only beef with the documentary was that it straight up ignored some of the seedier musicians that are a big part of country. Not a single word of David Allen Coe or Johnny Paycheck... Also not enough Marty Robbins... And you and I know that he could've brought it all the way up to the modern day. They did leave the last episode open ended (he did the same thing with Baseball), so maybe it will eventually be expanded. I'm nitpicking here though. I thought it was great. I liked the photo of Sturgill Simpson in the closing of the film.

Yeah, they missed out on them, Don Williams, Conway Twitty, and a few others. There's only so much they could cover, but Conway Twitty? I mean, dude was a hit making machine.