# Ken Burns Eight-part Series on Country Music



## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

I found it a monumental experience and would recommend it to anyone. On PBS. It was not what I expected. It was much more. I was deeply moved by parts of it and it gives rich insight into the history of this country and the spirit of the South. Geniuses can be found in any genre. Country is story songs like the soul music of the white population from which it sprang but not without the influence of black culture too and many other influences. I consider this series high up there with the other great Ken Burns presentations. It’s full of soul.


----------



## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

My wife and I have been watching the series - enjoying it greatly. Nobody does these types of documentaries as well as Burns.

When this series is done, we will go back to an earlier Burns series on baseball.

I'd love to see him do a series on classical music.


----------



## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Bulldog said:


> My wife and I have been watching the series - enjoying it greatly. Nobody does these types of documentaries as well as Burns.
> 
> When this series is done, we will go back to an earlier Burns series on baseball.
> 
> I'd love to see him do a series on classical music.


I love the baseball series, too!


----------



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Ken Burns is a phenomenon and an authentic national treasure. My hat is certainly off to him :tiphat:


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Bulldog said:


> I'd love to see him do a series on classical music.


Howard Goodall's BBC series on YouTube is excellent. It's called The Story Of Music.


----------



## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

I love Ken Burns. I’ve watched the Civil War series a few times.
I’d rather have a root canal sans anesthesia than listen to Country Music


----------



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Triplets said:


> I love Ken Burns. I've watched the Civil War series a few times.
> I'd rather have a root canal sans anesthesia than listen to Country Music


That's the beauty and power of Burns' storytelling. I also am not the audience for whom Country music is primarily intended, but Burns' series has got me interested in singling out several Country artists for further listening.


----------



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Before seeing this series, I did not consider Ernest Tubb to be a genius. Now, I've ordered the Complete Works. :lol:


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I watched a couple episodes of the country doc. It was okay. I didn't grow up listening to any of the music, and I have no interest in honky tonk country. I do appreciate the more accomplished instrumentalists. Especially when they're making their own records as opposed to backing up the rhinstone studded singing stars.

I'm glad Alison Krauss has had some major success. Many of the big country stars are marginal talents or instrumentalists who have downplayed their skills to appeal to a general audience. Alison is a great musician who stuck to her bluegrass roots. The acoustic side of country has always been my main interest.


----------



## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I liked the Ken Burns series on the Old West. His series on the Vietnam War was way too lopsided.


----------



## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

:tiphat: - to the USA for creating an artform of profound cultural significance with a one hundred year plus recorded legacy the influence of which resonates to this very day.

Artists who owe a substantial debt to country music include - Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Van Morrison, Steve Winwood, Richard Thompson, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Robbie Robertson, and just about everyone else you could name who ever sang a song which expressed both love and heartache - the tears and sorrows of the lives we lead - accompanied side by side and step by step by the often unwarranted and unfair vicissitudes which life invariably brings with carefree and reckless abandon... everyone... everyone that is with the possible exception of the Bay City Rollers... 

Country music rocks...


----------



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

^^^^Excellent post. I am in the curious position of not ever being properly equipped to deal with much country music yet appreciating so much of the other musics and artists that it inspired and nourished. Case in point: Rod Stewart's wonderful album _Every Picture Tells A Story_ as an example of country as a powerful inspiration, source, catalyst for what is regarded as a rock classic. And the album could be claimed as country, should that seem apt.


----------



## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I too have been watching this series. Though it takes me a long time to watch any Ken Burns series. It's on my DVR. I've watched the first two episodes of the eight so far. It'll probably take me a month to watch it all. I'm no binge watcher. I have never really listened to country music, but I do enjoy a few songs, especially from the 40s through 60s. I am enjoying watching this series and I'm learning a lot. I had never heard of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Little Jimmy Dickens, etc. 

I enjoyed Ken Burns' Jazz, I've seen that twice. I liked The Civil War, and the National Parks. And he's done some shorter series about The Dust Bowl, Prohibition and Mark Twain. But I haven't watched The War, nor Baseball, nor New York.


----------



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I think Ken Burn's next documentary should be "Surf Music." :lol:


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Mollie John said:


> Country music rocks...


Isn't that one of the criticisms of modern country? It's rock with cowboy hats.


----------



## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

Does the series say where country music came from? To me it sounds close to music from Britain and Ireland.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Open Book said:


> Does the series say where country music came from? To me it sounds close to music from Britain and Ireland.


That's part of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_music


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Ken Burns' films are essential viewing for me whatever the subject - he evoked the distant sepia-tinted past especially well with his film on the American Civil War and the ones he made about jazz and baseball were an absolute delight.


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

I haven't been watching the series. Have they mentioned Roger Miller yet? I don't listen to a whole lot of country music, but I love Roger Miller.


----------



## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Despite Country music being one of my least favorite of all musical genres, I still enjoy the documentary. Not quite done watching yet.

Must say something about Burns' filmmaking skills.


----------



## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Bellinilover said:


> I haven't been watching the series. Have they mentioned Roger Miller yet? I don't listen to a whole lot of country music, but I love Roger Miller.


Roger Miller is mentioned quite favorably and there's a segment on him.


----------



## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Open Book said:


> Does the series say where country music came from? To me it sounds close to music from Britain and Ireland.


yes and then it got Africanized, as it came from Minstrelsy as did every other form of American popular music


----------



## david johnson (Jun 25, 2007)

The series is excellent. It will hurt nobody to absorb it's information. I have always enjoyed the real early country music. People sang like that around where I grew up. I understand the stuff. How in the world did I wind up a classically-trained trumpeter rather than a fiddler? lol


----------

