Ken Burn's Country Music

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15 September 2019, 11:32 AM

CHAS

Ken Burn's Country Music

Tonight on PBS
Burns and others
"For me, all of these things, race or creativity or commerce or women, are all trumped by how powerful this music is. ... I mean, when Hank Williams says, "I'm so lonesome, I could cry," there's nobody that doesn't know what he's talking about. "The silence of a falling star lights up a purple sky, and as I wonder where you are, I'm so lonesome, I could cry."

Cannot stand a lot of country music, but there is a lot that has value to me.

Women
"One of the surprising things about this series is, women are central to this story in a way they aren't in jazz or other forms, which are fraternities. And country music is not immune to the indignities that women have to suffer everywhere."

15 September 2019, 01:39 PM

Steve Miller

I've been looking forward to watching this.

Thanks!

15 September 2019, 03:15 PM

markj

15 September 2019, 03:31 PM

RealPlayer

Not a country music fan, but if you go WAY, WAY back decades, you can hear some interesting things...before it was commercial, people singing for themselves. Almost field recordings. I've only heard a little on the radio but it was compelling. Not at all like today's.

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“It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray

15 September 2019, 05:03 PM

Mary Anna

I'm with RealPlayer, essentially.

I may have liked more individual country songs and artists over the years than he has, but most of it makes me want to scream into the void. And I say this as someone who was raised on the stuff.

15 September 2019, 05:14 PM

AdagioM

I didn’t think of myself as a country music fan, but after visiting the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, I realized how much country music informs so much of the music I love. Lots of harmony, and girl harmony is the MOST FUN.

15 September 2019, 10:46 PM

CHAS

Went to a mandolin camp
Asked why a lot of the singing was terribly annoying.
That was not the right thing to say.

15 September 2019, 11:10 PM

jodi

I adore country music. I used to hate it. I played the country station really loud in the darkroom of my first job to annoy my boss, and I got hooked.

15 September 2019, 11:27 PM

Steve Miller

quote:
Originally posted by CHAS:
Went to a mandolin camp
Asked why a lot of the singing was terribly annoying.
That was not the right thing to say.

Say whatever you like, those in the know will understand. In classic country music the quality of singing is not key. The quality of the story - is.

Mother Maybelle Carter couldn’t sing a lick and it didn’t matter. She told the stories.

It’s a far different focus from classical music, where musical perfection is the goal. Country - especially early country and bluegrass - isn’t like that. It’s more inclusive. Grab a guitar and belt it out.

OTOH don’t look to me to defend what’s on modern country stations right now.

I don’t like any of it.

16 September 2019, 02:08 AM

RealPlayer

Watched much of the first episode. What really annoyed me -- and I don't know if this is Ken Burns or if all documentarians do this -- was that the music just became the background to the talking. It's ABOUT the damn music but you can't really hear any of it.

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“It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray

16 September 2019, 10:23 AM

CHAS

quote:
Originally posted by Steve Miller:

OTOH don’t look to me to defend what’s on modern country stations right now.

I don’t like any of it.

+1 I expect to stop watching the series when they get to today's carpy country music.

Have a big book about how the music moved from the British Isles to America. That interests me.

16 September 2019, 10:45 AM

wtg

Well this guy sure likes it.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/15...sic-avlon/index.html

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We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home. - Australian Aboriginal proverb

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