Country Music (Premieres Sunday, Sept 15, PBS). Ken Burns (Baseball, Jazz) is surrounded by story tellers in his latest documentary triumph. Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, and Garth Brooks – the list of country stars taking part is as long as the Mississippi.
This is a history lesson you can tap your foot to, with a soundtrack of 600 music cues spread over 16 hours. Part One, “The Rub,” airs Sunday the 15th. Burns’ favourite narrator, Peter Coyote, spins the tale of “Fiddlin’” John Carson, a Georgia factory worker who played everything from KKK rallies to Communist gatherings to make ends meet. Carson’s career took off with the arrival of Atlanta radio station WSB – “Welcome South, Brother” – in 1922. Suddenly there was a craze for “Old Time Pieces” coming out of Hill Country.
One expert defines country music as “three chords and the truth.” Another says, “It’s truth telling even when it’s a big fat lie.” Parton, who bursts effortlessly into song now and then on the doc, notes, “You can dance to it, you can cry to it, you can make love to it, you can play it in a field.”
Where it all began will surprise some viewers. Many of the best-loved songs have roots in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales; some ballads date back to the 1600s. The banjo influence came straight out of Africa.
Where it really came from, reads Coyote, is “the bottom up.” The sound ”filtered out of secluded hollows deep in the mountains and from the smoky saloons on the edge of town.” Written by Burns’ frequent collaborator Dayton Duncan, the words match perfectly with the endless series of historic, black and white photographs of people both famous and unknown, all set to a slow zoom.
Beyond the look at the genre’s roots, future chapters, airing almost every night through Sept. 25, are divided into two hour sections with titles such as, “Are You Sure Hanks Done it This Way?” (1973-1983). Among the many country legends profiled are Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn, Gene Autry, The Judds and Hank Williams. This is the country music documentary for anyone who loves the genre or has never bought a country record.
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Thanks for the heads-up on this Bill!