Author Topic: Country Music by Ken Burns  (Read 4136 times)

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Offline sneakypete

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Country Music by Ken Burns
« on: September 20, 2019, 06:21:46 pm »
Anybody else watching this on PBS? There is some seriously good stuff being played and discussed,and if you even remotely like country music,gospel,blue grass,or blues,you would enjoy it.
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Offline andy58-in-nh

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2019, 06:38:22 pm »
Anybody else watching this on PBS? There is some seriously good stuff being played and discussed,and if you even remotely like country music,gospel,blue grass,or blues,you would enjoy it.

I have been watching (and DVR-ing) it.  It's a typical Burns film, with still photo pans interspersed with in-camera interviews and music clips. Very enjoyable, so far. It's a deep exploration of the roots and branches of country music along with some great stories and peppered with little-known facts and events along the road.
"The most terrifying force of death, comes from the hands of Men who wanted to be left Alone. They try, so very hard, to mind their own business and provide for themselves and those they love. They resist every impulse to fight back, knowing the forced and permanent change of life that will come from it. They know, that the moment they fight back, their lives as they have lived them, are over. -Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Offline sneakypete

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2019, 06:41:17 pm »
I have been watching (and DVR-ing) it.  It's a typical Burns film, with still photo pans interspersed with in-camera interviews and music clips. Very enjoyable, so far. It's a deep exploration of the roots and branches of country music along with some great stories and peppered with little-known facts and events along the road.

@andy58-in-nh

I am LOVING the hell out of it! I hear them talking about songs I haven't thought of in decades that I heard as a child,and then they will play a video of it being performed,and damned if I don't sing along with it!

And I am old enough to remember listening to the Grand old Opry on the radio. Dammit.

I had forgotten all about Gene Autry having a singing career until they started playing his songs,and was shocked to hear he was more popular than Roy Rogers. I wanted to BE Roy Rogers when I was a little kid.

I do agree with them that the Carter Family are a national treasure.
« Last Edit: September 20, 2019, 06:44:04 pm by sneakypete »
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Offline andy58-in-nh

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2019, 06:48:46 pm »
@andy58-in-nh

I am LOVING the hell out of it! I hear them talking about songs I haven't thought of in decades that I heard as a child,and then they will play a video of it being performed,and damned if I don't sing along with it!

And I am old enough to remember listening to the Grand old Opry on the radio. Dammit.

@sneakypete

I've been having a lot of fun with it, whiskey glass on the table in front of me and guitar in hand, playing along with so many of those songs either for the first time, or for the first time in a long time.  The series picks up again on Sunday night and that's when they should start getting into the really good stuff from the '70s- Waylon, Willie, Jones, Haggard, Hank Jr. and on and on... 
"The most terrifying force of death, comes from the hands of Men who wanted to be left Alone. They try, so very hard, to mind their own business and provide for themselves and those they love. They resist every impulse to fight back, knowing the forced and permanent change of life that will come from it. They know, that the moment they fight back, their lives as they have lived them, are over. -Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Offline berdie

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2019, 08:17:12 pm »
I was hoping there would be a review of the series here. I have it DVRed but haven't watched yet.

Offline dfwgator

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2019, 08:22:30 pm »
Don't tell me, the White man stole Country music from the black man.

Offline Wingnut

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2019, 08:29:51 pm »
Don't tell me, the White man stole Country music from the black man.

He'll gator. Everyone knows your Muslim's invented both types of that music
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Offline andy58-in-nh

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2019, 08:44:02 pm »
Don't tell me, the White man stole Country music from the black man.
Actually, there's a big emphasis in the series on the sharing and blending of traditions, which is how music has always propagated.  White musicians did in fact borrow from black gospel and blues songs. But black artists borrowed equally from white Appalachian ballads, railroad songs and Scots-Irish dances.

Country is steeped in all of that, plus bluegrass, German Texas settler yodeling, jazz and Latin American guitar and horn arrangements. And that's why it endures: Country music - real country, not Nashville Chewing Gum Pop - is the still the melting pot that America used to be in so many other respects.     
"The most terrifying force of death, comes from the hands of Men who wanted to be left Alone. They try, so very hard, to mind their own business and provide for themselves and those they love. They resist every impulse to fight back, knowing the forced and permanent change of life that will come from it. They know, that the moment they fight back, their lives as they have lived them, are over. -Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Offline Ghost Bear

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2019, 09:37:51 pm »
Wife and I have been DVR'ing it, we've watched the first three episodes so far and will probably watch the fourth episode tonight. We've both been enjoying it a lot, so much so that I'm considering going out to PBS.org and buying the series on Blu-ray just to have it.
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Offline sneakypete

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2019, 11:11:11 pm »
@sneakypete

I've been having a lot of fun with it, whiskey glass on the table in front of me and guitar in hand, playing along with so many of those songs either for the first time, or for the first time in a long time.  The series picks up again on Sunday night and that's when they should start getting into the really good stuff from the '70s- Waylon, Willie, Jones, Haggard, Hank Jr. and on and on...

@andy58-in-nh

It's got Hank Williams,the real one. It also has Brenda Lee,Willie Nelson,The Carter Family,Johnny Cash,Patsy Cline,Ray Charles,and dozens of others.

HOW could it possibly be anything less that absolutely wonderful?
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Offline sneakypete

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2019, 11:14:05 pm »
Don't tell me, the White man stole Country music from the black man.

@dfwgator

No,but it does have several prominent black singers/musicians from the 50's and 60's saying there is so much cross-over between "black music" and "white music" that they are virtually the same thing,and people like Ray Charles saying they are big fans of country music.

BTW,so far the word "rap" hasn't even been whispered. And why would it be,when this is a series about music?
Anyone who isn't paranoid in 2021 just isn't thinking clearly!

Offline sneakypete

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2019, 11:22:38 pm »
White musicians did in fact borrow from black gospel and blues songs. But black artists borrowed equally from white Appalachian ballads, railroad songs and Scots-Irish dances.



@andy58-in-nh

ALL "American Music" has it's roots in the Protestant Churches,and the hymns that produced the inspiration to be creative. It was neither a white nor a black thing,it was a "CHURCH THING".

For whatever reason,it seems to me that blacks are more likely to recognize and acknowledge this basic truth. I remember hearing blacks say things like "Look out! She's going to church!" back in the 50's and 60's when someone like Aretha (ok,ok. There was nobody like Aretha,BUT Aretha.) or Tina Turner would get caught up in the moment and truly cut loose when performing live. The "SPIRIT" was moving them,even if it wasn't "The Holy Ghost".

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Offline corbe

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2019, 12:14:59 am »
   Thanks for this, watching now, it's great, DVR the rest.
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Offline berdie

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #13 on: September 23, 2019, 08:00:10 pm »
I watched the first four installments over the weekend and must say that I am totally enjoying it. Burns did a good job so far.

The only negative I have is not directed at him. There is so much information in each episode my mind starts to wander and think about what I know is being said...and the music. So the negative has to do with my wandering mind. After the first two episodes I started taking notes on things I wanted to delve further into the next day. That's my bad...not his, lol.


Offline GrouchoTex

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #14 on: September 23, 2019, 08:25:20 pm »
It's great.
Loved the Bob Wills and Hank Williams stuff, and the Ernest Tubb, and Roy Acuff, aw, heck, all of it!

Offline truth_seeker

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #15 on: September 23, 2019, 08:38:31 pm »
I watched Ep. #1. and #2. so far on the PBS streaming channel with my Roku.

No cost. So far.  Liking it a lot.

 

"God must love the common man, he made so many of them.�  Abe Lincoln

Offline berdie

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #16 on: September 23, 2019, 08:48:09 pm »
It's great.
Loved the Bob Wills and Hank Williams stuff, and the Ernest Tubb, and Roy Acuff, aw, heck, all of it!



Me too!  You have to admit that was some fine music to dance to. Best contemporary artist for dancing is George Strait, imho.

Offline GrouchoTex

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #17 on: September 23, 2019, 09:20:35 pm »


Me too!  You have to admit that was some fine music to dance to. Best contemporary artist for dancing is George Strait, imho.

Ol' George will pay some Western Swing, no doubt.

Offline corbe

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #18 on: September 23, 2019, 10:38:02 pm »
   Speaking of Country Music, Garth Brooks kicks off his new 'Dive Bar Tour' tonight @ Texas's oldest Dance Hall, Gruene Hall.



http://gruenehall.com/garthbrooksday/
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Offline dfwgator

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #19 on: September 23, 2019, 10:40:15 pm »
   Speaking of Country Music, Garth Brooks kicks off his new 'Dive Bar Tour' tonight @ Texas's oldest Dance Hall, Gruene Hall.



http://gruenehall.com/garthbrooksday/

Garth Brooks killed country music.

Offline corbe

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #20 on: September 23, 2019, 10:42:33 pm »
 :yowsa:
No government in the 12,000 years of modern mankind history has led its people into anything but the history books with a simple lesson, don't let this happen to you.

Online roamer_1

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #21 on: September 23, 2019, 11:01:06 pm »
Garth Brooks killed country music.

Oh, I dunno... 'Low Places' is kinda a theme song of mine...  :shrug: :whistle:

Offline Wingnut

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #22 on: September 23, 2019, 11:27:09 pm »
Garth Brooks killed country music.

If you believe that then you must agree that Billy Ray drove a nail thu its aikie breakie heart and the next stop was tractor rap shit.
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Offline andy58-in-nh

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #23 on: September 24, 2019, 01:02:03 pm »
If you believe that then you must agree that Billy Ray drove a nail thu its aikie breakie heart and the next stop was tractor rap shit.

Garth Brooks is a bit too commercial for my taste, but at least he's still Country. On the other hand, Billy Ray and his Harlot from Hell daughter should be put on the very next shuttle to the outer reaches of the solar system, without a radio. 
"The most terrifying force of death, comes from the hands of Men who wanted to be left Alone. They try, so very hard, to mind their own business and provide for themselves and those they love. They resist every impulse to fight back, knowing the forced and permanent change of life that will come from it. They know, that the moment they fight back, their lives as they have lived them, are over. -Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Offline corbe

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Re: Country Music by Ken Burns
« Reply #24 on: September 24, 2019, 03:48:32 pm »
Hard Times, U.S.A.

Ken Burns’ new PBS series about country music will break your cheating heart.


by  Robert Stacy McCain 
 
September 24, 2019, 12:04 AM


Dwight Yoakam had me in tears Sunday night. I was watching the new Ken Burns PBS documentary series about the history of country music, and Yoakam quoted a Merle Haggard song, “Holding Things Together,” which is about a man trying to raise his children after his wife has left the family. When Yoakam sang the verse about a heartbroken father attempting to comfort his daughter on her birthday, he choked up, and suddenly the tears were streaming from my eyes, too.

They just don’t write ’em like that anymore, not even in Nashville. Those old songs about hard times and broken hearts, crying in your beer over a cheating woman — you can literally feel the pain in the twanging voices and the whining steel guitars. And the men and women who sang those songs knew a thing or two about hard times, having come from backgrounds of poverty that few Americans in the 21st century can imagine.

Give credit to Burns for this: His eight-part series reminds us that what our contemporary progressives denounce as “white privilege” has never been universal in America, and it certainly didn’t typify the backgrounds of the folks who made Nashville famous as “Music City, U.S.A.” Haggard, for example, was born in Kern County, California, in 1937, the youngest of three children in a family that had left a farm in Oklahoma after their barn burned down. The Haggards were “Okies,” characters right out of a Steinbeck novel, at the bottom of the heap in one of the worst economic eras in American history. Merle’s life didn’t get any easier when his father died in 1945. The future country music star was only eight at the time, and after his father’s death he became a juvenile delinquent. He was later sentenced to San Quentin prison, which inspired one of his most famous lyrics:
Quote
I turned twenty-one in prison,
 Doin’ life without parole.
 No one could steer me right,
 But Mama tried, Mama tried.
 Mama tried to raise me better,
 But her pleading, I denied.
 That leaves only me to blame, ’cause Mama tried.
<..snip..>

https://spectator.org/hard-times-u-s-a/
No government in the 12,000 years of modern mankind history has led its people into anything but the history books with a simple lesson, don't let this happen to you.