{"id":18459,"date":"2019-09-13T14:08:29","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T20:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1811872"},"modified":"2019-09-13T14:08:29","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13T20:08:29","slug":"pbs-series-conveys-humor-and-drama-of-country-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/music-news\/pbs-series-conveys-humor-and-drama-of-country-music\/","title":{"rendered":"PBS Series Conveys Humor and Drama of Country Music"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:ao:image:cmt.com:681744?width=1200&amp;height=675&amp;.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"byline\">by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/morrise\/\" title=\"Posts by Edward Morris\" rel=\"author\">Edward Morris<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\">10m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>Ken Burns\u2019 <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/kenburns\/country-music\/\">Country Music<\/a><\/em> series, which begins airing on PBS Sunday night (Sept. 16), is the most thorough and entertaining presentation of the genre ever made. It\u2019s not encyclopedic, but it is Olympian.<\/p>\n<p>Spanning country music from the Big Bang of Ralph Peer\u2019s Bristol recordings in 1927 to the triumphal advent of Garth Brooks and others in the 1990s, it weaves story after story into an eight-episode, 16-hour tapestry that cloaks the music and its creators in a majesty unachievable through piecemeal accounts, no matter how scholarly.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MVOZl671ssY?start=5&amp;feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MVOZl671ssY?start=5&amp;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Burns, writer\/producer Dayton Duncan, and producer Julie Dunfey wisely refrain from using mere prominence on the <em>Billboard<\/em> charts as the backbone of their narrative, electing instead to present their account through towering figures and iconic songs, among which they discover almost mystical connections. The layout is basically chronological but the story floats back and forth across time.<\/p>\n<p>With its wealth of rare films, photos and insiders\u2019 reminiscences, it\u2019s almost like being there when everything important in the music happened. Nashville, Bakersfield, Austin and Memphis all get their due.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5fZ_S_wlx0Q?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5fZ_S_wlx0Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>The tent poles of the story tend to be presented in pairs \u2014 Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris, George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Not to worry, though. There\u2019s ample time devoted to such essential folk as Minnie Pearl, Roy Acuff, Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, Bill Monroe, Eddy Arnold, Charley Pride, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, The Maddox Brothers and Rose, Wanda Jackson, Ray Price, Roger Miller, Faron Young, Ricky Skaggs, Dwight Yoakam, etc., etc.<\/p>\n<p>Songwriters are dealt with lovingly \u2014 Felice and Boudleaux Bryant (who launched the Everly Brothers), Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and Bobby Braddock. Producers. Studio musicians. They all take their bows on Burns\u2019 stage. Spotlighted as well is the great significance of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band\u2019s Will the Circle Be Unbroken sessions of 1971.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-clonWiYEO8?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-clonWiYEO8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Many of the best anecdotes come from people no longer with us: Mel Tillis talking about tiny Brenda Lee standing behind him and telling him jokes as he\u2019s driving a car full of entertainers through the night to the next gig; Billy Sherrill admitting how wrong he was in thinking Willie Nelson\u2019s <em>Red Headed Stranger<\/em> album sounded so much like \u201ca bad demo\u201d that it was sure to flop; Fred Foster recalling how he wept when he overheard the news that Hank Williams had died; CMT alum Hazel Smith recounting what a zoo Tompall Glaser\u2019s Hillbilly Central recording studio was when it birthed the Outlaw movement that she named; Merle Haggard telling how Johnny Cash convinced him to reveal rather than hide the fact that he\u2019d been in prison.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p80gOBTWASc?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p80gOBTWASc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Marty Stuart dazzles with his recollections and observations, bringing to them a historian\u2019s eye, a poet\u2019s heart and an elephant\u2019s memory. Vince Gill, Ralph Emery, Bill Anderson, Tom T. Hall, Eddie Stubbs, Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell, Kathy Mattea, historian Bill C. Malone, Jeannie Seely, and former Opry manager Bud Wendell all render up precious memories.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Coyote\u2019s narration is firm, knowing and dispassionate, always deferring to Duncan\u2019s well-selected words to convey the drama and humor. There\u2019s not a single note of condescension in the whole project.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t be surprised if this series does for country music what the <em>O Brother, Where Art Thou<\/em> soundtrack did for bluegrass.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<div class=\"description\">Edward Morris is a veteran of country music journalism. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a frequent contributor to CMT.com.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1811872\/pbs-series-conveys-humor-and-drama-of-country-music\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Edward Morris 10m ago Ken Burns\u2019 Country Music series, which begins airing on PBS Sunday night (Sept. 16), is the most thorough and entertaining presentation of the genre ever made. It\u2019s not encyclopedic, but it is Olympian. Spanning country music from the Big Bang of Ralph Peer\u2019s Bristol recordings in 1927 to the triumphal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-13 13:51:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}