Just a reminder that it starts tonight on PBS.

I keep wondering if it will be straight up, or will he find some social injustice to beat us over the head with.

We want to be careful about introducing politics into this thread, but, yes, Burns has a tendency to wedge his leftists views into his documentaries. Seems like it didn't used to be that way with him, but in his documentary on Vietnam, his leftist shit was on full display, in a really big way. According to Burns, the US never won a battle in the Vietnam War and we were outmatched at every turn, and that's pure horse shit. Had the full might of the US been unleashed on North Vietnam, they would have been utterly defeated. It's as simple as that. We're not the French at Dien Bien Phu. I'll leave it at that, except to say that the first thing which popped into my mind when I heard about his series on country music was exactly what cas said. I'm sure I'll look in on it, but I'll wait to hear what you guys have to say about it before I invest my time.

I avoided the Vietnam series.

I'd say 65% of the Baseball series was good, the rest was "beating us over the head". After that, I've given up on him until I hear otherwise. I'll wait for the reviews here first.

I find this Burns' best doc since the Civil War so far. As much as I like the music, I'm embarrassed by how much I didn't know. Yeah, Burns drops some steamers as usual but not enough to detract from the compelling story of American country music. DVR set for the next three, other stuff goes on the shelf for a while.

Yeah I watched some of the Vietnam series. It is different if you lived through those times and know how conflicted things were in the country at the time. I can make my own mind up about stuff and did not need the injection of leftist politics into the series. I will wait on the Country Music series before I invest my time.

I really enjoyed "Jazz". There were some inaccuracies, but overall it was a good series.

this is all you need.

https://video.search.yahoo.com...d32f737&action=click

I watched the first episode last night. There were the expected digs at the South while the series was trying to explain the origins of country music. In any event, I really enjoyed the history, photos, and early recordings of the Carter Family and Jimmy Rodgers. Those two segments alone were worth watching.

I'm mainly interested in the early singers and bands. I'll keep watching until it moves past the artists I enjoy (or until it slides too far left).

quote:

Originally posted by KevinCW:
this is all you need.

https://video.search.yahoo.com...d32f737&action=click

??

Do you not recognize the intellectual value of documentary films? It's not the same thing as just listening to country music. Music entertains. Documentaries inform. Two different things altogether.

I watched the first segment. First thing is I love watching documentaries and biographies. Especially with no commercial interruptions.

I thought the images were fascinating and the interviews included with the country music celebrities were good. It was cool to hear their perspective.

I didn't really see a lot of political interjection except for what you would expect about slavery and segregation.

Enjoyed the first, watching the 2nd now...

Watched both so far. Good series IMO. As said above, lot's I didn't know.

Burns continues with the steamers, the music and the people transcend.

A couple examples to make my point. How many times must it be mentioned banjos are African? Answer, several. Immensely popular artist of the day Gene Autry sings the iconic "Home on the Range". Burns covers this uplifting, hopeful, essentially American song with Depression-era film of Okies and dirt poor blacks. The Carter family record "Will the Circle be Unbroken", taken from a black pastor who had "reworked" the song. What in the hell does that mean?

Eff Ken, I'm locked to the screen, Burns notwithstanding.

It's no surprise, from this pissing little leftist apologist. He acts like a woman.

I watched the 1st one and learned many things I did not know about the subject. For example, I was vaguely aware of a Jimmie Rodgers who died before I was aware. I didn't know that his career spanned only 6 years. I knew, from a movie, that Johnny Cash married June Carter. But I knew nothing about the Carter sisters. Being from Mississippi, the SJW shit is water off my back. I'll watch some more episodes.

It is good, but you should be very interested in this subject or it will be more than you want to know.

As for leftistness - he mentions black people and that they were slaves. He has mentioned that black people were not treated the same as white people in the U.S. in the 1930s. The show has described the fact that black people and former slaves had music, which became integrated into Southern American culture. If talking about these things is too left wing or too social justice warrior for you, you won't like this show. The show isn't making overt political statements, but if you want virtually any mention of race purged from your history, then avoid this show - you will be triggered.

We have learned that the banjo is derived from an African instrument. They may have even said that once in each episode so far. I bet they may even point out that the archtop mandolin came from an Italian instrument, those Italian sympathizing bastards. They have described the development of the steel stringed guitar from earlier gut stringed guitars played by genteel ladies in their parlors. I don't know who that is pandering to.

Jesus, man, leave it to you, jhe, to come in here and try to defend this guy. Mister Contrary to the freakin' rescue. I mean, really. Did you see his Vietnam documentary? Did you?? Are you going to try and tell us that he's not a leftist and has not interjected his propaganda into his later doumentaries?

You need choose your battles with a bit more thought, jhe.

And you can take that "triggered" horse shit and cram it where the sun don't shine, smart guy. For fuck's sake. Y'know, there's no leftists in this forum for you to pander to, so just cool it.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

We have learned that the banjo is derived from an African instrument. They may have even said that once in each episode so far.

FWIW that info was stated four or five times in episode 1.

quote:

..I bet they may...

Huh?

No, I didn't watch his Vietnam show because I knew it would be drenched with that nonsense. I was not interested in another Vietnam history from that perspective.

This is about a generally nonpolitical subject, and it isn't overtly political. Burns is what he is, but his undeniable bias has not been very detectable in this series on country music unless you are looking to be offended.