Yeah, Coyote is a piece of work. Always has been. Damn hippies.

I guess I am the odd man out here but I didn't think much of that country music documentary.

The series took 8 years to make I saw.
I am finding some of the old photos and video clips pretty neat to see.

Sound track from the series available on Spotify IIRC.

I watched a few segments last night waiting for something else to come on. Buck Owens and Charlie Pride were very good. Didn't know much about Connie Smith but the story about Marty Stuart marrying her so many years later was interesting.

We're subscribed to the PBS streaming service, so we started back at episode 1, last night. Pretty interesting, I thought.

quote:

I say this as one who thinks Hank Williams is the perfect country artist.

Yes Sir, and I have most of his songs on computer. (Many of his songs are background music in movie - "Last Picture Show".)

Country music radio stations from WCKY (Cincinnati) and WWVA (Wheeling, WV) boomed late night into NE Pennsylvania in the '50's.

Country music has never been central in my life but it has always been there, in the background or barely off to the side but undeniably there.

As Burns name is up front on this documentary, my thoughts are directed to him. This was magnificent on so many levels. When I wasn't being amazed, humbled, learning, smiling, moving and laughing, I kept getting something in my eye. As a reflection on America, the best thing Burns has done. If he didn't have a similar passion for this music and the people that so many should have, he couldn't have made this. The love is unrestrained.

Not sure where country music is today as I'm not sure where country America is today, neither will ever be what they were again, for good or bad. How many generations now have no real idea what those things really meant? They're more than quaint relics from the past. Country Music by Ken Burns is beautiful and essential American history. Note to Ken: I'm still keeping my eye on you but well done, sir, bravo.

From the time I was born to when I was 12 years old my parents ran a small tavern. Our house was attached to the tavern. You walked through the kitchen and through a door and into what seemed like another world to a young boy. The place would be packed on weekends. Young and old men and women drinking beer smoking cigarettes and dancing to the juke box.

My brother sister or I were not allowed to be out in the tavern after 6pm. My mom would come in the house and check on us when time allowed. One thing was a constant. The blare of the juke box every night. All the old country music was the vast majority of the sounds we all listened to as we fell asleep at night with mixed in voices and the whooping and hollering and carrying on as the night got later.

So to me country music holds some very special memories. I've watched some of Ken Burns Country Music and thought it to be exceptional. After over 50 years some songs brought back such vivid memories of some things I haven't thought about in a long, long time.

I agree, this was a well done documentary.

I was pleased they spent some time on Guy Clark and Townes Van Sandt. I’m glad the show emphasized the contributions made by songwriters.

A fault I'll find here is the reliance on anecdotes. Time and again Coyote will claim such and such was said and I find myself saying "Sez you..."

Johnny Cash went to perform at the Nixon White House. It's stated Nixon wanted Cash to play "Welfare Queen". Maybe I heard wrong, I don't think so. My immediate thought was LBJ created welfare queens with his idiot policies the administration before. I'm thinking it didn't take long for the pathologies of those policies to surface, huh?

My search reveals Nixon wanted to hear "Welfare Cadillac", a white guy living on handouts.




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq-hx73or30



As I said earlier, despite the filmmakers' occasional bent, the people and the music rise above.



FWIW Here's a guy who earned his Cadillac, Bill Monroe near the end --

I have only watched about 30 minutes of it so far, but got to catch some great stuff talking about the birth of the outlaw era, Johnny, Willie, Waylon.

I will say this, though. Ken got it right by talking to Marty Stuart as much as possible. Marty is probably the coolest cat Nashville has ever known and he absolutely adores music and music history. I love hearing him talk about it.

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:
I have only watched about 30 minutes of it so far, but got to catch some great stuff talking about the birth of the outlaw era, Johnny, Willie, Waylon.

I will say this, though. Ken got it right by talking to Marty Stuart as much as possible. Marty is probably the coolest cat Nashville has ever known and he absolutely adores music and music history. I love hearing him talk about it.

Same here, been a MS fan for a long time.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

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.

Sorry, I may have been off topic.

My post was about county music as a whole, and the fact that "modern" country music has been steadily becoming very similar to "pop" music.

Maybe it was not the place for such an observation/opinion.

I enjoy country music, but do not consider much of the music played today on so called "country" stations to be anything but pop music.

I thought it was appropriate to talk about county music as a whole as opposed to just the Ken Burns documentary.

As a huge fan of Bluegrass, I enjoyed it.

the part about Mr. Peer going to Bristol ( in season one)

and searching out local talent , seemed a lot like the Andy Griffith show episode where the guy came to Mayberry and recorded the local musicians inn exchange for copyright money

If you’ll indulge me...I’m on episode 6

There was a segment on George Jones on the episode of Burns’ Country Music that I saw tonight. Jones is linked to a grazing permittee I worked with very early in my career. I don’t think I had even graduated from college yet. At that time, under the “Co-op” internship program I was in, you had to take a semester off college and work on the National Forest you were hired by, before returning to complete your degree.

There was a winter grazing allotment on the Kaibab that had a new management plan. It was a relatively small allotment with no division fences, and the new plan called for it to be divided into 4 pastures. I was sent out there to lay out the fence lines. I had a horse, some supplies, a bedroll, and a week to accomplish the job. It happened that the grazing permittee and his hired hand were out there as well for Spring Works: gathering, sorting, castrating, branding and vaccinating. Dave (I don’t know if I should give his full name), hauled a camping trailer out to the allotment and invited me to stay in the trailer with him and his ranch hand.

During the day, I rode out from camp and flagged out the fence lines, and would return to the trailer in the evening where we’d make supper, then sit around the table, tell stories, drink whiskey, and listen to George Jones. Dave was a big Jones fan; he had a cassette recorder and a number of his albums. Dave was kind of a melancholy drinker. We’d laugh, we’d talk, we’d get a little drunk, we’d listen and wipe a tear.

By the end of the week, I was done with the fence lines and stayed through Saturday to help work the gathered cattle. There was a set of corrals there where the trailer was parked. We separated calves and mother cows, sent the calves through the calf table set up there for dehorning (this is Arizona, horned cattle), castration, vaccinations, etc. I recall we ran the mother cows through, primarily for deworming. Dave’s wife, son and daughter-in-law came out on Saturday and the food markedly improved.

I stayed on that district for 8 years. Dave and I were friends, in hindsight, probably too good a friends. I helped several ranchers with Spring and Fall Works and frankly liked them a lot. I later decided that it was probably better if I kept a bit more distance than I did there in N Arizona, but I could never isolate myself from them. I got to where I resisted helping work cattle, but I know it’s better to know your permittees, their operation, what kind of managers they were, and most importantly to build trust and mutual respect.

Dave died about 10 years ago. When I was leaving Williams, Arizona I went and saw him. I said something like, “If I get back this way, I’ll stop and look you up.”
Dave looked me in the eye and said, “You better.”

I never saw him again. I’ll never forget him. Dave, here’s some Jones for ya

quote:

Originally posted by KevinCW:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

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.

Sorry, I may have been off topic.

My post was about county music as a whole, and the fact that "modern" country music has been steadily becoming very similar to "pop" music.

Maybe it was not the place for such an observation/opinion.

I enjoy country music, but do not consider much of the music played today on so called "country" stations to be anything but pop music.

I thought it was appropriate to talk about county music as a whole as opposed to just the Ken Burns documentary.

While I agree with your disdain for the sound on the modern country radio stations, I don't think it is anything new. Country music has most often reflected the pop music of its time. It just so happens that radio-friendly music across the board has gone to formulaic, unoriginal music to appease masses. It is just ironic that it has done so even at a time that access to getting your music out has increased exponentially and there are more exciting and diverse artists now than ever.

anyone see Willy on Austin city limits last night ?