Enjoyed the first part, will likely enjoy the rest of it too. As long as they don't eventually postulate that some A-rab was responsible for [bleep] kickin' music? Including the contributions of negroes in the early foundations of the music, didn't bother me none. That's something few were ever aware of, given the social climate of the times.
The segments of how the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers were discovered during recording sessions in Bristol, TN, were very interesting.
Remember my dad telling me about listening to radio broadcasts of the Opry on a battery powered radio, back in the early 1930s. Uncle Dave Macon and the rest. One of his older brothers bought the radio and they all gathered on Sat. nights to listen. House they lived in up in Potter Co. PA, had no electricity at the time. Much of that rural area had no electricity, until REA came into being during FDR's administration.
If three or more people think you're a dimwit, chances are at least one of them is right.
I’ve got no issue with them mentioning it here or there, but if they have a documentary about jazz, they don’t spend time talking about the sax and the trumpet being “European instruments”. They keep showing some mixed race gal, who I’ve never heard, babbling on about nothing, when they could be showing some real historians. If she actually had some real FACTS, it might be a worthwhile inclusion, but it just seems more like a “Hey, here’s a black person who listens to country music!”, thing...
Caught most of it last night. It was pretty good. I've always been interested in the roots of that stuff and how it developed over the years and before radio and records gave it mass exposure. Lots of it I never had knowledge of; like the Jimmie Rodgers stuff. In the late 19th and early 20th century a lot of the old oral tradition stuff was dying out and got saved by folks who put it all down on paper for posterity. Lots of it did have roots in the black community, but not all of it. A lot of it's based on very old Irish / Scots / English songs that migrated here and got blended in with other stuff. The history of all this is fascinating even if you like history but aren't into the music.
Anybody watching?? Have you noticed EVERY PBS special has to make a point of overemphasizing race, anymore?? For chrissakes......
I watched some of it. They started off talking about how the banjo came from Africa, and that African Americans had a profound influence on country music. BUT.... African Americans are usually not given credit for their contributions.
So, right off the bat country music fans are a bunch of racists.
Then a few minutes later, they talked about how in the twenties this music was called hillbilly music. And that was an offensive term. And on came Dolly Parton to explain that if you are an outsider and you call country music "Hillbilly" you are a racist.
And then I changed the channel. Good God on PBS every group is an offended minority.
I watched and enjoyed the show. As to any bias, I didnt see any of that in this particular segment. It mainly focused on "hillbilly's" contribution to country music.
It has been my experience that the average American, both left and right, gets their entire concepts of any form of history from either the television, video games, or comic books. And you might as well pull teeth from a chicken to try to convince them otherwise.
Founder Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
Anything Ken Burns does instantly goes on my "don't watch" list. My aunt was the only pianist with a regular spot on the Opry for over 30 years- - - -I could probably give you a more accurate history of country music based on my time spent backstage at the Ryman Auditorium in the mid-1950's than most of the so-called "historians" could. I'll bet none of them know that the 5-gallon glass jug "water cooler" backstage actually contained moonshine whiskey! Jerry
Anybody watching?? Have you noticed EVERY PBS special has to make a point of overemphasizing race, anymore?? For chrissakes......
Ok, first off, I am not a PBS fan, although I did like Ken Burn's documentaries on the War Between the States and Baseball, so I watched last night, as I am a fan of the early country music.
So, not only "was we kings," but "we was also the inventors of country music."
In the year of Lord 2019, you must include the Negro in everything, except anything related to crime, or else you are a racist. In all fairness the Negroes have always been singers and musicians..........anything where there was no actual work involved, so you have to give credit where it is due. But, Burns most definitely overplays it, and anybody with half a brain knows it.
Anybody watching?? Have you noticed EVERY PBS special has to make a point of overemphasizing race, anymore?? For chrissakes......
I watched some of it. They started off talking about how the banjo came from Africa, and that African Americans had a profound influence on country music. BUT.... African Americans are usually not given credit for their contributions.
So, right off the bat country music fans are a bunch of racists.
Then a few minutes later, they talked about how in the twenties this music was called hillbilly music. And that was an offensive term. And on came Dolly Parton to explain that if you are an outsider and you call country music "Hillbilly" you are a racist.
And then I changed the channel. Good God on PBS every group is an offended minority.
Did you really watch and listen? The city of Nashville had a problem with "hillbilly" music and wanted to change the impression the term gave. There were plenty of white people that didn't like the term way back then. Jeez, this place is full of conspiracy theorists.
Fight fire, save lives, laugh in the face of danger.
I'll bet they didn't mention Anita Carter running drunk and naked through a hotel lobby, being chased by one of the members of her band, who was also in his birthday suit, and sloshed to the max! Jerry
To my memory 'back in the day' the country music genre as a whole wasn't called just "Country Music" but "Country and Western".
Yep,
even into the late 70's it was still called that
Geno
The desert is a true treasure for him who seeks refuge from men and the evil of men. In it is contentment In it is death and all you seek (Quoted from "The Bleeding of the Stone" Ibrahim Al-Koni)
There's Bluegrass, like Flatt & Scruggs, etc. which has its roots in Appalacain Scot-Irish folk music. Then there's Jimmie Rodgers' depression-era train-riding hobo blues, and "Western Swing" from people like Bob Wills, and others from Texas and Oklahoma. Since the late 1960's and early 70's, nothing resembling real country music has been produced by anybody- - - -it's all high-tech special effects and cookie-cutter "artsts" who couldn't do a one-night stand with an acoustic guitar, a bass fiddle, a banjo, and a drummer in a backwoods Tennessee beer joint or dance hall if their lives depended on it!
There's Bluegrass, like Flatt & Scruggs, etc. which has its roots in Appalacain Scot-Irish folk music. Then there's Jimmie Rodgers' depression-era train-riding hobo blues, and "Western Swing" from people like Bob Wills, and others from Texas and Oklahoma. Since the late 1960's and early 70's, nothing resembling real country music has been produced by anybody- - - -it's all high-tech special effects and cookie-cutter "artsts" who couldn't do a one-night stand with an acoustic guitar, a bass fiddle, a banjo, and a drummer in a backwoods Tennessee beer joint or dance hall if their lives depended on it!
I have not watched any. PBS loves reruns so I'll likely see it at some point.
News, or entrainment, can not always be spot on. Burns has an agenda, Like I was told about this site, it's like eating wings, be ready to spit out the bones.
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o "May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
