Towns Van Zandt

Should have got more credit for Poncho & Lefty.

I have really enjoyed this whole series. Before tonight's episode, episodes 3&4 were my favorites but episode 7 was pure awesomeness. Reminds me so much of my junior high and high school years going to beer joints and pool halls with my Dad

I was really looking forward to tonight's episode to see how they would treat the whole cosmic cowboy/progressive/outlaw sound, and I wasn't disappointed. I started at A&M in 1974, about the time all of that music was hitting its stride, and it was really the first time I liked a country sound. Saw all of the young Texas guys who were part of that movement, many at G. Rollie, and even went to Willie's 2nd Annual 4th of July Picnic at Texas World Speedway. I thought they did a good job bringing it full circle with how they wrapped up this episode.

Just finished tonight's episode after getting the kids to bed, holy crap that was good. My only complaint is that it was only 2 hours long. If I didn't have to work tomorrow, I'd sit out back and listen to outlaw country and drink beer till the sun comes up.

"Good luck selling that morbid sonofab___h"

George Jones after he recorded 'He Stopped Loving Her Today'

Tonight was great drank lots of beer and whiskey listening Waylon, wish johnny Horton would have been featured.

That was bad ass. This whole documentary has been entertaining but that episode was just flat out incredible.

Bunk Moreland said:

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Read an article that said Marty sent Ken a fan letter years ago after Ken answered a question on a late night talk show asking what his next subject would be and he mentioned maybe country music.

Marty told him everything he owned (has bought up tons of memorabilia) and everyone he knows (everyone) would be available to them should Ken choose that subject. One of Ken's producers contacted him and invited him up to his home and that was that.

Marty Stuart is the quintessential Renaissance Man of country music and basically this Era's 'host' who opens the door for people to come peak in.

I'm on ep 6 right now and this has been just as rewarding as Ken Burns: Baseball. So well done.

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After tonight your damn right, Marty is the Forest Gump of country music.

This might be Burns best since Civil War

Big Cat `93 said:

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Txmoe said:

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• I appreciate the explanation of why Johnny Cash was so influential in country music. But, he's gotten a LOT of screen time. I'm probably biased cuz beyond his major hits, his appeal was always lost on me.
• With all of Cash's screen time, major artists of the time like Ray Price, John Denver and Glen Campbell were given short shrift.

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Agreed on both points.

I'm dreading how much interview time Garth Brooks will get in the next episode. I'm still confused as to how he ended up on that Kansas documentary at all, much less bloviating in it as much as he did.

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Garth gets a bad rap and a lot of blame for things that weren't his fault. I get not liking his music (Baskin Robbins has 31 flavors for a reason), but he seems to get pegged as being responsible for country music going to hell. It's a false narrative.
Slight hijack, sorry.

rbtexan said:

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Big Cat `93 said:

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Txmoe said:

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• I appreciate the explanation of why Johnny Cash was so influential in country music. But, he's gotten a LOT of screen time. I'm probably biased cuz beyond his major hits, his appeal was always lost on me.
• With all of Cash's screen time, major artists of the time like Ray Price, John Denver and Glen Campbell were given short shrift.

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Agreed on both points.

I'm dreading how much interview time Garth Brooks will get in the next episode. I'm still confused as to how he ended up on that Kansas documentary at all, much less bloviating in it as much as he did.

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Garth gets a bad rap and a lot of blame for things that weren't his fault. I get not liking his music (Baskin Robbins has 31 flavors for a reason), but he seems to get pegged as being responsible for country music going to hell. It's a false narrative.
Slight hijack, sorry.

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There's a great podcast put on by David Allan Coe's son that in one of the episodes presents (in my opinion) a fantastic take on the whole "ruining country music" thing:

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For the past couple of weeks, I've been using "Harper Valley PTA" as the gateway into a conversation about hit country songs. Shelby Singleton showed us what a real promo person will do behind the scenes to make a hit happen. Jeannie C. Riley showed us plenty of the downsides to being used as the pretty face for a hit, how roughly the business can put you back down after it's lifted you so high. The writer of "Harper Valley PTA" Mr. Tom T. Hall I think he can show us some things about how most fans experience hit country songs: country music radio.

One reason this podcast will never do an episode on someone who wasn't impacting country music before the year 2000 is that it's impossible to tell who won a war until after the war is over. Every generation of country music radio has been a war. Those of you old enough to be paying attention in the '70s, '80s, even the '90s, know how much perspective on the genre is gained with the passing of time.

What is this "real country music"? Can anyone define what it sounds like?

I'm sure many of you remember in the '90s, older country artists talked a lot of trash about what was being played on the radio. Waylon Jennings may never have really used that extremely vulgar simile to describe Garth Brooks' music but he did say very critical things about Garth Brooks. Now, you go listen to the trash Luke Bryan puts out and tell me that doesn't make Garth Brooks sound like Buck Owens.

Well, that's not what a lot of fans of "real country" thought in the '90s when Garth Brooks "ruined country radio." Or, in the '80s, when Urban Cowboy "ruined country radio." Or, in the '70s when Olivia Newton-John won a CMA award for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year and a bunch of traditional country acts, like Porter Wagoner and Conway Twitty, all got together at George Jones' and Tammy Wynette's house to form the Association of Country Entertainers to protest smooth pop "ruining country radio." But, in the '60s, the Nashville Sound had already "ruined country radio." And that started in the '50s because Elvis Presley "ruined country radio." When drums started showing up on more country records in the '40s, well, it flat out "ruined country radio." And that only happened because in the 1930s people like Bob Wills couldn't settle the hell down and play some nice, pure country music, like Jimmie Rodgers or The Carter Family.

I'm not sure there's ever been a time that country radio wasn't hated by the fans of the previous generations' country music. Ask a fan from any point in history to define the sound of country music and they're likely to say something along the lines of, "Well, it's sure not what they're playing on the radio these days!"

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Link

In my opinion, and some of this is backed up by Ken Burns' work... but it really is as simple as follow the money.

The Nashville sound was chasing the money. The money has always been in crossovers or palatable country that sells widely. Garth made more money than God. That brought us the T&A show of Shania Twain and all the starlets that have followed.

I actually have no idea who's buying the current crap, but I don't listen to it. Joe Diffie and his stupid ass "John Deere Green" song broke me. I turned my radio off and swore off country radio forever. What a stupid ass song, catering to the lowest common denominator.

AggieChemist said:

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In my opinion, and some of this is backed up by Ken Burns' work... but it really is as simple as follow the money.

The Nashville sound was chasing the money. The money has always been in crossovers or palatable country that sells widely. Garth made more money than God. That brought us the T&A show of Shania Twain and all the starlets that have followed.

I actually have no idea who's buying the current crap, but I don't listen to it. Joe Diffie and his stupid ass "John Deere Green" song broke me. I turned my radio off and swore off country radio forever. What a stupid ass song, catering to the lowest common denominator.

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The sad thing is, "John Deere Green" is country gold compared to the crap that's passed for country for the past 10-15 years or so.

For real. The statement above comparing Garth with Buck Owens is dead on.

AggieChemist said:

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In my opinion, and some of this is backed up by Ken Burns' work... but it really is as simple as follow the money.

The Nashville sound was chasing the money. The money has always been in crossovers or palatable country that sells widely. Garth made more money than God. That brought us the T&A show of Shania Twain and all the starlets that have followed.

I actually have no idea who's buying the current crap, but I don't listen to it. Joe Diffie and his stupid ass "John Deere Green" song broke me. I turned my radio off and swore off country radio forever. What a stupid ass song, catering to the lowest common denominator.

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Regarding Garth I've always been able to take him or leave him. But his rendition of "Deep Water" on "Asleep at The Wheel - Tribute To The Music of Bob Wills" is one of my favorite songs. Lot of good stuff on that album. Lots of artists - George Strait, Dolly, Merle, Marty Stuart, Chet Atkins even Huey Lewis (yes he's great on this) and others team up with Asleep to do Wills classics. Give it a listen if you haven't already.

Garth didn't ruin country music. But his success played a huge roll in ruining it. The industry response to it had a lot to do with, along with changes at radio and other factors.

Country music in the 50s and 60s, so many good songs and so many bad toupees.

Episode 7 is amazing, and Vince Gill talking about opening for KISS may be the greatest story I have ever heard.

Just finished watching episode 8. Great episode to end a great series. This documentary is some of Ken Burns' best work. I am sad that this series is over. I wish there were about 8 or 10 more episodes. I will be rewatching this documentary series over and over in the days ahead.

Someone always gets left out of these things because it's so big ,but it's interesting that Alison Krause wasn't even mentioned with all the bluegrass talk.

edtombell said:

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Someone always gets left out of these things because it's so big ,but it's interesting that Alison Krause wasn't even mentioned with all the bluegrass talk.

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Boy, that's a great point. I would add Eddie Rabbitt, John Prine and songwriters Billie Joe Shaver and Harlan Howard to that list as well.

This was an awesome documentary. I actually got a little tearful at a couple of points. One point of order is that I don't think Ken payed enough attention to George Strait. He really pulled country back from the brink for a while.

Great to see Johnny Rodriguez, Freddy Fender, and Flaco Jimenez mentioned in it. I think you could make a pretty interesting series based on Texas' influence on Country Music.