“The problem is that Ken Burns has a history of putting out a masterful product then ruining it with political commentary.”
Really hasn’t been much of that.
I thought there’d be more.
I always dismissed country music as corny and just commercial pap for less educated rubes. In watching the series I have completely reversed my opinion. What I’ve learned is that country in its foundations is a very organic folk art form that simply but authentically tells stories about the suffering and transcendence of rural American lives. The stories of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Willy Nelson, the Carter family, Bill Monroe, Johnny Cash, and Minnie Pearl are fascinating and heartbreaking at the same time. Episode four captured that moment in time when Elvis Presley appeared for his one and only time at the Grand Old Opry’ to perform his new rockabilly music and was ultimately shunned by the country audience as too overtly sexual. This was not a problem for the young girls at the time and created the dividing line that eventually led to commercial rock and roll.
The great songs of Patsy Cline that defined the new “Memphis sound” made the tragedy of her young death at 30 in the private plane crash even more poignant and was beautifully conveyed in still pictures as only Ken Burns can do.
I’m looking forward to the rest of the episodes but other than early Eagles and Linda Ronstadt records I’m probably not ever going to be a fan of the modern country genre.