Review – Episode 6 of Ken Burns Country Music Documentary
Marty Stuart has been dubbed the “mascot” of the Ken Burns 8-episode, 16 1/2-hour documentary on country music, and through the first five episodes regularly offered some of the most important and compelling insight into the genre and its history. Marty Stuart appeared all of 10 seconds in the intro of the 6th episode, and never appeared again. Called “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” the episode was named after the timeless Gospel song, the slogan that adorns the rotunda of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the album released by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1972. The absence of Marty Stuart is a good way to illustrate that despite some compelling stories and important points made, the latest episode of Country Music seemed to lack focus on the subject matter at hand, perhaps conveying the story that the filmmakers wanted to tell instead to one country music had made for itself.
The episode began with Leon Russell singing “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” and a deep dive into the legendary song, and why it means so much to country music. But the film shortly cut to file footage of protesters in the streets denouncing the Vietnam War, riots on college campuses, helicopters flying over canopy jungle, and troops firing automatic weapons into the bush. These images would be ones revisited throughout the episode while important figures in country music during the era went unmentioned, and more Johnny Cash, and more Johnny Cash, and more Johnny Cash flashed across the screen, along with multiple features on Bob Dylan that now means more face time has been afforded to the folk singer in this documentary than dozens of high profile Country Music Hall of Famers.
Undoubtedly, you could not tell the story of country music in the late 60’s and early 70’s without broaching the political upheaval and countercultural revolution roiling American society at the time. And as Ken Burns and screenwriter Dayton Duncan have shown a propensity to do, they used the story of Johnny Cash as a personification of this turmoil as a man who crossed the cultural divide, and invited others to follow him. If this documentary ignored the moments Cash accompanied into history—whether on his Johnny Cash show shot at the Ryman Auditorium where he brought people such as Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger to join him on stage, or when he took a trip to the White House and refused to play “Welfare Cadillac,” and instead played “What is Truth”—it would have been a dereliction of duty. But the time spent on stories that were only proxies to country bogged this episode down in stretches.
In Episode 6, the legacies of Hall of Famers George Jones and Tammy Wynette were finally broached, both separately and intertwined as they should be. Brenda Lee had a great line about George, saying, “George Jones didn’t sing country songs. George was a country song.” About Tammy Wynette, Brenda Lee said, “The teardrop in her voice just said it all,” and she spoke about how sad of a person Tammy was off the stage to accompany her songs.
George Jones was quoted himself saying that he would try to sing a song, “…until you’re just like the people in the song, and you’re living it, and their problems become your problems, until you’re lost in the song, and it just takes everything out of you.”
George and Tammy would eventually become a couple when George visited Tammy at home one night where she lived with her songwriting husband, Don Chapel. George didn’t like the way Don spoke to Tammy, and flipped the living room table over, saying he wouldn’t let Don speak that way to her, “…because I’m in love with her, and she’s in love with me!” Tammy responded to with, “Yes, I am.”
Legendary producer Billy Sherrill also made his first appearances in the documentary, both in archival photos with Tammy as he took her under her wing, and as a commentator before his recent passing. Another producer had told Tammy they would work with her in exchange for sexual favors. Sherrill became her champion in Nashville.
But the profiles on these two Hall of Famers felt like the interlude, not the focus of Episode 6. Instead of the narrative of the story leading into the other important duet partners of the time in Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty, we got more face time for Johnny Cash and the recording and release of his At San Quentin record, though this led into an important profile of Shel Silverstein, who wrote Cash’s biggest hit, “A Boy Named Sue,” and a slew of other landmark country songs. The story of Kris Kristofferson was also delved into deeply told through the story of Johnny Cash once again via Cash recording Kris’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”
Being disowned by his military family for becoming a songwriter, the Rhodes Scholar and Army Captain took work as a janitor at a recording studio just to get the opportunity to pitch his songs to the artists and producers passing by. We all know how things went from there, with Johnny Cash turning “Sunday Morning Coming Down” in to the CMA Song of the Year in 1970, and Janis Joplin cutting “Me and Bobby McGee.”
The 6th episode also delved into how television helped usher in a new era of country music, from Flatt & Scruggs receiving a big boost of attention by performing “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” to Glen Campbell’s TV show, to the introduction of the show Hee-Haw into the American living room, making country’s characters and cornpone humor a bigger part of the American cultural diet.
But just when you though the film had gotten back to the music, more file footage of the Vietnam era started rolling once again at the 1 hour and 15-minute mark, and once again the momentum of the episode seemed to fail. It wasn’t that important information wasn’t brought forth in these segments. The story of Jan Howard losing one of her sons in the war, and then losing another to suicide made for a pretty stirring moment. Her recount of when anti-war protesters came to her door, and she told them she 100% respected their right to protest, but if they ever came back, “I’ll blow your head off with a .357 Magnum,” is a pretty legendary anecdote of country music history.
Earl Scruggs, and even Charlie Daniels appeared at a peace rally in Washington, and the complicated matter of Merle Haggard’s “Okie From Muskogee” was addressed in the episode. “Everybody in country music knew Merle Haggard smoked marijuana,” Ray Benson recalled, seeing Merle as a traitor for recording the song. “How could you do this to us?”
But Merle Haggard didn’t offer a lot of clarification or insight into whether “Okie From Muskogee” was supposed to be taken literally, sarcastically, both, or neither, though theorists on both sides love to tell you they’re right. Merle simply told Ken Burns, “The main message I think is, ‘I’m proud to be something. I’m proud to be black. I’m proud to be white. I’m proud to be an Okie.’ And there’s a lot of people who identify with that.”
Gram Parson and The Byrds were also introduced in the episode, and the story was told about them being booed at the Opry. Willie Nelson leaving Nashville helped set up the storyline for the next episode. But too often in Episode 6 did you feel like important stories got quick vignettes, while lengthy moments of Vietnam file footage got more attention, trying to set a mood.
As the 8-part Country Music documentary was in the heat of production, Ken Burns was finishing up his last epic film—his 10-part Vietnam War that was released in 2017. With the amount of time it takes for Ken Burns to produce his films (Country Music took over 7 years), multiple productions regularly coincide. With Vietnam on the brain, perhaps the war got a little too much play in Country Music. Again, it wasn’t that some parallels and narratives weren’t worth touching on or even delving into. But moving into the final segment of Episode 6, yet again file footage of the war and protests flashed on the screen as opposed to archive photos or footage of country stars.
Also during the primary production of Country Music, the Country Music Hall of Fame’s major exhibit was called “Dylan, Cash, and The Nashville Cats.” Where previous major exhibits had focused on the Hank Williams Legacy, The Bakersfield Sound era, and the current exhibit delves into the Outlaw era, this might have persuaded Ken Burns and the other film principles to weigh the significance of the Dylan/Cash friendship too heavily. It was an essential to feature their friendship. Having it take up large portions of now two episodes seems heavy handed, especially with so many important figures in country music not mentioned or featured at all.
The end of Episode 6 covered the recording of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s epic 3-part concept album Will The Circle Be Unbroken in east Nashville with a host of country music legends, including Maybelle Carter, Roy Acuff, Earl Scruggs, and many others, bridging the gap between both generations, and country music’s cultural divide. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was the new school string band in town, and they had invited the old guard in to play second fiddle to them. “It ain’t nothing but country,” Roy Acuff insisted during the recording session.
There was a lot of great moments, stories, and country music information conveyed in Episode 6. But Ken Burns did himself no favors with those who’ve criticized from the beginning of the documentary that too many performers are being overlooked, too much attention is being paid to Johnny Cash, and the priorities of the filmmakers are getting in the way of the story. For the most part, these concerns have been misguided. Writer Dayton Duncan has said many times about the film that it’s not their intent to compile an encyclopedia on country music, but tell its story through its primary characters, important moments, and memorable songs. But in Episode 6, too much time was given to extraneous file footage, information most any American already knows, and stuff more fit for the Ken Burns Vietnam film.
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Episode 7 airing Tuesday night focuses mostly on the Texas connection to country, and the rise of the country music Outlaws. It is also the only Episode to stretch to 2 1/2 hours.
Episodes 1 thru 6 can now be streamed online.
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September 24, 2019 @ 9:40 am
While I still found the episode rewarding, I agree — the Johnny Cash, Dylan, and VietNam footage seem to disrupt the story more than enrich it.
September 24, 2019 @ 9:46 am
Jan Howard, for the win!
September 24, 2019 @ 9:55 am
The story of Kris Kristofferson was the best part of the episode. The parts about George and Tammy felt rushed, while Glen Campbell was apparently just a ‘guy with a variety show’ rather than a major force in synthesizing pop and country sounds. It definitely felt like he had the Rolling Stone editorial staff looking over his shoulder the entire time saying, “Nice work. Needs more Dylan.” While Cash-Dylan is interesting, he could flesh out the relationship in a separate work rather than pretending that George Jones was sitting around wondering what Bob Dylan was up to.
September 24, 2019 @ 11:34 am
The parts of George and Tammy felt extremely rushed to me as well. Here’s a 7 minute snapshot of the greatest singer the genre has ever known – and quickly into his one time wife to give her 7 minutes and then 3 minutes together – now lets leave them to get back to Cash singing a boy named sue and Cash/Dylan collaboration for the 5th time in this series. I’ve made it through 6 episodes and Ive heard Dylan’s name and actually heard his singing more than I have Jones. That’s a problem.
September 24, 2019 @ 2:04 pm
Yep..The endless Dylan footage is indeed too much. I mean, cmon how many documentaries out there already exist that are devoted to ol Bobby . Here’s Bob at Newport playing electric guitar, here’s Bob’s Rolling Thunder Review, here’s a documentary on the time Bob spent in the house with the Band, a documentary about how he wanted to marry Mavis Staples, here’s a documentary on the making of the album Highway 61, here’s a documentary about Bob’s religious conversion, what he had for breakfast, Bob farting and a documentary on Bob Dylan documentaries in general…..ENOUGH!!
Sheeeeesh dude….Wasn’t this documentary to be specifically on COUNTRY music???
Sorry, had to join in on the communal rant. I agree. What we don’t have much of is documentaries on George Jones, Johnny Horton, Lefty, Don Williams, Marty Frickin Robbins, Johnny Bush, Johnny Rodriguez, Joe Maphis, Merle Travis, Bobby Bare and on and on.. so this is what we get….Robert Zimmerman, Cash , and Elvis Costello as an “expert” on country music…..
Ok…I’m calming back down. All good.
September 24, 2019 @ 3:14 pm
I had a feeling I was going to like this series less in the later episodes and that has proven correct. The first four episodes were damn near perfect in my opinion but the last two are losing me. Like many here have been saying the WAY over emphasis on Cash and now with part six the ridiculous inflation of Dylan. In a doc about country music.
Sort of feels like when Burns got to his personal lifetime he lost the plot in exchange for his personal views.
September 24, 2019 @ 9:59 am
Loved the ending with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and their classic record-enjoying listening to it today. A great collaboration of the old and the new. But yes, too much Dylan and Vietnam!
September 24, 2019 @ 10:02 am
It all kind of makes sense if you’re aware of Ken Burn’s quirks. In Jazz, Burns tries to tell nearly the whole history of the genre through the person of Louis Armstrong and makes Wynton Marsalis the main interpreter. Country has Johnny Cash and Marty Stuart in these roles. It looks to me like Burns’ liberalism is shining through loud and clear in his emphasis on Vietnam, Dylan and Cash’s protest side. Regardless of whether he smoked weed, Hag’s anthem spoke for a lot of people I know disaffected by the ’60s then and woke culture now. Still, as with Jazz, I’m glad this thing got made.
September 24, 2019 @ 10:09 am
Having grown up in the time frame of this episode, one cannot under estimate the importance of Johnny Cash, and the Vietnam war during those times. Yes, some very important figures might be getting less time than they should. But look at the challenge of time restraints put on a production like this! Telling the story of Country Music, is telling the story of American history! Cash was the absolute biggest thing in Country at that time! To draw a parallel, how can you tell the story of rock n roll in the 50’s without spending a lot of time on Elvis! Trust me, his abc network TV show opened Country to the nation like no other had before! For that matter, so did Hee Haw! That show got way too little attention commensurate to the national impact it had. So yes, the doc is imperfect, some heroes are given the short shrift but… Be glad that we now have this documented in it’s breadth! Bravo Ken Burns!
September 24, 2019 @ 10:10 am
Love your reviews Trigger, but I have a more charitable viewpoint on last night’s episode. Yes, it was obvious that Burns was stressing the connections to his Vietnam film, but that’s one of his hallmarks–he always makes a point of connecting the subject matter between his various films if he can, so I completely expected him to do so here. I agree that perhaps a bit much was made of the folk artists, but they were working out of Nashville at the time, and this film has traced the evolution of Nashville’s recording apparatus as much as anything. And I thought most of Cash’s airtime last night was less about him and functioned more as the episode’s connective tissue.
But top to bottom, I thought the narrative coherence of the episode was stronger than any of the preceding ones, even if it wasn’t my personal favorite. Using Will the Circle Be Unbroken as a musical leitmotif, and opening and closing the episode with it was powerful and inspired. Looking forward to tonight’s installment!
September 24, 2019 @ 10:11 am
And! Trigger, I’m enjoying your reviews of each episode, it inspires conversation among the faithful!
September 24, 2019 @ 10:18 am
I loved this episode! I think Kris Kristopherson is the rawest, most honest poet in country music since Hank. I come from a different perspective being a child of rock, folk and blues… So I really enjoyed the time spent on Dylan, but it’s always been an uneasy alliance between folk and country as reflected in this review and comments. I also personally enjoyed the time spent on Vietnam because it was so relevant in all music.
September 24, 2019 @ 10:18 am
this was my favorite episode of the 5 I’ve seen (missed episode 5 to see some live music). Scruggs was even cooler in this episode than I remembered him to be in concert. Would have paid more attention to Howard when I saw her once at the opry in the 1990s if I had been aware of her story. Rosanne calling herself “a princess” was the funniest moment of the series so far.
September 24, 2019 @ 10:21 am
I’m really interested in how much time, if any, they’ll devote to Townes. It could be argued that his career wasn’t significant enough to warrant inclusion in this epic documentary, but his mark on country music, in my opinion, is. Surely the writer of “Pancho and Lefty” will at least get a mention somewhere in the next two episodes, right?
September 24, 2019 @ 12:56 pm
Townes, Guy Clark, and the Texas songwriters are supposed to be a central focus of Episode 7. We’ll have to see just how much time they get.
September 24, 2019 @ 4:17 pm
I hope they don’t pass over Don Williams like they passed over Glen Campbell in episode 6. There’s no such thing as a bad Don Williams record.
September 24, 2019 @ 10:27 am
Who had more hits…Eddy Arnold or Johnny Cash? Google it. I’m not a Cash hater,. He was influential. All I’m saying is Cash’s time on the screen is out of proportion to the arc of Country Music history. It’s a great show though.
September 24, 2019 @ 11:35 am
Who had/has more hits? Townes Van Zandt or Luke Bryant?
September 24, 2019 @ 1:31 pm
And, when the story of this era in country is told, a well done dicumentary will focus on Luke Bryan. His influence, bad as ut may be, is indisputable.
September 24, 2019 @ 4:18 pm
I’ll probably be dead though, so the joke’s on you Luke Bryan.
September 26, 2019 @ 10:24 am
Spinal Tap has already been done.
September 24, 2019 @ 7:45 pm
Used Arnold as an example. It’s not polite to compare Eddy to Luke. That ain’t nice.
September 24, 2019 @ 10:16 pm
You gotta admit, he’s got you on the logic.
While personally I would love to see this show turn it’s focus extensively on George Strait, Ronnie Milsap, and Conway Twitty who, along with Merle had more #1 hits than ANYONE ELSE!
Do you really, in your heart of hearts, think the screen time of Alabama, Eddie Rabbit, Mickey Gilley, and T.G. Sheppard should be greater in proportion than Johnny Cash when following the arc of Country Music …because they had more hits than he did?
Not knocking any of those guys, but I don’t think we’ll see that documentary in our lifetimes unless one of the commenters on this board films it.
September 24, 2019 @ 7:32 pm
The problem is, that while Eddy Arnold may have had more hits, his cultural impact in 2019 is near zero. Sorry, that’s just the truth. If this documentary had come out in 1979, maybe it would have focused on Eddy Arnold more, but in 2019 the “legend” of Johnny Cash is well-known and revered. Eddy Arnold is only known in hardcore Country music fan circles, especially fan circles that have a lot of gray and white hair in them.
September 24, 2019 @ 11:01 am
Too much Vietnam and hippie crap. Definitely my least favorite episode so far. The Kristofferson stuff was good. Charley Pride speaking the lyrics to “Loving Her Was Easier” was gold. The Merle, Possum, Tammy, Glen Campbell, and Hee Haw segments were too short in relation to all of that folk stuff. Be done with Dylan already. Looking forward to tonight, although I fear that more major players will get overlooked tonight. I am greatly looking forward to seeing what was cut out of the episodes when I watch the Blu-ray special features. I hope to see a lot of what and who I was hoping to see.
September 24, 2019 @ 11:20 am
”Charley Pride speaking the lyrics to “Loving Her Was Easier” was gold. ”
wasn’t it ? damn …that was soooo beautiful and honest . you could feel how touched pride was by the lyric …the creative forces behind it . how inspiring and refreshing to hear him ( and others ) speak with such love and respect for lyrics they DIDN’T write and to know that they DID appreciated and LOVE these songs as much as or more than their fans.
September 24, 2019 @ 11:09 am
”But too often in Episode 6 did you feel like important stories got quick vignettes, while lengthy moments of Vietnam file footage got more attention, trying to set a mood.”
absolutely , trigger …..maybe the most unfocused of the episodes, imo ,
still …can’t help feeling for burns and co . SO MUCH info to wade through… , so many aspects to delve into , so may influential artists , writers , producers , opry execs , labels , and , of course , happenstance . for every tammy wynette nashville ‘discovered’ , how many weren’t ? its a business of networking , backscratching , luck and serendipity as much as talent and commitment , as the documentary shows us .
this effort is an enormous undertaking and there is no way EVERYONE can be covered or EVERYONE can be pleased . its wonderful , informative , historic , culturally significant on many levels , inspiring and moving .i think that even when we question aspects of it we’re LOVING it .
September 24, 2019 @ 11:26 am
It will be interesting to see how the documentary translates into more cd/download sales.
Every episode, I find another artist who I want to hear more of. I think it can only help Country Music!
And thanks Trigger for this blog! I have been a Country Music fan for 35 years and I appreciate your reviews and introductions to groups I hadn’t really heard of-so enjoying Mike & the Moonpies, Tyler Childers, And the Urban Pioneers too! Thank you!
September 24, 2019 @ 12:58 pm
Thanks for reading Terry.
Yes, tracking sales and streams will be interesting. We’ll start to know next week if there is any impact. Hank and Cash might get a serious bump from this series.
September 27, 2019 @ 2:45 pm
I’ve downloaded 79 songs so far. I’m watching the series off of DVR as I have time. Just finished episode 6. And I’m not a fan of Country Music. Or didn’t think I was. Or, rather, I’m not a fan of the top-40 country music that’s played on the radio. Thank you, Trigger, for your reviews of this series. Your blog has a new reader.
September 27, 2019 @ 3:26 pm
Glad you found the site Laurie!
September 24, 2019 @ 11:30 am
Once again you are clouding everything up but I lived that era as a young man in the Navy, and let me tell you he hit the nail on the head. You apparently did not pay attention and because perhaps you are too young to have experienced that time, you missed the point. Or perhaps it is your conservative politics, interfering with it. Either way the time period being discussed was all about VietNam, politics protest, country music wove it’s way through it. It was during that period of time when southern buddies I had would tell me someday I am going to love country music. I told them never but by the end of the 70’s they were right. And it was a direct result of the movement of country rock from bands like the Byrds and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Dr Hook, even the Eagles to some degree. That was all in there and I personally felt the turmoil and the angst again. It brought back those feelings in me, it is not something for those of us who lived something you can separate out.
September 24, 2019 @ 1:06 pm
Well first off, my politics are not conservative. I am apolitical and believe that politics is a scourge of the people.
“…the time period being discussed was all about VietNam, politics protest, country music wove it’s way through it. “
I guess that was my problem in a nutshell. It was like the country music subject matter in a country music documentary was getting in the way of the Vietnam coverage. Ken Burns did a 10-part Vietnam documentary, and I watched the whole thing. I think he did a brilliant job with it, and it might have been his best film since “The Civil War,” and this is from someone who has been hot and cold on Burns over the years. If I was watching the Vietnam movie and they kept interjecting country music into it, I would feel it was just as inappropriate, even as a country music fan.
As I underscored in the review, the war and the effect of the counterculture had to be broached in this episode, or otherwise it would have been a disingenuous portrayal of history. But I don’t need four segments of Vietnam file footage of guys laying suppression fire into an Asian jungle we’ve all seen over and over just because it’s close at hand. One, maybe two would have sufficed to set the mood and setting, while more time could have been devoted to country music.
September 24, 2019 @ 11:43 am
I honestly think it comes down to this:
Ken Burns is 66 years old. He’s a Baby Boomer, solidly in the middle of the generation, and a student of history and culture. To him, the 60s and early 70s, when he was a teen into his early 20s, must seem like the most important period of the 20th century, the culmination of themes from the Depression and WW2, the origin of cultural themes running through today. How could it not seem that way to him. It’s not even wrong, viewed from a certain perspective.
Similarly, Johnny Cash looms so much larger in general pop culture than figures like George Jones–even though within the Country Music community we see Jones, or Nelson, or Williams as equal or more important figures. Cash is an icon of the 60s to someone from New England, or from Seattle, or from San Francisco, or from New York, which is who Burns speaks for and to.
I think the fact he was working on Vietnam at them same time may have played a role, but I think even more, this is just the time that a 66-year-old documentarian is likely to see as the most important time in history.
September 24, 2019 @ 1:20 pm
I’m not sure what Burns mission statement for the series is, but I assume it isn’t just a history of country music in a vacuum, but it’s cultural impact. So I get the Dylan stuff, but I like Dylan.
September 24, 2019 @ 12:00 pm
The renewed love of Kristofferson was worth it. I’d forgotten how amazing a writer he is and it made me revisit his material. I’d love to see a whole documentary on Kris, if one doesn’t already exist. That, to me, was worth sitting through the Johnny Cash and Vietnam stuff. All in all, I’m just happy this thing got made. I will always do it, but I’m growing tired of defending country music. Thanks for the review Trigger!
September 26, 2019 @ 11:40 am
Kris kristofferson has so many more songs……the Okie story…Here Comes That Rainbow Again…..omg his song list goes on forever. Should have had more artists who had hits from his songs….besides Janice J.
September 24, 2019 @ 12:13 pm
Am loving this documentary.
I feel Burns is knocking it out of the ballpark.
Last night’s episode was sublime, and it seemed to be done with great respect. Respect for the artist’s, and material covered, as well as respect for the presidential office in the greatest country in the world.
September 24, 2019 @ 12:42 pm
They better not forget Boxcar Willie tonight! 🙂
September 24, 2019 @ 12:43 pm
Definitely the most jarring episode so far. But I suppose it was a jarring time. What was the purpose of spending so much time on all the non-country artists in this episode? George Jones was not given his full due, but at least he wasn’t turned into a footnote like Marty Robbins in the previous episode.
There was a lot of good stuff in this episode, but it really felt disjointed, much more so than any of the 5 before it.
September 24, 2019 @ 1:57 pm
What do you get when a yankee interloper makes a C(c)ountry music documentary?
You get a Johnny Cash biography that includes all of Johnny’s non-C(c)ountry friends, and relegates C(c)ountry legends to characters in the life of Johnny Cash. In this story, the contributions of women and black people is overemphasized to get the PC police all warm and fuzzy.
In this story, the man who taught countless future singers how to sing, is simply a part time rival to Hank Williams.
In this story, the man who had more number 1 hits in the 50’s than anybody, is simply a guy who sold his pool water in mason jars.
In this story, than man who had more number 1 hits than anybody except George Strait, is simply Loretta Lynn’s duet partner.
September 24, 2019 @ 2:50 pm
My prediction for the next episode on the life of Johnny Cash.
There will be a ton of emphasis on cult-favorite songwriters, and how they were intertwined with hippie and folk songwriters, and how this all relates to Johnny Cash.
Also, every single woman and black person who ever charted a song on the Billboard C(c)ountry chart will be mentioned.
Meanwhile, major C(c)ountry stars like Don Williams, Ronnie Milsap(actually he might get mentioned for being blind), Eddie Rabbitt and ETC will be left out, along with legendary singers like Vern Gosdin, Gene Watson and Johnny Paycheck.
Johnny Rodriguez may get a nod for being the first big Hispanic star(as opposed to just getting a nod for being awesome).
September 24, 2019 @ 6:45 pm
I think we have to keep some perspective. This thing could’ve been really, really bad. Burns (as others pointed out) is a Boomer with a Civil Rights-era outlook on race issues, a perspective seemingly shared by many of the artists.
If this thing were made according to today’s “woke” standards, there is no way half of the content would’ve made it in. The Charley Pride and Faron Young anecdote definitely would’ve been scrapped. Young would have had to be branded an unredeemable racist, along with half of everyone else featured. There would have been an entire episode trying to connect country to the “lost cause” mythology or some other nonsense.
Yeah, Burns has an agenda, and I think it’s a good one. I think his whole purpose for the documentary was summed up by Rhiannon Giddens in the first episode — those in power want to keep different people apart and keep them from making music together. Wynton Marsalis basically makes the same point. In a time when the country is so polarized again, these sentiments (not to mention Cash’s message of unity and redemption) seem downright conservative compared to what’s going on around us.
September 25, 2019 @ 9:15 am
Honky, don’t forget Mel Street. Also noticed when talking about Bakersfield in the previous episode, there was zero mention of Wynn Stewart, either.
September 25, 2019 @ 10:23 am
Man I wouldn’t dare forget about Mel Street. He’s one of my personal favorites. I felt like he was probably a little too obscure to make it into this documentary though. Although, they could’ve gotten some lower tier stars in, if they hadn’t wasted so much time on Cash and his friends. Mel would be in episode 7 if at all, and I haven’t finished it yet.
And that’s my complaint here: it’s not that they’re leaving out my personal favorites, it’s that they’re leaving out major stars and legends in C(c)ountry music history.
Wynn Stewart should’ve been mentioned. I don’t see how you can discuss Bakersfield without him.
September 25, 2019 @ 8:21 am
Your lament of Conway Twitty coverage is my lament of George Strait, who got just under two minutes of “oh-by-the-way” mention in episode eight. I shall bite my tongue until y’all have seen it broadcast.
The word, “history,” defines itself well; it’s HIS story. It all depends on who’s telling it.
September 24, 2019 @ 2:03 pm
I’ve been catching up with episodes of the doc a bit late and am just up to this one, which I’ll probably watch later today. Overall so far I’d give the series a B — there are lots of great moments, and I’m aware you can’t cover everything. But, yea, I thought some people were covered more than they needed to be, largely, I suspect, because they or people close to them were available for interviews. My main concern was the voice in my head that kept asking as I watched episode 5: Where’s George? Where’s George? Where’s George?
September 24, 2019 @ 5:00 pm
I think you are correct on many counts. I have not seen this episode yet, and will probably skip it and go to the next one. Then after I see them all I may come back to this episode.
I mentionef in my earlier posts I was afraid this might happen. I will reserve overall judgement until the series is complete. He better right the ship on the next episode.
September 24, 2019 @ 2:22 pm
Agree with you 100 percent here, Trigger.
In the episodes that focused on earlier years, Burns was acting as a historian. This episode was in his wheelhouse, and his personal interests got in the way.
In short, Burns looks at relatively modern country music like the Baby Boomer, liberal documentary filmmaker he is; he’s naturally more attracted to the artists who created social controversy or “elevated” the music than the ones who simply churned out hits. So less Owens and Jones, more Cash and Kristofferson.
I also say there has been way too much focus on artists who merely interacted with country music, which limits the time he has to spend on artists who WERE country. Lingering on Dylan, Armstrong, Marsalis, etc., is just unnecessary.
September 24, 2019 @ 3:47 pm
This wasn’t my favorite episode and I agree there was too much Dylan. It made sense to mention him once, but he got a lot more airtime than key figures who were left out.
As did others, I enjoyed the focus on Kristofferson. He’s an artist I’ve always had respect for, but his voice threw me off. This episode made me want to dig into his stuff again. Made me want to track down old episodes of Hee Haw too.
I also appreciated that Burns didn’t go into all the drama surrounding Gram Parsons’ death. Though i can’t remember if his passing was mentioned in 6 or 7.
September 24, 2019 @ 5:18 pm
It may have gotten missed by folks here in all the hullabaloo over who got too much face time and who didn’t get nearly enough, but this particular episode also showed how bluegrass, arguably the most traditional and authentic form of country music, found its way back into prominence via the most unlikely source: the early 1960s folk music revival/scare, when young college kids got into the stuff. It was also mentioned, of course, that Flatt and Scruggs’ original 1949 recording of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” was used to reasonably authentic effect (given that the setting was the Depression era of the 1930s) in the groundbreaking 1967 film BONNIE AND CLYDE (and, later, “Dueling Banjos” ending up in 1972’s DELIVERANCE).
As for Johnny Cash being featured so prominently–well, it has to be said that the Man In Black attained a level of popularity that always went well beyond the confines of country music, that was, to use an admittedly high-minded term, universal. The only ones still left alive who come close to that, in my opinion, are Willie Nelson and, very likely, Kris Kristofferson. The connection that the man had with generations of people, across all racial, ethnic, religious, and political lines, has never come close to being replicated since. So, whether fairly or unfairly, Mr. Cash does tend to dominate almost any discussion of country music in the decades following the onset of rock and roll in the 1950s (which, there too, he helped to start in his own way).
September 24, 2019 @ 5:55 pm
As a fellow musician and from a musicologist point of view, not every artist mentioned in this story was a prime mover and shaker in the business. Artists such as Johnny Horton and Jim Reeves were also major parts in the development of Country Music. The story of Country Music impacted great pop singers and their repertoire such as Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdink, Vicky Carr and many others. It wasn’t simply Ray Charles who borrowed from Country Music. Not attempting to be an encyclopedic reference for Country Music is understood. Most of the series was done extremely well but is a bit inconsistent and over simplistic in telling the story.
September 24, 2019 @ 8:23 pm
King Honky gets it….. Burns actually did come back to Jones and Wynette in episode 7, which was nice. Nice piece on Waylon and Willie, and Hank Jr as well. But still had to mention Cash and Dylan at every possible opening. If there isn’t an opening to mention cash or Dylan, Burns creates one.
September 24, 2019 @ 11:00 pm
Why not much on Conway Twitter, Glen Campbell, Tanya Tucker, Kenny Rogers, Johnny Paycheck etc. In 1973 to 1983 episode 7, not too mention Ian Tyson from Canada and many other Canadian country stars before that period also but devote too much time to people like Gram Parsons, Roseanne Cash and Emmy Lou Harris who never had as much success or appeal of these others in the world wide country music influence. I think Politics at play and people making documentary influenced by old guard at Grand Ol Opry for most part vs being real country fans of the genre. Real fans know who the real stars were in the 70s into 80s and you left quite a few on the cutting room floor with hardly a mention. Tsk Tsk shame on you, do it right or don’t do it at all, but for most part liked documentary just not the fact you slighted some big stars from early 70s to 80s while wasting time on a few minor figures in that time period is unforgivable. I am dumbfounded how they could get so off track, seemed like the cater family and Cash family documentary vs real history of country music particularly in 70s to 80s, no mention of Mickey Gilles or Johnny Lee or Eddie Rabbit, etc.either that I saw….
September 25, 2019 @ 4:13 am
I’m not sure what y’all expected Burns to do when a topic he has witnessed, then later spent years of his life documenting comes up? I think we could cut him some slack. And who didn’t grin thinking of the haircut scene from Full Metal Jacket when ‘goodbye my sweetheart hello Vietnam’ came on?
Johnny Cash as the thread tying Country Music together makes perfect sense. There is probably a disproportionate amount of footage on Cash–Burns seems to have availed himself of it, eh?
But yeah–30 seconds of Dylan would have seemed about right. Just because he recorded in Nashville does not make him more country than Conway.
September 25, 2019 @ 6:27 am
I found the series interesting but sure missed quite a few singers. Don Williams for one
September 25, 2019 @ 9:34 am
The ship has been “righted” in episode 7. Enjoy.
September 25, 2019 @ 11:11 am
Jean Shepherd is the best part of the documentary
September 25, 2019 @ 3:01 pm
I grew up in the South and I was remembering a lot of my life while watching and listening to “Country Music” (as I expect much of the audience did too). The majesty of the music in total is hard to historically perceive without such an assembly of such a production as Ken Burns is noted for. Country music IS about life and about the souls of ALL of us: past, present, and future. There are so many good artists…how could anyone get them all in one work. I was so glad Gram Parsons was included (I watched the Byrds transform through so many styles). Gram wasn’t a “hippie,” he was a rebel with a code he would not surrender which seemed to be a central character flaw of all of these artists. Gram Parsons was part of “the Shilos” from Greenville, South Carolina, before he was part of the Byrds. He evolved as a performer and part of his legacy is Emmylou Harris whom I love. So, thanks so much Ken Burns…for the memories and the music. God bless you ALL!!
September 25, 2019 @ 5:12 pm
I enjoyed this episode (although I did think the Cash/Dylan relationship part was over-emphasized).
But one thing that surprised me was no mention of ‘Fighting Side of Me’. I feel ‘Fighting’ is an even more culturally significant Vietnam era song than “Okie From Muskogee”.
September 25, 2019 @ 6:47 pm
Simply too much Cash through the entire series. Very disappointing for a Burns production.
September 26, 2019 @ 11:50 am
O and where were kris kristofferson & rita Coolidge…..one second shot??!!! Deserved more performance time.
September 27, 2019 @ 12:40 am
too much time on Gram Parsons? Goodness — what it seems you mean is he deserves no time. Cuz my inner clock said he got precious little mention for being the basic architect of today’s pop country — which is essentially country rawk to my ears.
September 28, 2019 @ 12:55 pm
I’m late to the party — still in the process of watching the series, but I agree with most of the sentiments here that this was the most non-country episode so far.
October 24, 2019 @ 10:44 am
Merle said it best Okie from Muskogee was a joke..
they were on a bender higher than a kite rolling through the night sign said Muskogee Oklahoma x amount of Miles lie ahead.. and simply one of the guys said you know what I bet they don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee..and basically they started writing a song about how clean-cut they were but the ironic part was they were feeling good when the song came about so there’s some great irony with it.
Hag used to talk about that all the time.
yet people gravitated towards the song even though it was a humorous quip.