Country Music, A Documentary By Ken Burns

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Starting last Sunday, PBS started playing episodes of the new documentary by Ken Burns. Burns is responsible for many extremely informative documentaries, usually, if not always premiered on PBS. He's most famous for his Civil War series. The Civil War is not a portion of history I perticularly enjoy reading/learning about. But The Civil War documentary drags me in. Such is the case for "Country Music". Starting in high school, I became a big fan of country music. Leon Russell did some albums as "Hank Wilson", a country genre very similar to Hank Williams, but more stylized for the tastes of Leon Russell fans. Then I discovered Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jesse Coulter, The Outlaws. I already liked Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Crystal Gale, and Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan, (Nashville Skyline is one of the greatest albums ever; "Girl From The North Country", "Lay Lady Lay". I moved from listening to hard rock to mostly outlaw country After High School I moved to Rapid City, S.D., and there were wonderful musicians all over the Dakota's, Montana, and Wyoming, who'd come to weekly jam sessions in all the local Honky Tonks. I learned about Hank Williams, Bob Wells and the Texas Playboys, Asleep At The Wheel, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Earl Scruggs Review, among many other's. I loved country music until the Reagan Administration when conservative government seemed to change country music from an art form from the common people, into an art form that controlled common people. I still have my old favorites in country, but don't really appreciate the newer stuff, with rare exceptions. maybe that's more because of the country radio stations, than the music itself. Now that you've had to endure my own little essay on Country music, you need to start watching the new Ken Burns documentary. The first episode covers the period between 1922, and 1933. It includes extensive info on the worldwide origins of American Country, The Carter Family, and others. The second episode covers from 1933 up until the end of WW2. Including Bill Monroe, Chet Akins, Bob Wills, Gene Autry, the singing cowboys etc.. Tonight, it'll cover the post war years, 1945 to 1953, I can't wait to see who's on it. Don't despair if you missed the first couple episodes, PBS will probably binge play the series some weekend soon, during fund raisers etc.. It is also available on Amazon, and for sale on disc from PBS. You will enjoy this documentary series.