Ken Burns’ Country Music on PBS

If this was 1980, I might agree with you. With Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, etc. there are a zillion different ways
that you can listen to these songs and check them out. It's soooooooooooo easy....
:--)

 

I really enjoyed the information about Jimmy Rogers. And the guy who went to TN looking for talent sure struck gold with the Carter Family and Jimmy Rogers on successive days!

I love Ken Burns and his approach so this is great to have to look forward to over the next couple weeks. I saw him speak at Tulane earlier this year and he is a very impressive individual.

 

I understand what your saying. Semantically, the way your earlier post was written can be interpreted in a different way. It’s a broad, blanket statement and historians sometimes do this too without distinctions.

I fully assume you didn’t mean it that way, but some people do purposely write or talk this way as a rhetorical device to paint deliberately broad brushes.

Thanks

 

You do know that he narrates every Ken Burns, right?

Anyway, that first episode was a typical KB triumph. Loved it!

 

They’re dumb. You don’t edit the master.

“Yeah, that White Album is great, but here’s the single lp we whittled it down to. Enjoy!”

They’re dumb.

 

You said the crux of the matter yourself: "...good, normal, even non-racist people enjoyed black face..." Therefore, those good and normal people were racist. Why would a non-racist person enjoy portrayals of black people as being of lesser intelligence and more bestial nature? Whether I would have enjoyed it were I a white person back then, I cannot say. But, if I did enjoy it, I'd sure as hell have been racist or thought portrayals of blacks as a dumber breed was innocuous comedy.

 

Everyone go read this and start again. It was racist but it was a vast main tributary of all of the country, rock, blues, jazz, and popular entertainment in general to come after. So we are ambivalent about it to say the least. There is offense in it for people of color, and others, today for sure.

 

This thread ain't gonna make it, at this rate. Which is a drag -- because as the series progresses, I'm probably going to have a sh#tload of questions -- hoping to be educated by members here with more historical knowledge than I about some of the music being addressed in the documentary.

 

That’s why there are search engines.

 

Which don't include the history of race in America, I suppose?

 

We get things censored in the country by PBS from the BBC that are considered lewd; like nudity.
We’re the dumb ones.

 

If you dig hard enough. There’s always the library. The answers are available.

 

Are you irritated by my interest in interacting with other people on a music forum about -- uh -- music?

 

All art is political, which is why this stuff inevitably drags history back into the conversation. Talking about sound, dates, and names without the historical context, the controversy, etc. is bland.

 

I’m not irritated. But you seem to be...
I’m referring to your post #83.
If that’s not irritation, I don’t know what is...

 

Because I said "it's a drag" that this thread took a turn that could imperil its future? I wouldn't really call that "irritation". That wasn't my intent, anyway.

All good here. Have a fine day...

 

The whole episode is at a PBS site online. It may only be available to Americans but I know folks can work around that.

 

Didn’t read that way to me at all. Sounded like a forum member excited to talk about country music and pick members brains for additional information. But I guess that’s just me.

 

Lol. Just watched the first episode. Practically the whole thing is about racism, minstrel shows, and black and white America. Now, we can't talk about that here can we.

 

No, he doesn't. Didn't narrate my favorites - Jazz (Keith David), Civil War (David McCullough) or Baseball (John Chancellor), thank goodness.

 

Haven't watched it yet.

I guess we do have an awkward dynamic on our hands here. I should have known that with Burns that the context would be almost as significant as the subject. It certainly wasn't my intent to diminish the dialogue regarding race -- but not having watched any of it yet, I was merely thinking of the musical aspects -- and knowing that threads here can run afoul of the rules, I figured that this one may be in jeopardy.

Personally, I really couldn't give a sh#t if people here want to debate, say, the relative merits of beastiality -- but it ain't my forum, and it ain't my rules.

Sorry to all for my poor execution regarding this matter...

 

It was a beautiful episode. I nearly cried at several points from the charming stories/songs.

 

I understand why there's a moratorium on race and political conversation. However, if it's directly relevant to a musical topic of conversation, and it is said without a whiff of animosity, it seems fair game. Apologies for getting my panties in a bunch over the pro-minstrel commentations. Looks like we got a helluva documentary on our hands for 2019!

 

I like that little feint that you don't know how to spell bestiality.

 

Not contrived.
Illiteracy.