Ken Burns’ Country Music on PBS

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by fenderesq, Sep 15, 2019.

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  1. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    I see you spelled "The Beatles" incorrectly. It does not start with an N.
     
  2. Dr Mike

    Dr Mike Forum Resident

    My girlfriend couldn't get over the blackface. Every time the film would feature a picture of someone in blackface, which was QUITE FREQUENTLY, she was like, "Why? Why? What's the point of it? Was EVERYONE racist in the '20s and '30s?"
     
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  3. Pawnmower

    Pawnmower Senior Member

    Location:
    Dearborn, MI
    Oh, she thinks things in 2019 have the same meaning they did in 1929?
     
  4. John DeAngelis

    John DeAngelis Senior Member

    Location:
    New York, NY
    You wouldn't be researching for Ken Burns, you'd be researching because of your own love of music. (I assume you love music since you're on this forum.) And in 2019, with YouTube and
    a zillion other sources of music, checking out a list of great musicians is pretty darn easy. Personally, I always like it better when I get a tiny lead on a musician and I get to follow up on it, and I'll bet a lot of people here feel the same way. Besides, I can check out the Carter Family anytime. But to hear and see legendary musicians talking about their connection to country music is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
     
  5. Boswell

    Boswell Forum Resident

    Blackface was common in those days, that's why. It was as much part of popular entertainment then as white people acting like they're Black rap artists are now.
    For instance, if you are both white, you would have enjoyed black face in those days.
     
  6. John DeAngelis

    John DeAngelis Senior Member

    Location:
    New York, NY
    JoeRockhead and CWillman like this.
  7. major_works

    major_works This is my Custom Title

    Location:
    Ramsey, NJ, USA
    As I'm not an aficionado of country music, but as a fan of Ken Burns's work, I was looking forward to last night's kickoff, and I wasn't disappointed. It was pretty great. I'm downloading the 5-CD soundtrack from Amazon Music Prime right now, in fact.

    The only thing that gets me about Burns is his ongoing reliance on Wynton Marsalis as some kind of go-to music expert. WM's imposition of his relatively narrow tastes was the worst thing about the Jazz series, which otherwise was wonderful. I'm not sure why Burns would have him all over a documentary on country music. I can think of a few other people who probably know a little more about it. Dolly Parton and Merle Haggard, sure. Where's Willie Nelson?
     
  8. majorlance

    majorlance Forum Resident

    Location:
    PATCO Speedline
    Love . . . and Theft. :tiphat:
     
  9. KDubATX

    KDubATX A Darby Man Never Says When

    Location:
    Austin
    Interesting, had not heard any prior hype about this at all. Not sure if I get PBS off the old rabbit ears or not to be honest, but I guess in theory I would be able to watch this.
    I liked the Jazz series more than not, even though I did get pretty irritated with how Fusion/Free Jazz etc got the short shaft. I may have to look to see if it is available on any of the streaming services I subscribe too.
     
  10. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    RE: Blackface and popular black artists on record... Bert Williams had 'hit' records in the late '00s into the '20s with very sharp satirical titles like The Moon Shines On the Moonshine and Nobody. He appeared on the vaudeville stage in blackface despite being black. A major popular artist and the subject of a great historical study book by Camille F. Forbes!
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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  11. zen

    zen Senior Member

    Nirvana was early 90's. And a cut off point could come later in the 90's. Not at the start of the 90's. According to arob71, it stops in the 90's, not before the decade got rolling.

     
  12. Frangelico

    Frangelico Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    This is a pretty racist thing to say.
     
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  13. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    And Charlie Chaplin made fun of white people. Yes, we're doomed... lets just stop all communication and start burning history books that might be offensive to someone somewhere, just in case.

    :tsk:
     
    Trace, Alert, JoeF. and 1 other person like this.
  14. Boswell

    Boswell Forum Resident

    No, it's not. You're confused.
     
  15. CWillman

    CWillman Senior Member

    Location:
    L.A., CA
    Willie is on camera later in the series. But I'm not sure how expansive an interview they got out of him.
     
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  16. Ironclaw

    Ironclaw Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado
    Let's follow that logic. For instance, would it be true to say, "Slavery was a part of the national economy prior to the civil war. If you were white, you would have enjoyed slavery in those days." True for many, but not true for a significant minortity of whites. Therefore, unless you changed the statement to mean if you were an average white person picked from a crowd in those days, you'd more than likely have enjoyed blackface shows, then you are unfairly stereotyping.
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2019
  17. Frangelico

    Frangelico Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    You said all white people would have enjoyed blackface. Were the 11 Italian-Americans murdered in New Orleans in 1891 enjoying blackface? Is my grandfather from Italy that served in an artillery unit for the US Army in WWI a fascist? Is my uncle that served in WWII and died fighting the Nazis in Europe a Nazi? I’ve been called a mafioso to my face. My mother’s family is from Sicily - am I a guinea mafioso? Is Spike Lee’s depiction of Italian Americans an accurate one - or My Cousin Vinny - or Jersey Shore? Can Lennie Tristano not play jazz because he’s Italian - can he not “feel” the piano (an instrument that originated in Italy) because he is Italian?
     
  18. KDubATX

    KDubATX A Darby Man Never Says When

    Location:
    Austin
    Welp, this thread has landed in the ditch.
     
  19. Boswell

    Boswell Forum Resident

    You're very confused.

    Black Face was a normal and common and popular entertainment and if you were living in the 1920s it is very likely you would have been among the most of the people who enjoyed this entertainment.
    It's not a racial point, it's an era distinction.
     
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  20. Paul J

    Paul J Forum Resident

    Location:
    Baltimore
    I’m getting the feeling that we won’t have to worry about the Gorts merging the two Burns Country threads.
     
  21. Boswell

    Boswell Forum Resident

    If you were white and lived in the South in those days you could have owned slaves or someone in your family or friends circle would have owned slaves.

    Black cultural appropriation is still with us. In the name of Hip-Hop, many non Black people have affected African american speech and musical cues. You may not notice because it is a part of our zeitgeist and is common and YOU'RE USED TO IT.
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2019
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  22. Ironclaw

    Ironclaw Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado
    Have you ever heard of John Brown, the 1800s Republicans, Abraham Lincoln, the Abolitionist movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson? Did I say southern whites?
     
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  23. Frangelico

    Frangelico Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    It is not a perpetual era distinction - if everything was an era distinction across all decades we would not have had abolitionists and nothing would change. It is no longer an era distinction because people began to speak out against it - African-Americans and some not African-American. It was commonplace and wrong, it began to become less commonplace and “all” people of a particular type did not continue to enjoy it. It’s like saying the KKK was an era distinction for all people of a certain type - so by your logic the 11 Italians lynched in New Orleans must have been members of the KKK.
     
  24. Boswell

    Boswell Forum Resident

    You're talking about exceptions, I'm talking about the mass of people within these historical situations.

    Continue to enjoy it?! Who said that?
    Unbelievable.

    The preponderance of Black Face images in the Burns Country Music doc is a testament to everything I've said thus far: good, normal, black, white, even non-racist people enjoyed black face in an era where it was a common entertainment. Come on, gang, this isn't so difficult to comprehend.
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2019
  25. Ironclaw

    Ironclaw Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado
    Well, the abolition of slavery was a goal of the Republican party, and Abe got elected on the Republican ticket. So, it was a national goal (or was at least acknowledged as something that needed to happen) for/by millions of white Americans. I'd call that a mass of people.
     
    JoeF. likes this.
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