Ken Burns - Country Music Documentary

Very late to the party here, but I finally wrapped up the series a few nights ago as I wanted my wife to watch it as well and I had to be patient. (Now I owe her a series to watch, but that's fine because now she sees why I love country music so much.) I thought all in all it was the best music documentary I have seen, surpassing The Beatles Anthology for the #1 slot. Some highlights:
- All the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers focus, including how it translated into modern times, like The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band doing Can the Circle Be Unbroken and all the different performers covering Muleskinner Blues
- The early years with groups like Bob Wills and the Maddox Brothers and Rose
- The Hank Williams "Hillbilly Shakespeare" episode
- The Johnny Cash recurrence throughout more than half the series, and especially how the final episode addressed the Rick Rubin era
- All the interviews with Merle Haggard, who knew so many of the artists covered
- The interviews with Rosanne Cash, who not only had great stories about her dad but also some good stories about the 70s and 80s scene and about the Carter Family--and as others have noted, she's not so bad to look at
- The Willie Nelson interviews; by the way, that's at least the third interview I have seen of him where he is sitting in, I believe, the kitchen area of his bus; I'm glad no one ran him over n Nashville when he lay down in the middle of the road in the early 70s!
- The Outlaw Country and Country Rock segments, two of my favorite eras, including a lot of Guy Clark and Waylon Jennings coverage in the former and Gram Parsons coverage in the latter
- The interviews with Ray Benson, who also knows his country music history quite well and has a great country music voice (despite being from my own Montgomery County, PA)

I didn't think I would enjoy the last episode other than the Johnny Cash segment, but they did a nice job, even making Garth Brooks likable and interesting (well, maybe he naturally is, but I'm not a fan of his music)--especially in the segment on the Fan Fest where he signed autographs non-stop for over 23 hours! I read online that he had appeared there for several years, cutting back his time signing, then got criticized for skipping it one year, so he came roaring back to more than make up for the missed year.

There wasn't much I thought needed improvement. Obviously they are going to miss a few names, but there weren't many that they did. Spade Cooley was one, but it's probably best that he is forgotten. I was maybe hoping for a little more George Jones, but he did appear on there a number of times (and he is going to be the focus of season2 of Cocaine and Rhinestones, whenever that comes back). Anyway, I thought this was the best of the Ken Burns series that I have watched, and I look forward to picking it up on Blu-Ray (when the price drops a bit) and watching the extras. And the book that was written in conjunction with the project looks amazing and is on my Christmas list.

 

It looks like most PBS stations are going to run Country Music again starting the first Friday in January 2020. 9 eastern, 8 central.

That's good news for those of us who missed a couple of episodes.

 

I really enjoyed the program on Blu-Ray, I borrowed recently. From beginning to the end there was so much i learned about innovated way radio spread Country music , outstanding work from Ken Burns!

 

What is this "Cocaine and Rhinestones" series you're talking about? I've never heard of it before, and it sounds like it could be interesting...

 

I was thinking the same thing. Sounds like it could be a Netflix comedy series

 

Brilliant country music podcast

 

Does anyone know if official audio exists of the Folsom Prison Concert's opening acts? In the documentary, they talk about the opening acts, and then you can actually hear audio of the announcer saying "OK, let's start the record cutting portion of the program now" or something like that. This is all before Johnny Cash steps up to the mic and introduces himself, of course. Would love to hear a truly uncut version of that concert...

 

The "Legacy Edition" (2008) has the opening acts (Carl Perkins, The Statler Brothers) plus a poem by June Carter Cash.

For Record Store Day 2018, a 5 LP set was released with a bonus album of rehearsals:

Johnny Cash, At Folsom Prison: Legacy Edition (5LP 12” vinyl – Individually Numbered – First Time on Vinyl)

“Hello…I’m Johnny Cash.” With those four words, The Man in Black solidified his legend as outlaw country pioneer with two spirited sets recorded at Folsom State Prison in 1968 and released as At Folsom Prison, one of the most acclaimed live albums of all time. This special box set includes both full concerts available for the first time on vinyl, including performances by June Carter, Carl Perkins and The Statler Brothers. This numbered deluxe package, featuring individually designed LP jackets packaged in a deluxe hard shell slipcase with an eight-page, 12” x 12” booklet, also includes a bonus 12” single featuring previously unreleased audio of Cash and friends rehearsing at the El Rancho Motel in Sacramento, California, the night before the concerts took place.

 

You'll be wanting this (and see you got another reply mentioning the same set while I was finding a link for you - this is for the 2008 CD/DVD set):

Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison

 

Wow, that totally went under my radar. Thanks!

 

We’re about half way through it in the UK, on BBC 4. Ken Burns seems to have done a terrific job. Nice blend of history and the music.

 

Its a podcast by one of David Allen Coe’s kids, Tyler Mahan Coe

He only did one season (15 episodes) but had planned a pretty ambitious multi season history of country music. Each episode is about a specific person (buck and don rich, Ralph Mooney, the Louvin bros, wynonna)

The last episode was posted Feb 5, 2018, looks like the website hasn’t been updated since then either
Cocaine & Rhinestones | The podcast about the History of Country Music

Great name for a podcast too

 

I loved it. Be careful saying you liked it though, it will spark outrage over the fact Burns neglected to mention Ray Burke, an obscure guitarist who played on one song by Ray Whitley in July of 1941.

 

Ok, I joined this site just to ask this 1 question. In episode 6 at 1:04:00 (according to the YouTube TV version) Kris Kristofferson sings a version of Help Me Make It Through the Night that I think is the best version ever, but I can't find it anywhere. The credits only say it's from Combine Music Group. Does anyone know any other info about who he was with (I don't recognize the others he's sitting near,) or if it's available anywhere?
Many Thanks & I really enjoyed reading all of your posts on this thread.

 

Is it not the album version?



I’ll need to take a second look, if it’s still streaming. Can you share the video you mentioned?

 

I just checked out the segment. It seems to be a TV broadcast version from that era (1969ish?) with a few other musicians that I neglected to take note of. It seemed a bit slower and a bit more acoustic. It would be the type of version that one would probably find on a box set or a bonus track for a deluxe version of that Kristofferson album (kinda like the Dylan/Cash version of Girl From The North Country that was preformed on his TV show is found on the recent Bob Dylan box set).

 

OK, I can’t help then. There are several different versions on the Kristofferson box set from a few years ago. MP3 samples available for preview here: https://smile.amazon.com/Complete-M...words=kristofferson+box&qid=1582090916&sr=8-1

I doubt any of them are from that performance, but one could be similar.

 

That's part of the let down watching this doc is the recordings of quite of few artists including the Waylon and Willie episode and others don't have the fullness of what appears to sound like a live performance that was recorded quite well. It made me want to buy the album because I'm hearing a lot of this music for the first time seeing the only country music I bought was Willie Nelson's "Star Dust" vinyl album back in the '70's.

Frequent trips to listen to Amazon samples of CD/Streaming have a less full but more brighter and detailed tone. I can't un-hear the initial live sound in the doc that motivated me to want to buy the album. I kept saying while watching the doc listening to a lot of songs by many country music artist that I don't remember it sounding this good on the radio back then. It didn't motivate me to want to buy the music back then.

Kind of ironic in a way in that the Outlaw anti-Nashville sound was pioneered by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson to not make their music sound over produced in the studio which was common in Nashville studios because it employed a lot of production personnel and musicians. Waylon wanted the sound on his album to match what he heard playing at his live venues. His CD's at Amazon don't exactly have that sound except there's no violins playing with a full orchestra and The Jordanaires quartet singing in the background.

 

Mid February......perhaps it’s time to watch this series again.

 

Regarding the TV show version of Help Me Make It Through The Night, I’m thinking David Frost is the host/presenter. Here are a couple of screenshots from my iPad:

 

It would have been cool if they released the TV performances used in the show on the CD box. I’m sure it would be a licensing and mastering nightmare, though.

I’m still waiting for CDs of the Johnny Cash show. Even just Cash’s own performances. There’s lots of great ones.

 

The Emmylou/Gram footage

 

I get the Johnny Cash show on GetTV and though the sound is quite real considering it was recorded in the Ryman auditorium in Nashville, I found the Glen Campbell Good Time Hour had better mic placement of the bass and kick drum and overall balanced small studio accoustics that delivered a fuller but clearer sound. One episode I stumbled on sounded so good on my computer speakers I wanted to record on my Macbook but wasn't fast enough.