Ken Burns' COUNTRY MUSIC Documentary

xxxxpost Wynton, Nate Chinen's excellent Playing Changes: Jazz For The New Century(2018) incl. intriguing descriptions of his earliest releases, in which he did apparently do his and his combo's damnest(s?) to put his money where his mouth was, with strenuous excursions on his versions of the post-avan cutting edge, or something like that Yadda yadda when he did, some years after taking reins of Jazz At Lincoln Center, become more the Complete Entertainer----dig United We Swing: Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas, with Willie and Dylan and Blind Boys of Alabama and Ray Charles, also some lesser lights shining at best they can themselves---and yeah his xpost first w Willie and also their tribute to Ray, with horns like Cab Calloway Orchestra at its 30s wildest, also Snorah Jones sprinkling a little blue dream dust there at the right moments.

Best of last night, visually: Long tall JC's pilled, incredible shrinking mouse face keeps atop his roller coaster lankiness. Did not know that he was dogged for supposedly having "Negro" wife!
Rosannn, affectionately: "Dylan knew the melody [to 'I Still Miss Someone'} better than Dad did."
JC, smiling: "You've changed the melody."
Dylan, enthusiastically: "Yeah I changed the mel-oh-deee."

Didn't see whole ep, but also appreciated Merle on young Loretta: "She sung her way out of prison." And sounded like he might be right that her singing on the first single, "Honky Tonk Girl," was her best ever, although she still makes really good albums.

Really liking the commentary from Ray Walker of the Jordanaires. Fave that I heard was his description of how Patsy had Willie's demo phrasing stuck in her head, which didn't fit the preordained slower, shuffle-y arrangement---but then she did it, speeding up just for a liminal flickering vibration of "Crazy"-ness during the last note of every line, like she's gonna fly off the perch, but...

Xpost'96, eh? If it ends with the circus flashpot soap opry of Garth, bringing Chris LeDoux Aerosmith Elton John Billy Joel Knights In Satan's Service, and some good self-written weirdo ballads, into demographically apt realms and reams of mainstream country family entertainment, that'll be a good place to end it.

Cash & Dylan at the piano

I don't think I'd ever seen this before, unless it shows up in mangled form in Eat the Document...?

It's definitely in the PBS/Scorsese Dylan doc from 2005.

ah, forgot about that

So
Lesley Riddle
DeFord Bailey
Arnold Shultz
Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne
Gus Cannon
Ray Charles
Charley Pride
Darius Rucker

But I’ll bet
No Bobby Hebb
And especially
No Jerry “Swamp Dogg” Williams, Jr.

Or Arthur Alexander

didn't know Emmylou Harris was so revered in the seventies as a purity pony -- that was a revelation

I loved watching ten minutes devoted to George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," compensating for a near-total absence or as part of "and Tammy."

Billy Sherrill!

Any interviews with James Burton? I was shocked to hear an interview with him just last week. Still alive!

Inexplicably, Burton isn't even mentioned in passing, despite the inclusion of a brief clip or two of his playing.

Nice repurposing of Cisco Pike footage.

Inexplicably, Burton isn't even mentioned in passing, despite the inclusion of a brief clip or two of his playing.

I can't remember specifically, but I definitely remember seeing his paisley Telecaster...probably during an Emmylou Harris clip.

Charley Pride illustrating "Loving Her Was Easier..."...

For a second thought Peter La Farge was Nick Cave.

Whole lotta these fuckers have died since recording these interviews. Good on Ken for getting this done.

But i guess they didn't get Leon Russell? I know they have a set narrative, but Hank Wilson's Back was the 2 in the 1-2 Roots Punch behind May The Circle...

There better be more coverage of glen campbell than “like Johnny Cash, he had his own television show, but it was nowhere as important as hee haw.”

I think that actually was it, and it sucks.

That said, less Vietnam more Junior Samples.

Being inspired after watching Dolly Parton sing “Dumb Blonde” to look up Curly Putman’s songwriting credits came across this:
The Paul McCartney & Wings hit "Junior's Farm" was inspired by their short stay at Putman's farm in rural Wilson County, Tennessee in 1974

what a contrast

Merle Haggard’s Mom takes the greyhound every chance she can to see her son in prison and takes on all the shame & disgust from her own family & rematived, while Kristofferson’s mom disowns him ~by mail~ just for trying to become a country singer

momma haggard <3

rematived = relatives

O_o

Yeah, that was pretty nice of Merle’s mom.

I am an episode behind. So Kris Kristofferson is coming up next? Do they mention him sneaking demo tapes to Charlie Louvin?

Also, apologies for getting confused and thinking Connie Smith had been married to Marty Robbins.

Kristofferson is a big part of tonight's show, ep 6. Louvin isn't mentioned, but Cowboy Jack Clement and Marijohn Wilkin are.

Thanks. One time I heard an interview with Kris Kristofferson during which they called Charlie to discuss this and anything else they might want to talk about. After Kris and Charlie greeted each other they barely said anything, seeming to be holding back some laughter, presumably at whatever unbroadcastable words would have come out of Charlie’s mouth at any other time.

Think the deal was that Charlie was breaking a rule by accepting a demo tape from the janitor or whatever Kris’s actual job was, although not sure how this lines up chronologically with the Marijohn Wilkin relationship.

Here is some background and that conversation:
http://blog.lightintheattic.net/a-conversation-between-charlie-louvin-and-kris-kristofferson/

Also in case the doc never gets to it and you missed the earlier Chemirocha craze here is a link:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/chemirocha-how-an-american-country-singer-became-a-kenyan-star

Goddammit they skirted Glen Campbell entirely by classifying him as a pop singer and I’m fkn PISSED

Ugh

Just throwing this out there, but Jimmy McDonough's book on Tammy Wynette (and Billy Sherrill and Glenn Sutton and George Jones and George Richey) is great.

That’s on my list, in my pile etc./pvmic

Somebody circulated a copy of St least the first episode with announcements for the visually impaired. So I need to download a NE version.

I thought the last episode was fairly well done, even though it ended with a slide show of all post-1996 country performers (without identifying any of them, which was a little annoying). But that may be my ignorance; if I'd known nothing about the music, I might have thought the last episode of Jazz was fine. Also, for as much as they focused on the commercial success of each artist, George Strait didn't get much coverage, despite having 60 (!) number one hits.

Were there any super-glaring omissions in the final episode?

Like many of you, I’m unsure how I can go on living now that I know George Jones once marketed women’s underwear called Possum Panties.

— Jon Wurster (@jonwurster) September 24, 2019

yeah that was a horrifying detail O_o

George's Secret

See the end of item 6 here:
https://www.neatorama.com/2015/06/17/10-Facts-You-Probably-Didnt-Know-About-the-Beatles/

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/4/49/I_Love_Lisa_66.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20131017175029

Lots of good links on here, thanks. Here's the xpost excellent James Burton interview:
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/757066866/elvis-guitarist-james-burton-i-went-professional-when-i-was-14 with a mention of the new monster box Elvis: Live 1969.

lol Grisso.

Year he ascended the come-back launched in Ded. '68, subsuming country and all his other genres/subgenres, a la Dylan and The Band, electric Miles, etc.

Goddammit they skirted Glen Campbell entirely by classifying him as a pop singer and I’m fkn PISSED

― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, September 24, 2019 12:49 AM (fifteen hours ago)

I'm holding out hope that they return to Glen for "Rhinestone Cowboy" -- that was a giant hit. Perhaps it shows up in the Ronnie Milsap section where we see how popularized country had become by the mid-70s. Opportunity there to talk about his evolution from Square-Jawed Purveyor of Jimmy Webb Songs to Cocaine-Riddled Beardo Fighting With Tanya Tucker.

Aren’t there like two hours reserved at the end for Johnny Cash’s Rick Rubin comeback?

i always sort of thought of glen campbell as basically a pop star too, there i said it

Yes, Cash's Rubin recordings get a lot of time, though Rubin isn't interviewed, which is too bad -- it would've been nice to hear why he chose to work with Cash, and his perceptions of how Cash's fans, and the country audience at large, would receive the records. And no, they don't return to Glen Campbell; the only coverage he gets is the couple of sentences and few seconds of "Wichita Lineman" in episode 6 or 7.

"Country" and "pop" are the "this is Jazz" and "hey, that's not Jazz!" of this series, apparently.