Country Music - Not My Genre but What A Great Show

I guess the Emmy's were held last night. I didn't watch them. I was tied up with Ken Burns' new epic - "Country", and totally enthralled. I did see some of the outfits for the Emmys on-line this morning and I'll try to take a closer look today and perhaps share some with you later this week. But - "Country". It was mesmerizing. 

I'm not a Country Music fangirl, but I'm totally loving
watching this eight-part series by Ken Burns. 

I have to state off the front that I'm a Metal-head - not a country music fan. But I also have to be truthful and state that it wasn't always the case. I was a country fan for about three years perhaps a decade or a bit longer ago. I remember those days well. I also grew up with friends whose parents were country fans, so I was accustomed to the music as a younger child and young adult. I wasn't a fan, but I recognized the music as powerful. 

I remember this album in the living room of my best friend's
house on the Air Force Base. Her Daddy loved Country music
and was always playing it when I went to visit with her. 

Like most of Ken Burns' photographic docu-dramas, "Country" is filled with photographs with steller narration and on-point sound snippets and music. But country music is very much alive, and many of the movers and shakers within the genre are also very much alive, so in-person interviews and memories play an important role in this. I missed the first four episodes because of conflicts, but caught the fifth of eight last night. It was well worth missing a boring awards show to listen to music and memories from people who have helped shape our musical world so profoundly. 

I remember singing along proudly with Jeannie C Riler's "Harper
Valley P>T>A>" song when it crossed over the charts and became
a major hit on the popular music radio stations. It never really
occurred to me that it was a "country" song. 

Country music is a foundational music and an experiential music. It brings songs from the heart and from life, puts them into a musical framework, and throws that package out into the world where it will affect anyone who listens. It's not a genre-specific music - good songs cross over into the pop and sometimes rock-and-roll genres, and they can be played by hundreds of artists over long periods of years. I didn't listen to country music while growing up, but "Harper Valley PTA" and "Ode to Billy Joe" were certainly on the playlists of the pop station I listened to. I had heard of the big stars of country - Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton, Reba McIntyre, and others. I had gone to the theater to see "Coal Miner's Daughter" with my Dad when he visited me in the Twin Cities one year. It was a great movie to watch with him and we both enjoyed it. 

"Ode to Billie Joe" by Bobbie Gentry was a hit that crossed over into
pop culture in 1967. It was so popular and haunting that a movie was
made based on the song in 1976. 

Country music in the USA is pervasive. It might not be the hip-hop of LA, but the rhythms translate and the life stories trickle through all walks of life. Everyone can have a bad day or a bad experience. Everyone can be poor or unhappy. There's light at the end of that tunnel. Country music memorializes the walk to get from Point A to Point B and all of the various scenery along the way. The documentary is on for a few more nights, and if you can watch it, I recommend it. 

Happy Monday, enjoy your day, and I'll be back tomorrow.