Premiering on September 15th, Country Music was broadcasted on PBS through September 25th. The 8-part documentary is a chronological telling of country music and its root genres, from the early 20th Century to 1996. Episodes are available to stream now through October 6th-16th (see schedule). Viewers can learn more about the film, access extra behind-the-scenes content and order the film and soundtrack here.
Country Music represents a uniquely
American story that touches every corner of our nation. And this is evidenced
by the enthusiasm and excitement surrounding it. Watch parties are being held at
music heritage sites featuring live music in many states. Belmont University in
Nashville is developing a collection of educational
resources to accompany the 16-hour film with classrooms across America being
able to access it all for free on PBS Learning Media, a platform
that reaches one million users each month throughout the school year. Social
media is abuzz with daily content from PBS, Director Ken Burns, interviewees and
industry leaders as well as fans and communities embracing their local music history,
many for the first time. I just joined my twin sister Sheryl on her study tour to Brownsville,
Tennessee for Tina
Turner Heritage Days with the West Tennessee Delta Heritage
Center and I lost track of how many times the film was brought up in conversation.
The roll-out campaign for Country Music began in March
with screenings and discussions being scheduled in 30 markets leading up to the
premiere. Burns embarked on a promotional bus tour along the Tennessee Music
Pathways with stops and events with local radio stations and other
partners, bookended by the PBS airing of Country
Music: Live at The Ryman Concert. “We are thrilled to have had the
opportunity to bring film excerpts of Country Music to those areas that
gave birth to this most American of art forms. Ryman
Auditorium, the Mother Church of Country Music, is a character itself in
our film, and hosting this concert there was a dream come true for us. We are
thrilled to now share this special evening with PBS viewers across the country,”
said Burns.
From the start, it has been a national experience. With most
viewers tuning into the TV broadcast instead of streaming on demand, it hearkens
to yesteryear when Americans gathered in front of their televisions for American
Bandstand. There’s a communal feeling about viewership, but at the same
time, the film is as intimate as those rural regions it visits, transportive
through total immersion. Each episode is prefaced by a promo: “Nothing connects
the country like country music.” Indeed. Music, memories, places, buildings,
artifacts. We’re all connected through art, our built environment,
socio-cultural perspective and human interest. And as agents of this living and
ever-evolving history of which we are a part, our collective voice is one of
great power and beauty. It gives rise to the meaning, identity and potential of
our American community. This is the essence of Burns’ epic. To quote American
author H.A.
Overstreet, “I have my own particular sorrows, loves, delights; and you
have yours. But sorrow, gladness, yearning, hope, love, belong to all of us, in
all times and in all places. Music is the only means whereby we feel these
emotions in their universality.”
Country Music represents a reawakening.
The film’s two-week airing schedule and it’s October streaming availability gives
us the opportunity to celebrate and share in this particular part of our
history as we’ve never done before. And as a preservationist, I can’t describe
in words my optimism about this resurgence of interest and appreciation for our
musical past. There’s an energy surrounding the series, and it’s already making
an impact. I believe Country Music will translate directly into greater
support for music history and heritage. We’re going to see greater demand for
records by Hank Williams and Patsy Cline. We’re going to see more amateur
and professional musicians covering songs and artists featured in the film. We’re
going to see audiences asking for more of the Americana sound. We’re going to
see more artists embrace historically informed performance practice. Case in
point. Forbes just published an article,
“Nashville Readies For Boost In Tourism Following Ken Burns’ Country Music
Documentary.”
The documentary’s role as a catalyst for music heritage
tourism and support for preservation initiatives has tremendous potential. In
fact, it could soon influence the outcome for an endangered landmark mentioned
in its script. 152 Nassau Street
in Atlanta, the former home of Okeh Records where Fiddlin’ John
Carson recorded the first country hit in 1923, is facing demolition. A
developer wants to build a Margaritaville-themed hotel there and the case is
currently in court. A stop order was issued by the judge which halted
demolition at the 11th hour, but the fight is far from over. With
Burns shining limelight onto this history in his film, will it be enough to make
a difference?
Country music journalist Bobby Moore asked Burns about it a
few days before the Country Music premiere: “Do you know about the
Fiddlin’ John situation in Atlanta where they’re going to build a
Margaritaville where he recorded his first hit? There’s a fight to save the
building, or at least have its history commemorated.” To which Burns responded:
“I’m all for commemoration. I’m all not for tearing things down. Americans,
despite how old we are, behave like we’re really young. We’ve lost a lot of
beautiful things because we haven’t thought to save things. I’m happy that
folks are doing it. I’ve made noise about developments of battlefields and
noise about this and noise about that because it’s better to keep these
things.”
Agreed. At a time when Nashville itself is razing historic
buildings on Music
Row at record pace (even the beloved Ryman was once on the chopping block
in 1974), we desperately need a larger voice and platform to drive education, awareness
and dialogue to save our heritage. And Country Music will be a key
player. The significance of film as a vehicle for saving historic places and cultivating
broader audiences cannot be underestimated. For example, it was the popularity
of the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line
that ultimately saved his boyhood home
and revitalized Dyess Colony. My twin sister Sheryl had the opportunity to join the preservation
effort through a student project with the Arkansas State University. We
attended the inaugural Johnny
Cash Heritage Festival in 2017 and were filmed at the restored Cash home
for Rosanne Cash’s music video for The Walking Wounded,
a posthumous collaboration with her father. My article, “Channeling
Cash, Poet Laureate Of The Walking Wounded,” offers an inside glimpse of
our experience. Rosanne is an interviewee in Country Music, and as
always, offers an education on “The Man in Black.”
Shenandoah, Iowa is featured in the first episode of the
series for its pioneering role in radio with farmer friendly stations KMA and
KFNF. And this is gratifying for the community as well as myself, my sister and
our small team who have been working diligently to bring greater recognition to
the town’s significance not only in radio, but also in music through our work
for the Everly
Brothers Childhood Home Foundation. There has been increased interest in
the Everly
Brothers partly due to the release of a 2016 documentary, entitled The Everly Brothers:
Harmonies from Heaven, which also received some distribution on PBS. It’s
still not widely known that Don and Phil Everly spent their formative years in Shenandoah
where they received all of their musical training and made their professional
debuts as child stars on local radio in the 1940s. Earlier this year, we finished
a new
short film, the first ever made about the Everlys in Shenandoah, that
represents a step towards our future goal of creating a feature length
documentary.
The medium of film is such an integral part of preservation and
the profoundness of Country Music strengthens my faith in what is yet to
come. Spanning nearly one century in 16 hours, Country Music is
triumphant in its delivery, managing to capture the spirit of an entire genre
through brilliant storytelling. The documentary creates a point of entry for
audiences to learn more and indulge in this music, which is a tremendous supplement
for those working to preserve and advocate this history and heritage. Burns and
his team have not only given us a gift, but an instrument through which we can educate,
enlighten and unite. "At the heart of every great country music song is a
story,” says
Burns. "As the songwriter Harlan Howard said, ‘It’s three chords
and the truth.’ The common experiences and human emotions speak to each
of us about love and loss, about hard times and the chance of redemption. As an
art form, country music is also forever revisiting its history, sharing and
updating old classics and celebrating its roots, which are, in many ways,
foundational to our country itself.”
_________
Born in Athens, Ohio, Sherry
Davis is a scholar-practitioner focusing on the preservation and
advocacy of music history and heritage.
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