Notes from Sherry: Country Music by Ken Burns

Now Playing On PBS: Country Music by Ken Burns 

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 20^th Century to 1996. Episodes are available to stream now through October 6^th-16^th (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 11^th 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.” 

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Born in Athens, Ohio, Sherry Davis is a scholar-practitioner focusing on the preservation and advocacy of music history and heritage.