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Just a reminder if you're interested.

https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/country-music/

Edit: For some reason the previous link wouldn't load. This one should work.

Episodes 5 through 8 are now streaming on the link above.

Am I the only one on here watching this?
I'm watching it, Bob.

Really enjoying it. Learning some interesting things that I did not know...

The early episodes were quite in-depth - The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers stuff...as it is getting into Cash and Elvis and Patsy Cline era it has gotten less so. More to touch on, I guess. But still good.

Cool stuff.
We’ve seen three episodes.

My stepfather played in a late 1920’s string band so I do have some understanding of those early years having played with him and talked hours about his influences. Once 50 years ago I was talking to him those influences and he reached into his pocket, got out a small pocket knife, picked up his guitar and played a few blues licks using the knife as a slide. Said an old black man showed him how when he was a young man. I was stunned. So much like the stories in this series.

I thought the segment focusing on Hank Williams was done extremely well. I was very familiar with his last years having often read about it but they captured it in a very moving manner.

I’ve always liked Marty Stuart’s music and his breadth of country music knowledge. They made a great choice featuring his insight throughout the series.

And as a longtime bluegrass player I feel the genre was well covered. The hard core fans will likely feel more time was needed but within the context of the huge scope of the series I think bluegrass got its due.

Bud
Well.... here in NC they decided this would be a great time to mess with the channel lineups and the transmitter frequencies..... I believe it's an FCC mandated thing due to radio spectrum allocations.... probably nation wide.

Anyway, we're having one heck of a time trying to get those channels. I've rescanned my TV multiple times.... last weekend I had 57 channels.... today, after a rescan, I have 36. And not one of those is the public TV channels. Previously, I could pickup 3 different towers..... now, nothing and my preamp is cranked to 30dB gain.

I'm hoping they will get finished soon and we can get those channels again.

In other news, the same 2000 foot TV towers hold a multitude of ham radio repeater antenna arrays, and several of those have sustained some damage from a variety of storms and those repeaters are not on the air or are only usable from certain compass directions from the towers....and they can't be fixed due to the TV channel shuffle is completed and the crews are down off the towers.

So.... we might have to watch the PBS country music documentary via some other method..... online archived streaming after it's been aired. Better late than never I suppose.
If you have a smart TV, tablet or smartphone, you can install the PBS app and watch all the episodes. It's free (being PBS), and you don't have to be a cable/satellite TV subscriber to use it.
Herb, You can watch episodes 2-8 on the link I've got posted.


Originally Posted By: bobcflatpicker
Herb, You can watch episodes 2-8 on the link I've got posted.




And that is exactly what we did last night. My wife wanted to watch the episode with Patsy Cline.... and so we did.
Nit sure if this has been mentioned yet but you can binge watch the entire series right here https://www.pbs.org/video/ken-burns-country-music-episode-1-the-rub/

1st thing caught my attention was the term "song catcher" wonder what that would be called in today's world, LOL.

I am already on episode #6.

PS: I see the link was posted above, sorry for the duplication.

Enjoy!
I just finished watching the last episode. I've gotta say that I thoroughly enjoyed the entire series.

Highly recommended.
The photograph of Maybelle Carter on the motorcycle she purchased with her portion of one of their royalty check was a surprise and memorable.

Related, I had not heard the story of Sara Carter dedicating the song "I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes" to her future husband, Epp, during a radio broadcast.

I also was not aware Roger Miller was a search party volunteer and found the location of the Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Randy Hughes plane crash by climbing a fire tower and seeing clipped tree tops.

In my opinion the one error of omission was not mentioning the death of Jack Anglin, of the duo Johnny & Jack. He died in a single car accident four days after the plane crash. He was traveling between funerals.
I mentioned before that the stuff on Cash seemed "light". That certainly got corrected in later episodes.

The series was entertaining - and a wonderful look back.

There were a few things that got coverage that seemed out of proportion to their importance.
There were a few things that seemed like they did not get the coverage that they should have...

Alabama was barely mentioned. A couple of seconds, a single picture. They had 41 number 1 songs and sold 75 million records. They laid the groundwork for the 90's explosion.

Being that Glen Campbell was one of my first musical influences, I would have like to see a bit more about him and his influence.

They pretty much skipped the whole Urban Cowboy era. That seemed a huge oversight. It was responsible for a HUGH growth in the Country Music market (also a precursor to the explosion of the 90's).

But overall, it was a great series. Really enjoyed it. Made me want to write a song...
I thought it was very well done overall. As Ken Burns himself has admitted, there's always going to be something that's left out.

Personally I thought there could have been some mention of the group Poco when country rock was being discussed. Their first album Pickin' Up The Pieces, which came out in 1969, is about as country as it gets.
I'm in the states for the rest of the week. I have the DVD box on order. Should be here today. I was talking with a friend about it. Apparently they took a break in airing and he thought it was over and ended with the death of Patsy Cline. "Really?" It may take me a month, but I'm looking forward to it.
Ended with the death of Johnny Cash, Tangmo. Your friends missed half of it.

...Deb
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