Overwhelmed With Country Knowledge

Four nights in a row I made an appointment with PBS to get a dose of Country music history via the first week of Ken Burns' 16-hour TV documentary. I'm not sure what I thought this would be like, or that I would stay with it, but it has blown my cranial fuse. It takes 22 hours of rest to soak in the two-hour episodes each night. Info overload!

Something happened to me after hour six. That was the one with all the Hank Williams info. The Hillbilly Shakespeare story has been updated, corrected and remains breathtaking. He was the greatest songwriter/performer in Country music history.

Seeing the Burns take on Hank made me want to learn more. You wonder what affect all this Country music publicity is going to have on the public? The first comparison is to the quality of what is called Country music of the last few years as opposed to its origins. Music evolves, but the Mount Rushmore, Old Testament hillbilly Country stars like Jimmie Rogers, Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Bob Wills, Eddy Arnold, Gene Autry and, of course, the Carter Family were the originals. Williams' song lyrics remain some of the most powerful ever written by anyone in the last 100 years of popular music. Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, Eddie Stubbs, Brenda Lee and so many others have added clarity.

Williams had very rough life. Back seats of Cadillacs were as good as it got going to a gig, a far cry from today's star luxury. That is a big difference. Jets and million dollar busses exist today, but its still travel and time away from the family.

Will this epic, 16-hour story bring more tourists to Nashville, more people curious about the roots of Country? That remains to be seen, as there's still another half of the documentary to go this week as the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum comes alive on PBS. What a gift that will keep on giving to PBS and, hopefully, to the Country music industry.

One of the kings and one of the queens of Country got awards this week from the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). George Strait and Loretta Lynn were both humble as ever at the awards show. Both are such great legends. I'm sure they will get their moments this week on the PBS show.

The year 2019 is not 1949 or even 1979. You know a lot of people asked themselves why Country music today sure doesn't sound very "Country." That is by design, right?

You knew the train was off the track when Strait sounded dated next to the flavor of the month. I'm sure Acuff wasn't always thrilled with boundary-pushing Marty Robbins and many others. Every generation has their music. That's the one thing everyone has to remind themselves of.

In rap Country, or whatever boundaries have always been pushed - whether in Loretta and Kitty Wells' lyrics or in Bob Wills' presentation -- some preacher, suit, or someone was mad.

True, today's top artists are very different from the Mount Rushmore stars. As you see in the Burns documentary, things reboot about every eight to 10 years, sometimes faster.

"Blue Moon of Kentucky" from Elvis Presley sure sounds a long way from "Kentucky Rain," and both sounds were great at the time. So, enjoy what you enjoy and let others fill the stadiums with the audiences they have grown. That's why it took 16 hours to tell Country music's story, and Burns only touched the surface.

If you have worked in, played, or covered Country music, you should be proud of what has been done in these 16 hours. Not a perfect history, but what is? When all is said and done, if you have to tell someone what a good example of a Country song is, give them "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." How do you do better than that?