I spent a few nights watching Ken Burns new series on PBS- "Country Music". Very interesting. Not much white privilege there. An astounding number of the big name country stars grew up dirt poor- as in no running water, outhouse, rags to wear, no shoes,no house dirt poor. Hopefully some college students somewhere got an education on what being poor and working sunup to sundown was like- They were not born with pearl inlaid Martins and alligator cowboy boots.
Another thing of interest was how willing to take a chance most of them were. I had no idea Kris Kristofferson was an Army Captain and chopper pilot, who resigned to become a janitor in Nashville, looking for a break. Etc. Watch it, if you can.
I second Raven's recommendation. It's a great series, both about the music and about the world around the music. I think it is the second best series he's done. 1) Civil War, 2) Country Music, 3) Lewis and Clark.
Disclaimer - part of the fun was watching my parents watch it and talk about which songs they heard growing up.
Caught the episode with Kristofferson- it was good, although at least this episode seemed to be a lot about how 'country wasn't as conservative as you thought', rather than being about independent minds.
Raven..."Ken Burns new series on country music"....haven't seen it yet, but also very worthwhile is the series 'American Epic', which came out a couple of years ago. Sometime in the 1920s, a group took a newly-developed portable recording system on the road to capture rural & local music in its home settings...previously, recording could only be done in studios. Lots of music by the original musicians and also by contemporary musicians, using a restoration of the original recording system.
David- I cannot remember the name of it, but there was a fictional movie made of this- a couple traveling around Appalachia in the 20's, recording mountain music. I think it was a Smithsonian funded effort, to capture the songs before progress washed them away.
Sometime in the 1920s, a group took a newly-developed portable recording system on the road to capture rural & local music in its home settings...previously, recording could only be done in studios. That would most likely be the Lomaxes. John Lomax and his son Alan Lomax collected folk songs for decades. Alan did more recording than father John, as recording equipment wasn't as developed when Alan Lomax began collecting songs in the early 1900s.
One Christmas I requested and got Alan Lomax's American Ballads and Folk Songs. My mother added some notes on some songs she had heard growing up. Much appreciated.
While some of the 1930s-era folkies were hard-core Commies, such as Pete Seeger, it appears that FBI investigations of Alan Lomax's Commie ties got more smoke than fire.Lefty, yes, but not Stalinist. Pete qualified for Stalinist by virtue of applying his creative talents to pushing the party line with antiwar recordings with the Almanac Singers in early 1941, and then suddenly changing his mind about pacifism after Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22,1941.
Correction: Alan did more recording than father John, as recording equipment wasn't as developed when John Lomax began collecting songs in the early 1900s.
8 comments:
William Shatner did a version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ainyK6fXku0
I spent a few nights watching Ken Burns new series on PBS- "Country Music". Very interesting. Not much white privilege there. An astounding number of the big name country stars grew up dirt poor- as in no running water, outhouse, rags to wear, no shoes,no house dirt poor. Hopefully some college students somewhere got an education on what being poor and working sunup to sundown was like- They were not born with pearl inlaid Martins and alligator cowboy boots.
Another thing of interest was how willing to take a chance most of them were. I had no idea Kris Kristofferson was an Army Captain and chopper pilot, who resigned to become a janitor in Nashville, looking for a break. Etc.
Watch it, if you can.
I second Raven's recommendation. It's a great series, both about the music and about the world around the music. I think it is the second best series he's done. 1) Civil War, 2) Country Music, 3) Lewis and Clark.
Disclaimer - part of the fun was watching my parents watch it and talk about which songs they heard growing up.
LittleRed1
Caught the episode with Kristofferson- it was good, although at least this episode seemed to be a lot about how 'country wasn't as conservative as you thought', rather than being about independent minds.
Kristofferson is Ranger tabbed too.
Raven..."Ken Burns new series on country music"....haven't seen it yet, but also very worthwhile is the series 'American Epic', which came out a couple of years ago. Sometime in the 1920s, a group took a newly-developed portable recording system on the road to capture rural & local music in its home settings...previously, recording could only be done in studios. Lots of music by the original musicians and also by contemporary musicians, using a restoration of the original recording system.
https://www.americanepic.com
David-
I cannot remember the name of it, but there was a fictional movie made of this- a couple traveling around Appalachia in the 20's, recording mountain music. I think it was a Smithsonian funded effort, to capture the songs before progress washed them away.
David Foster and raven:
Sometime in the 1920s, a group took a newly-developed portable recording system on the road to capture rural & local music in its home settings...previously, recording could only be done in studios.
That would most likely be the Lomaxes. John Lomax and his son Alan Lomax collected folk songs for decades. Alan did more recording than father John, as recording equipment wasn't as developed when Alan Lomax began collecting songs in the early 1900s.
One Christmas I requested and got Alan Lomax's American Ballads and Folk Songs. My mother added some notes on some songs she had heard growing up. Much appreciated.
While some of the 1930s-era folkies were hard-core Commies, such as Pete Seeger, it appears that FBI investigations of Alan Lomax's Commie ties got more smoke than fire.Lefty, yes, but not Stalinist. Pete qualified for Stalinist by virtue of applying his creative talents to pushing the party line with antiwar recordings with the Almanac Singers in early 1941, and then suddenly changing his mind about pacifism after Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22,1941.
Correction: Alan did more recording than father John, as recording equipment wasn't as developed when John Lomax began collecting songs in the early 1900s.
Post a Comment