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| Country Music - A Film by Ken Burns |
We've been watching the latest film by Ken Burns. Dang! He's done it again.
I don't actually think of myself as a huge fan of country music.
Or, I should say, I didn't think of myself that way. But since watching this show I realize that I know every dang song, and love most of the musicians. I've been more moved and influenced by country music, and the stories behind the music, than I ever really registered.
It's amazing how Ken Burns and his team can take a subject and weave it into an enthralling narrative that's informative, inspiring, and entertaining, all at once.
But what I'm mainly noticing about this series is that these stories are just so darned unlikely.
The unbelievable coincidences and the number of insurmountable odds, that were, uh, surmounted, makes it like a bunch of fairy tales.
From the first episode it all seems so improbable. The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers both turning up in Bristol, Tennessee on the very same day all those years ago hoping to get recorded for Victor Records. Then the fact that they went on to make music history and become Country Music royalty.
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A good 95% of the musician's stories begin with individuals who: a) were born in a little cabin in the middle of nowhere (with no electricity and no running water), b) were dirt poor, c) had an abusive, drunk, and/or neglectful daddy, and d) cotton picking was frequently part of their early memories.
From there these folks went on, through a series of hard work, talent, chance meetings, and downright miracles, to entertain the world.
Many of their lives had all the makings of a hard-luck country music song.
Oftentimes they heard a performer that inspired them, and said: I'm going to do that.
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Marty Stuart heard Connie Smith sing at a high school football stadium. He took a picture of her sitting in a car out behind the bleachers and said: "I'm gonna marry that girl."
And 25 years later...he did.
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Merle Haggard was a prisoner in San Quentin. One day Johnny Cash came to sing to the inmates.
Merle said: I'm gonna get out of here and do what Johnny does.
And he did. He actually performed on Johnny Cash's TV show.
What are the odds of that?
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So then there's this kid, right? He's a janitor at a recording studio in Nashville.
...but he also was a former Captain in the Air Force whose daddy was a General in the Air Force (one of the 5% of country celebs with a very different background) and, oh yeah, he'd studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
He slipped his lyrics to various musicians and went on to write some of the biggest hits of country music.
That, of course, was Kris Kristofferson.
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Such a lot of good stories. We have two more episodes to watch and I will be very sorry for it to be over.
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Oh, the other thread that seems to run through many of the stories told in the shows was this: Johnny Cash may have had more than the normal share of wild oats to sow in his youth...
But he became an incredible, forward-thinking, kind, and amazing human being as he aged.
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