Ken Burns: “Country Music Is About Two Four-Letter Words” | Amanpour and Company
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- Опубликовано: 22 сен 2019
- In modern music, perhaps no other style is more quintessentially American than country music. Legendary documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has turned his attention to this art form in his new series, “Country Music,” in which he explores the remarkable stories of the people and places behind the genre. He joins Walter Isaacson to discuss what surprised him most about the journey.
Originally aired on September 16, 2019
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Amanpour and Company features wide-ranging, in-depth conversations with global thought leaders and cultural influencers on the issues and trends impacting the world each day, from politics, business and technology to arts, science and sports. Christiane Amanpour leads the conversation on global and domestic news from London with contributions by prominent journalists Walter Isaacson, Michel Martin, Alicia Menendez and Hari Sreenivasan from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center in New York City.
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![TRASH or PASS! Eminem ( Houdini ) [REACTION!!!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cB1WrZcMwMc/mqdefault.jpg)
Ken Burns. Anything and everything he does is touched with love, respect, integrity, f go
Loved his comments about Hank Williams. I heard someone on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation say that, as a work of art, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' is comparable to a Rembrandt.
This guy blows me away. Very nice work.
Ken Burns just emits what America is...good, bad, amazing and alive, his work spills it out to millions.
rock, blues, hillbilly Appalachian music, Nashville country, Bakersfield Country, Jazz , Zydeco . all these genres are American Music . pure and simple.
.....outlaw country.....
“Our strength is OUR DIVERSITY all of us TOGETHER-as trad country music demonstrates. True as in life as in music👀👏🙌🙌 💪❤️✨🌎
Such a great show of country music history...didn't want the stories to end!
Good interview. Burns is, in a certain way our national conscience.
Ken Burns is my documentarian on the planet.
It was a wonderful documentary! I got a guy at work that’s into history and a big fan of ken burns to watch the documentary even though he hates country music. After he watched the series he told he has a newfound respect for country even though he still doesn’t like country music.
I love ken Burns documentary s, would like to see one about American Indians, from Columbus, until now.
not exactly the same thing, but a lot of native american stories were covered in his 9-part 1996 PBS series "The West."
Everyone would be a student of history if it were taught this way in school.
Expand please. Some would argue that pop culture has crept too far into elementary and HS curriculum.
@@hd-xc2lz Not taught year by year but rather longitudinally through people, circumstances, and connections.
Ken Burns, you're a national treasure!
Ken Burns is a very liberal man who rewrites history to suit his very liberal viewpoint.
@@joefitzpatrick7563Are you content remaining trapped in your self afflicted ignorance? Propaganda is not a dirty word, opinion is a responsibility, but you just can’t be lazy regarding reasoning- your not entitled to alternate, feel good facts-your better than that.
I love Ken Burns
Wow, Walter Isaacson and Ken Burns!
Burns' country music series was wonderful and very educational, well worth watching.
Burns is an American Treasure. What he do with Baseball and Jazz Music are just golden. Country Music became my favorite genre in the past decade.
Country Music, just like Rock n Roll is very simply -
“You got your chocolate in my peanut butter”
My favorite, been listening to it for 70 years.
Excellent.
BEER & TEAR
Mama and Guns.
Very Well Done. !!!!
Ken Burns is a National treasure!
Sensational series, loved it so very very much, you should have profiled more Ray, maybe for your next series xx
Ken Burns Country Music series is a masterpiece and I'm not a huge country music fan.
Ken's so well spoken it's insane
the two 4-letter words are at 11:03
Thanks
This documentary was really good, but it missed a portion of country music that should been included in the show
Syd, Nathan Founded his King label in Cincinnati with hillbilly music with grandpa Jones Homer, and Jethro Hank, Penny, and in around 1946 he started recording black artist on queen label in both the country artist, and the black artist played on each other’s recordings, and a lot of the same songs were recorded by both, he’ll be a hillbilly and race music. Sid controlled all the music, the manufacturing of the records, the promotion of the records, the distribution of the records, and was one of the largest private labels. after World War II, he hired Japanese workers to help him manufacture his records, and he hired the Japanese workers from the internment camps.
Love and Loss (heartbreaking hurt)
TRES Cool
@13:00 one of Loretta Lynn's early hits was a song called "The Pill" -- and she wasn't talking about Lipitor
the coverage of this subject needs to talk about when country music move out of the country into the business office! as an amature song writer, I know that there are tallented people who played and never got a record contract, who's name we will never know! also there a million songs that were recorded that never caught the public attention to be hits! but were still part of the history of American music!
This interview 'reveals' the quite poor communication skills of Ken Burns!
This is, of course, meant to evoke a strong contrary reaction. I'm Kidding, unforgiveably kidding - it's just my stilted way of paying homage to one of the most inspiringly gifted communicators Ever. Long live Ken Burns.
Need a blues doc, now.
One thing is for sure commercial music no longer emanates from the soul it emanates from money. That’s why rock is dead. And so much of today’s country(not all) music has a hip hop/rap inspired bassline. Anything produced after the 90s or early 2000s so much to me just sounds like crossover it doesn’t sound like real country. That said I do like some current bands Old Dominion, Luke Combs, Locash etc to me do have songs that sound like real country. But just so much commercially produced formula music to me. Again that’s what killed rock, but country is still alive but not a lot of Hank Williams Sr or Johnny Cash’s out there today.
I can't listen to El Paso by Marty Robbins
without crying.
know what you mean....been lookin' for that Mexican girl for 40 years
_Truck_ is a five letter word...
Give ken Burns a break ! He. Ant name all of the. Wonderful,talented people in country music!
Hey Ken you say country-western as if it was one genre they're two separate genres composed of different elements. Country music has heartache and drinking, forgiveness and the Lord. Western music has cowboys and cattle, guns and shooting.
There are crossover elements but they're definitely two separate genres.
Not only was Johnny influenced by blacks he had some in his DNA 😎✌️💗
Are they "love lost"?
What about the Latino influence! Many western authors say "western music" was influenced by the Spanish or Mexican Vaquero! Americans going west saw the Mexican Vaqueros serenading women while on horseback playing their guitars as early as 1800. How about the clothes? Most of todays country singers wear "cowboy boots, hats (etc.) which were basically Mexican or Spanish.
Fair point! Not to mention that some country/western songs seem to incorporate Spanish influenced melodies and Mexican themes.
Fidel Rivera watch the program. It's covered.
The series very specifically mentions that influence on country music. I recommend you watch the series before commenting on what it may or may not include.
@@patrasnana5262 I didn't watch it all, okay!
The full documentary does cover this and more about the Latino contributions.
It’s funny that women in Jazz are so “few” while women in Jazz are the only Jazz artists I know! Billie Holiday was larger then life!
Guess you’ve never heard of miles bird Coltrane tyner. You’re comment is incredibly sexist and quite frankly, pa.
not really funny...just speaks to your lack of information
Shame the documentary was cut when on the BBC.
Was it?
@@mitchwild8238 Yeah. We saw it the states. There was more about the Carter Family. Someone wrote to the Radio times and the confirmed it was edited for the international market.
@@auntyangie33 I did find it strange that there were nine episodes. An odd number.
In the early days of the record industry, white musicians from the south were categorized as "Hill Billy" musicians. If they were black, it was called "Blues music. Often, it was almost the same song.
Exactly....a direct product of racial segregation policies.....why do you think later in the 1950's the white record companies and media came up with the new term "Rock and Roll" for Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the other white artists, when all these guys were playing was black "Rhythm and Blues?" R&B was the segregated category where black music was lumped; Segregation practices would not allow whites playing the exact style music - often written by or previously performed by blacks - to be lumped in the same segregated R&B category, so they called it 'Rock and Roll," as if it was something different.
The history of white rock and roll is essentially the history of white guys playing black music. Go down the list of all the top white rockers....Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Moody Blues, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, etc, etc, etc...they were all blues, and rhythm and blues- influenced at their origins - that's what they were listen to, what they were influenced by, and what they were coping - they weren't listening to Opera. Many of the groups took their names directly from the blues - The "Moody Blues" was named after the Blues; The "Rolling Stones" was named after Bluesman Muddy Waters famous song "Rollin' Stone;" "Pink Floyd" was named after the founder's favorite bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.
Like Ken Burns says here, all the segregated silos are political man-made, after-the-fact inventions. The music is much of the same stuff worked on collectively and together by an amalgam of folks - this truth, unfortunately doesn't fit the white supremacist narrative that has dominated much of our education and information.
Love and Life?
What are the two four letter words of Country music?
He said it - ‘Love’ and ‘Loss’
@@alanscopp1114 I’ve always thought of country music as “it’s crying time again.”
Jazz country music and rock music mongrels every one.
I don't like that genre of music,but I like that the artists are(for the most part),patriotic.
When you listen to old country music. You hear blue grass and then you hear the old scot Irish music. That is the basses of country music. The melding with western music. And it's flavor from Mexico which it git from Spain .. country and before it blue grass was the Scots Irish blues. The lament of loss poverty etc. That melded well with the African lament of loss and poverty as well. Kindred sprits in many ways. The joke of what do you get when you play country backwards? You get you woman back your truck back and your dog back. One reason why I've never been into old country and bluegrass or blues it's so damn depressing.
Wonder what he truely thinks about the crap coming out of Nashville the past 15 years?
Two four-letter words? Truck and Mama.
The question I have now is, why has country music become, mostly white dominated ?? Is it because, African American's have no interest, or aren't being taught, their musical roots ? Or God forbid, being turned away ? When clearly we see, just in the opening to "Country Music". There is some pure Talent ! it's been good to see, Darius Rucker return to his roots in country music. And Rhiannon Giddens staying true, to her roots in country music. It's sad to see, more are not doing the same !!
J Mit I agree with you on the whole country music isn’t derived from African music but I think Burns got it right in the documentary. He just showed us it was a hodgepodge of different cultures. He may have underlined that idea that there are African influences but he also made it clear that there were strong influences from the British isles
@@jmit3491 While you and I may have already known a large majority of the documentary, it was filled with new facts for the casual listeners. I honestly just enjoyed the tributes to the big names. But I get what you mean
There are more Afro-Americans opening to "Country Music" and they are Jimmie Allen, Coffey Anderson, Kane Brown, Dom Flemons, and Milton Patton.
J Mit - that one instrument is one of the most central elements to country music. So much so, that just making a banjo sound with your mouth is a quick slur against country music or country folks. Should Burns have ignored the melting pot aspects of country? Does addressing this = “race conflict”? I don’t feel Burns highlighting the banjo as an ELEMENT of country music means he feels country music is derived from African Americans - but more an essential ingredient. Why is it such a big deal to accept that a music that comes mostly from the south, a place that has a substantial African American population - might have some flavor therefrom? Jimmy Rodgers is steeped in blues, calls his songs blues or blues yodels. There’s no escaping the contribution of African Americans to the blues tradition that one of the titular figures of country music, Rodgers, maximized.
J Mit - I mentioned the blue yodel song for the BLUE part of it. he also did other songs that were just straight up titled blues without a yodel. But yes - the yodel is Austrian - doesn’t negate the BLUES part of it is African American. Not sure why it bothers you so much that country music has these influences? I don’t understand why noticing clear influences = “injecting race.” When the documentary points out Scottish influence from ballads - is that injecting race? This music springs from culture in the South of which African Americans were a part of. Should they be mentioned at all? Not sure how Burns is accountable for his long ago relatives but one way to make amends is to pay attention to the contributions those slaves and their ancestors made to our beloved country music.
The real issue with American country music that no one wants to address or admit is that it has black DNA in it and its overly conservative and segregated ties that was meant for whites (especially poor whites) only. No matter your racial makeup, every human life has a story. Mark Twain once quoted that: "There is no such thing as an uninteresting life".
Bingo
Two words: "Love" and "Beer". (Can I get a "YEEEE-HAWWWWW"?)
He didn’t ask him about “Old Town Road”. It would have been interesting to hear his response.
It's not Country. He's not doing Kidz Bop over here...
DAMN! NOT ONE WORD about Lurleen Lumpkin! Col. Homer should write an angry letter!
Nashville country has gone to crap. Austin country is hanging on by the fingernails.
America used to be called a melting pot.
I love my truck. If you do not like my truck…I don’t give a f**k.
How bold and brave of you! Do you ever haul anything in that truck, beside groceries and your kids to soccer practice?
I don't hear anything about diversity and mixture of cultures in country music. Can anyone point me to some artists or songs that exemplify this?
Ken Burns calls country music inclusive and while country artists borrowed from black blues musicians it was not until 1993 that a black artist became a member of The Grand Ole Opry. Think about that, The Grand Ole Opry began in 1925! At the height of Jim Crowe, when lynchings were at an all time high, when this disgusting practice took place with masses of people having food, souvenirs and such with people viewing black people being executed against a carnival atmosphere, the music being played certainly was not jazz, it was country music. I appreciate Burns being the "Mr Rogers" of history but he always kind of mutes the truth about racism.
I would have thought Charlie Pride would have been there sooner.
“aren’t being taught?” WTF!
The early blues was about the longing and abuse of women.
I liked his documentary but it should be renamed 'American Country Music'.
Our awesome Canadian girl Shania Twain got about 30 seconds in it. And Shania is the biggest selling female country performer.
All of Ken Burns stuff reinforces the idea that the USA is its own thing, and that the rest of the world is somewhere else. Whereas in Canada we have a sense of continuity with Europe, and so Canadian 'country' is closer to older folkways
Sorry but Shania ain't country, she's pop. She's a great singer (and gorgeous!) but no more country than Keith Urban or most of the other trashville crap that is played these days. Just because you record on a country label don't make you country.
@@LivingOnCash And here I thought being on a country label made you country. My bad!
Keith Urban isn't country? Next you'll say Taylor Swift isn't country. heh heh
But saying something is country is really just an opinion. In America I always liked Kenny Chesney the best. I actually got to see him in Edmonton in 2011. That was awesome.
@AWelsh Celt That's just nasty.
What does that mean Shania was just all about Shania? She's one of the nice people in music. And Garth Brooks wasn't all about Garth Brooks?
There's only 2 kinds of music. Good or bad. Or music you like or don't like. Deal with it.
Material for Canadian filmmakers!
I've been playing Country Music since the late 60's. I learned guitar from an uncle that was an alcoholic. My dad told me a story of going to a bar where my uncle was playing upright bass and was drunk as a skunk. His fingers began to bleed while playing the bass and the blood would splatter with each pluck of the string.
While much of the things said here on this video might be historical facts from where I sit, I'm getting nauseated listening to Mr. Burns flaunt his philosophy about Country Music. He thinks he's an expert on the genre. He's a hack! He should stick to music and leave his philosophy in his home. Strength does come from Diversity. That's hogwash and a huge LIE! A simple study of history reveals STRENGTH comes from UNITY.
Saying that Bill Monroe, and bluegrass in general, has origins in the black culture shows a total ignorance of where bluegrass came from. According to Burns in this interview, America would have no music of its own if it weren't for the black community.
So, so what-do you find that upsetting?
Is it time we start a go fund me account to raise money to get Ken Burns a haircut that we can all be proud of?
Booooooooooo
Too funny! I think he can afford a proper haircut!
Stop
Ken needs a proper haircut.
He's had an adult haircut for the last few yrs!
I’ve always known why country doesn’t resonate with me, it’s too simplistic. Three chords?
Check out the chord progression in Willie Nelson's "Crazy." That 3 chord accusation is a gross generalization.
...actually I've always though he resembled Ted Bundy.
this ah tries to tell people that country music is something other than "poor white, white farmer, white factory worker etc-" this sort of denial is dangerous.
His hair looks ridiculously out of place.
He switched to an adult haircut since this was made!
Kenny Rogers underheralded.Just wanted to let Burns know what my condition is.Would of thought Garth was Elvis.
“uniquely america”? pretty much every western country has their own country music, so it’s not unique to america
Hillbilly Hickey - they call it folk generally. I do feel like our country music is slightly different from the tradition of folk music in Western Europe or even how folk music is classified here. The southern gumbo is what makes country more interesting to me than traditional European folk music.
Not even a minute in and I can:t believe what I'm hearing. Is this some kind of music genre wokism? No, jazz and country have nothing in common. I've been a huge jazz fan my whole life and never considered the two styles in the same thought. No...this Burns is now a joke.
His hair looks so fake it's distracting. He should quit the dye.
Kenny has run out of topics.
Love to see your wide selection of documentaries.
@@robertgiles9124 Yawn
@@robertgiles9124 Weak, very weak.
Your comment just proves my pint. Nothing of value to say and nothing on your page to show your own ability; just a cry baby who is envious @@jimwing.2178
How sophisticated. Ken is a boring speaker using the same shtick for 40 years.
Jesus, this series was so biased and uninformed. Ken ignored John Hartford, who set bluegrass on its head with the Aeroplane Band, and set Newgrass into motion, but gave the awful Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,, whose chief accomplishment was an embarrassingly bad version of Jerry Jeff Walker's Mr. Bojangles, an entire half hour. WTF??? I quit watching right then.Way too much Nashville mainstream, and way too little Bakersfield, Austin, and Bluegrass. Glen Campbell, almost certainly the most nationally prominent country artist of the late '60s and early '70s, got about ten dismissive seconds. What??? Sorry, Ken, this series, in spite all of its great stuff was a swing and a miss.
selmer862 agreed. Roy Clark was barely mentioned. Allison Krauss was not mentioned, but Emmy Lou Harris got a whole package. Of the modern singers, Brad Paisley didn’t even get a mention.
@@bigredmed I didn't get to watch it but basically heard one guy saying it hit what he considered all the "Ken Burns bases" in that "whites were bad" and "blacks were good" and "women were oppressed". I do agree that I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry is the greatest song ever though.
@@SimpleManGuitars1973 Watch it and then try and make that point. It's 95% about whites, and country is praised repeatedly for its early openness to female talent.
The "awful" NGDB, as young men, recorded a seminal project, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" which brought together the living legends of the genre to play with their young cohort. They added new chapters in the '80's and early 2000's. Their spot in "Country Music" is entirely legitimate.
Today's Country music sucks. It has nothing to do with Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, etc. You're confusing Country with Jazz.
Elitist
Burns makes stuff to serve his narrative. Destroyed the reputation of a good man who couldn’t defend himself because he was dead. Wouldn’t trust Burns to tell the truth about any story.
Funny, really 'smart' people trying to understand folks they look down on, camping out in a nation they try to understand but are only passing through.
Sad, but makes a buck for Pretty Boring Stuff, oooops, PBS.
Hearing this, I can't help but think that Burns is pushing too hard on the African-America and female aspects of country music. I wish he would cut the SJW crap and just give us the history of country music, or any other subject, in its unvarnished and purest form.
I've seen the entire series and trust me: he doesn't go nearly as far into the "SJW crap" (as you call it) nearly as deeply as he could have. Honestly, I wish he would have gone a bit deeper into those aspects because so much of country's DNA comes from African-American music (and traditional Mexican music as well in some instances), but I also really wanted him to dive into TODAY'S country, and how truly whitewashed it all is.
As for "pushing too hard on the female aspect"... a chunk of the greatest country artists of all time? Are women. Patsy, Dolly, Loretta, Emmylou- there's a reason you don't need to say their last names. Even today, female country artists like Miranda Lambert feel closer to the spirit of country than their male counterparts. If Burns' treatment of them is "pushing too hard", how would you have liked them to be treated?
@@hannahmoran3660 I'm sure there would have been ample material to do a whole documentary series on those subtopics alone. I just don't like the idea that Burns had an over-arching agenda in the telling of the story of country music (as a general topic) which may have resulted in some very worthy artists being overlooked because their stories did not fit the thesis that he was trying to put forth, and others of lesser significance being included because their stories were more compatible with his chosen narrative.
Bill C Malone wrote Country Music USA 50 years ago. The first academic study of the field. (Based on his thesis written while studying at UT and playing at Threadgill's.)
I read it then. He pointed out how African influences mixed with music from the British Isles to forn Country
A new edition came out to celebrate 50 years and thisshow. Read it.
Or limit yourself to modern radio crap and stay ignorant