GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — We all know the big names: Johnny Cash, Garth Brooks, Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton and Charley Pride. Those are just a few. But do you really know how country music got its start?
Ken Burns wants to tell you. He's got a new 16-hour documentary that traces the history of American country music. And if there's anybody who can do it, Burns can.
His documentaries have examined American’s past, including topics on war, politics, history and sports. Now, he he's opening the songbook of country music. In the first part of the series, viewers discover the genre was influenced by African-Americans.
“We want to segregate it and make it a southern white rural conservative force and it may have those elements in it, but it is popular from Maine to San Diego,” Burns said. “Take the Mount Rushmore of early country music. AP Carter, Hank Williams, Bill Monroe and Johnny Cash. All four of those men had African-American mentors.”
Scott Herold, who owns the record label Rock the Cause, says the black influence on country music starts with the banjo. Harold teaches the business of music at the High School for Recording Arts in St. Paul. Country is a piece of music history his students learn.
“When people from West Africa were first brought to this country, obviously as slaves, they used locally found materials like gourds, pieces of lumber and broom handles and they built instruments,” Herold said. “The banjo came from West African slaves coming to America. Using objects like a gourd and being able to build a string instrument out of it."
Harold also teaches the business of music at the High School for Recording Arts in St. Paul. Country is a piece of music history his students learn.
“If you get up around the iron range areas, folk music is big up there. Probably one of the most famous musicians we have is Bob Dylan,” Herold said. “That music has its origins in folk. A lot of the structures of folk music that he borrowed are from country artist like Hank Williams, etc.”
The documentary Country Music features never-before-seen footage and photographs, plus interviews with more than 80 country music artists.
You can see the eight-part series on PBS.
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