It’s Country Time
A daily social distancing diary.
“I don’t know why we denigrate country music,” he says. “We superficially label it, you know, pickup trucks and good ol’ boys and hound dogs and six packs of beer, when it is in fact dealing with the fundamental questions of the human project which is love and loss.” —NPR quoting Ken Burns
Yesterday, while doing some work and other chores, we watched several hours of Ken Burn’s documentary Country Music. I was delighted about this because I’d missed it the first time around and, as I expected, it was extremely interesting.
Recently we went to see Lyle Lovett in concert (remember those days?) and while watching the Burns documentary I was able to learn more about many of his influences. I could clearly see how he was inspired by the style of groups like bob wills and his texas playboys.
Down to the Nitty Gritty
Today I decided to check out more of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and listened to part of Will the Circle Be Unbroken (1972) and most of Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume III (2002). The early album was covered in the documentary, and it was intriguing to hear many of the earliest influences to not just country but many of the genres of music we know today.
