PBS Highlights Upcoming Ken Burns 'Country Music' Documentary with Star-Studded Concert Special

by Julian Spivey
Ken Burns’ upcoming eight-part PBS documentary “Country Music” about the illustrious history of one of America’s oldest and most beloved musical artforms premieres on Sunday, Sept.  15, but in celebration of the event PBS aired a two-hour concert event “Country Music: Live at the Ryman” on Sunday, Sept. 8.
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The event was hosted by Burns himself and featured numerous performances from many country music icons going through the genre’s greatest and most important hits. The concert, which was recorded on March 27, 2019 at the “Mother Church of Country Music” the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, was essentially a cliff notes version of what the “Country Music” series will be – including snippets from the upcoming documentary, which I intentionally fast-forwarded through on Sunday night so as not to be spoiled at all from the main event.

The concert began with Rhiannon Giddens and Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show giving a fantastic performance of “Ruby Are You Mad at Your Man,” showcasing the importance of the fiddle (played by Secor) and banjo (played by Giddens) in creating this new artform of music known as country music.

Secor would remain on stage to perform “In the Jailhouse Now,” made popular by perhaps country music’s first big star “The Singing Brakeman” Jimmie Rodgers. Giddens would return later during the concert for one of the most absolutely stunning covers of Patsy Cline’s iconic “Crazy” that you’ll ever here.

One of the early aspects of country music that has never really caught my attention much is that of the singing cowboys like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. This aspect of the genre was featured in the concert with Riders in the Sky performing “Tumbling Tumbleweeds.”

The era of Western Swing, essentially created by Bob Wills, was highlighted by Asleep at the Wheel, a group that’s basically made a career out of performing Wills’ style of music, performing “San Antonio Rose.” The special then highlighted bluegrass, basically created by Bill Monroe with the help of Lester Flatts and Earl Scruggs, with Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart and Vince Gill ripping through a performance of “Uncle Pen.”

Gill served as the lead guitarist and essentially band leader for the backing band throughout the entire concert and did so perfectly – it seems there’s nothing he can’t perform.

Gill would also get the starring role covering Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” later during the show.

One of the most incredible moments of the evening was when Holly Williams took the stage to pay tribute to the grandfather she never knew, Hank Williams, with a gorgeous performance of “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” which could potentially be the greatest country song ever written and recorded.

The rockabilly era of Sun Records with Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash was highlighted by Marty Stuart alone on stage with just a mandolin doing an incredible performance of the classic “Orange Blossom Special,” which Cash often ended his live shows with.

The Bakersfield Sound era was, of course, Dwight Yoakam’s time to shine as he performed a lovely version of Merle Haggard’s “Mama’s Hungry Eyes” and was joined by Dierks Bentley, the only modern mainstream artist who appeared on the entire special, to take on Buck Owens’ part of “Streets of Bakersfield.”

Later in the show came the two worst performances of the concert special. Larry Gatlin was tasked with paying tribute to Kris Kristofferson, possibly the greatest songwriter the genre has ever had, by performing “Sunday Morning Coming Down.” Gatlin’s take on the song had none of the grit the song needs and was too croony for my taste.

When it came time to take on the Outlaw era of the ‘70s, Bentley was tasked with covering the great Waylon Jennings classic “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?” and his version had absolutely no life in it whatsoever.

Kathy Mattea’s cover of Loretta Lynn’s classic “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was flawless, as was Rodney Crowell’s take on the Townes Van Zandt-penned story song “Pancho & Lefty.”

One of the loveliest moments of the evening was Rosanne Cash’s tribute to her father Johnny Cash by performing one of his most underrated gems “I Still Miss Someone.” And, one of the liveliest performances of the evening was Ricky Skaggs doing “Don’t Get Above Your Raising.”

The star-studded tribute to the history of country music was concluded with everybody who had appeared on the entire special that evening taking the stage an all-star performance of the essential Carter Family anthem “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” 

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100 Greatest Country Songs of All-Time Announcement!

The Word is excited to announce a collaboration with The Musical Divide’s Zackary Kephart and Shore2Shore Country’s Nathan Kanuch of the 100 Greatest Country Songs of All-Time, which we will publish in unison with Ken Burns’ PBS documentary on the history of the genre. The first part of this series will debut on Sunday, Sept. 15 the same day the “Country Music” documentary series premieres.