NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A lot of people ask: what exactly is Country Music? While you can’t necessarily define the genre as it is now, you can look at the past of the genre, tell the story, and let the listener make their own decision. That’s what Ken Burns is doing.
Burns, a famous documentarian, worked for 8 years on a documentary about the genre of Country Music named “Country Music.”
While Burns knew the basics about the genre, he was in no way an expert on the genre before starting his documentary.
“We don’t like to make films about things we know about. We’d rather share with you a process of discovery. And so, what this has been for the last 8 years is a huge just joyous and complicated learning curve,” Burns said.
To share more information and insight about the documentary, Burns traveled across Tennessee on a bus tour, with a stop in Nashville on Wednesday.
Burns’ documentary will be released in 8 parts on PBS, adding up to 16.5 hours with 101 interviews, 41 of which were with Country Music Hall of Fame members, and 20 of which are with people who have passed away since their interview (including the late Merle Haggard).
“I just know that you can’t possibly know where you are or where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been,” Burns said.
While the documentary won’t air on PBS until September, some members of the Country Music community have been able to see the film in its entirety.
“Ken’s powerful storytelling brings the genre’s rich history to life in a way that truly has never been told before. It goes without saying that our entire country community is thrilled to have a filmmaker like Ken Burns set his sights upon our genre and treat it with such delicateness and such respect.” Damon Whiteside, CMO for the Country Music Association, said. “It’s for all music fans, anyone that appreciates music will love this film. There’s something in it for everyone to enjoy, and we hope to see a resurgence of fans connecting and listening to country classics, as well as the younger fans gaining a whole new respect for the history of country music.”
While the documentary is very in-depth, many of the interviews weren’t able to be used. Burns logged 175 hours of interviews with Country Music artists and historians through his 8 years of shooting the documentary, and Burns announced on Wednesday that those interviews would all be donated to the Country Music Hall of Fame for further use beyond the documentary itself.
Burns was also joining some of the artists included in the documentary at the Ryman Auditorium Wednesday night to shoot a concert special for PBS that will air before the documentary late this year.
