Country Music: Diggin' Up Bones

June 1, 1996|CHAUNCEY MABE

It's been repeated so often, it might even be true: Country music is more popular today than ever.

Listening to the radio, however, a new fan would have to conclude that country music is an invention of the 1990s, which isn't true at all. Country music has a varied and creative history spanning three-quarters of a century, yet radio stations seldom play music recorded before about 1989.

That means no Hank Williams, no Merle Haggard, no Waylon Jennings, no Loretta Lynn, and precious little Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson or George Jones.

Mounting a handsome, three-part documentary, the Turner Broadcasting System aims to correct this curious lack of historical appreciation. America's Music: The Roots of Country begins at 7 p.m. on Sunday. The remaining two installments are scheduled for the next two weeks.

Produced by Wild Wolf Productions and narrated by Kris Kristofferson, the show reveals that throughout its 75-year history, country music has been wildly popular. Unfortunately, the series is marred by inexplicable lapses, while the absence of a critical point of view allows for excessive logrolling. The first hour covers the birth of country music in the 1920s, focusing on its founding artists, The Carter Family and Jimmy Rodgers. The rise of the singing cowboy - Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter, Patsy Montana - puts the "western" in country-and-western during the second hour.

Week Two opens with the advent of honky-tonk as country music continues to evolve following World War II. Pioneered by Ernest Tubb, honky-tonk was perfected by Hank Williams, Kitty Wells, Merle Haggard, George Jones and Buck Owens. The second hour focuses on the fabled Nashville Sound, developed in the 1960s by producers Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley to knock off the rough edges and reach a wider audience.

The final week's show starts oddly with an entire hour devoted to the folk revival of the 1960s. While a few major country talents - Jean Richie and Doc Watson, for example, who were more influential than commercially successful - emerged from this period, it was really more important to folk-pop than to country.

The concluding hour, however, makes up for this misstep by showing the role country played in the birth of rock 'n' roll, incubating such early stars as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash.

It also shows how rock returned the favor in the early 1970s when musicians such as the Birds, Graham Parsons, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt began playing what was then called country rock. Today, '70s country rock can be seen as the precursor to the mainstream Nashville of the '90s.

America's Music is a lavish, exhaustively researched documentary. It moves fast and it's easy to watch. Considering how neglected the older music is nowadays, it seems almost churlish to point out the show's glaring failures.

So first, a few kudos. The influence of black music on the development of country is highlighted throughout the series, with Ray Charles frequently called upon for comment. Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams, in particular, were steeped in blues and black folk music.

Radio, critical to the spread of country, is given a thorough treatment, particularly the pioneering Barndance at WSM in Chicago and Nashville's enduring Grand Ole Opry. A segment on songwriters - the unsung heroes of country music - is fascinating.

But significant deficiencies crop up throughout the series.

For example, while contemporary stars fall all over themselves to praise the Carter Family, little of the band's music is actually heard. For all its talent and dignity, the Carter Family played a raw hillbilly style that might offend ears dulled by the pop-rock passing for country music today.

Perhaps the producers were afraid a real sampling of the Carter Family's music would drive viewers away at the very beginning of the series. If so, the decision is cowardly and cynical. By contrast, Jimmie Rodgers fares much better - but then, his blues-influenced music is more accessible to modern listeners.

Many important individual artists are ignored or passed over quickly. Neither Conway Twitty nor the Louvin Brothers are mentioned, although the former was a megastar of the '70s, while the latter made contributions in harmony singing that continues to influence country and pop artists.

Charley Pride, the only black country music star to date, is interviewed making general comments, but no attempt is made to put his trailblazing career into context. You wouldn't know from this show that he is a fine hard country singer, not a mere token.

In the segment on country rock, no mention is made of the most popular country rock group of all, the Eagles, whose influence can be heard in the songs of countless hit makers today, from Marty Stuart to Suzy Boguss.

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