In an interview with Fox News anchor Ed Henry on Fox Nation’s “Front Row Seat,” Ken Burns gets candid about what it is and what processes he went through.
Ken Burns and Country Music
Burns explains that for a documentary, “This is about as American as you can get, as the greatest story you can get, a kind of Russian novel of complex family stories.”
Burns explained that country music is a resonating genre. That even if you’re a country music fan or not, the genre’s ability to tap into ‘elemental human experience’ makes it very appealing to people.
“We’re afraid of four letters words in broadcasting but the one we’re the most afraid of is l-o-v-e and we run with our tails between our legs from it so we could return to our rational worlds and so even with country we have to make it a joke…oh it’s about the pickup truck, my dog, my girlfriend broke up with me and we mock it — when in fact, country music is about elemental human experience.”
“It’s about the joy of birth, the sadness of death, falling in love, losing love, being lonely, screwing up, seeking redemption…that is what the great songs of country music are about.”
In the interview, he also shared that he was ‘sobbing uncontrollably’ while watching Country Music for the first time. And he, Burns admit that this was the first time that he did that; he never had that kind of reaction to any of his previously wildly popular documentaries.
Country Music is set to unpack the history of the glitz and the music in which it is named after. It dives deep into its origins and how it evolved into what it is today. It is already proving to be a ground-breaking series, just only two episodes in.
