Country Music

A History

By: Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns

Narrated by: Brian Corrigan, Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns

Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

The rich and colorful story of America's most popular music and the singers and songwriters who captivated, entertained, and consoled listeners throughout the 20th century - based on the upcoming eight-part film series to air on PBS in September 2019

This deeply researched and hugely entertaining history begins where country music itself emerged: the American South, where people sang to themselves and to their families at home and in church, and where they danced to fiddle tunes on Saturday nights. With the birth of radio in the 1920s, the songs moved from small towns, mountain hollers, and the wide-open West to become the music of an entire nation - a diverse range of sounds and styles from honky tonk to gospel to bluegrass to rockabilly, leading up through the decades to the music's massive commercial success today.

But above all, Country Music is the story of the musicians. Here is Hank Williams' tragic honky tonk life, Dolly Parton rising to fame from a dirt-poor childhood, and Loretta Lynn turning her experiences into songs that spoke to women everywhere. Here, too, are interviews with the genre's biggest stars, including the likes of Merle Haggard to Garth Brooks to Rosanne Cash. Rife with endlessly fascinating anecdotes, the stories in this sweeping yet intimate history will captivate longtime country fans and introduce new listeners to an extraordinary body of music that lies at the very center of the American experience.

©2019 Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns (P)2019 Random House Audio

A must for any country music fan

This (audio) book, and the PBS documentary that goes with it, are a must for any country music fan. Top quality work!

YOU WILL LOVE

If you are a country music fan, this book is for you.. If you want to learn where all the great country music songs comes from, this book is for you.

Great trip through history!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was unable to watch the PBS broadcast and now I feel so much better knowing that I was able to listen here on Audible. I felt that they did a great job keeping the continuity of not only the time, but of the artists and other very important people in the process of making country music. I liked hearing the quotes from not only country music people, but from other aspects of music as well.

Growing up in the late '60s and '70s, the middle of this book meant the most to me. but I also learned a lot about early on. For example, Web Pierce was always one of my favorite singers, and I had no idea that Elvis and Johnny Cash toured together with him in the early years.

Even if country music isn't your thing, this is a very very good recount of how music affects all of us and how we affect music. Thanks for releasing this audiobook.

Great Historical Documentary

Perfect Burns documentary that chronicles country music and its reflection on our shared history. Most American music is based on the influence of many peoples...country music is no different. This documentary show how country music reflected/s a way of life. Highly recommended. Watch the tv show as well. Like others, I wish they would have included more of the songs that shaped history.

Great historical story

I love books that tell history by telling the story. Great listen. So much feeling. Your time will be well spent listening.

A Must Listen

If you’re a music buff or a history buff or both, you will love and benefit from this. It really gives you a new love and understanding not only of country music but American culture. It’s like a finely crafted novel! Huge thanks to the creators for putting fourth this master work that will help educate upcoming generations.

Fantastic. Simply fantastic.

Highly recommended to me and in turn, I highly recommend it to you. Blissful history, thoughtful and compelling NARRATION.

Very well done.

The material was great. Just a very well written history of country music. It would have been amazing to actually hear the music referenced, like I imagine they had for the documentary, but this was still an outstanding audiobook. And I thought the narration was very well done. Great pacing. I’d actually look for other books the main narrator has done to see if I’m interested in the story.

Immersed in country music!

I was highly anticipating the PBS documentary. So much so that I pre-ordered the hardcover and audio versions of the book. None of them were disappointing. I'd watch an episode with the hardcover so I could follow along with pictures, then listen to the part of the book covering that episode the next day. Much easier to absorb the details that way.

As to the content of all of them, you get the most from the books. Does that mean absolutely everyone in country is covered? No, there just wouldn't be time. My husband was disappointed that it ends in 1996, but again, there are time constraints.

Another upside to this being a Ken Burns product is you get the facts, not tabloid fodder. (Maybe someone else would approach it the same way, but I'm a big fan of KB's Civil War, Roosevelt and Vietnam documentaries.)

Narration and production are all professional and polished. Well worth repeat listens!

This is the WRONG narrator period , Nvm I redact

This is the WRONG narrator for this book period I can't express how much this turned me off from this book