Century of Country debuts Wednesday
Newswire
* 03/29/99
Lethbridge Herald
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Minutes into the 13-part Century of Country
documentary, it's clear how broad an undertaking it is to even define
* country music, much less tell its story.
* "Country music is the same thing as the blues," Waylon Jennings opines.
* "Country music is contemporary jazz," says singer Ray Price.
"Basically, it's the people's music," says Harlan Howard, the great
* country music songwriter (Busted, I Fall to Pieces). "We really do deal
with divorces and tragedies and so forth. And sometimes people think we're
* kind of hokey. But country music is here and it always will be."
Based on previews of two episodes -- one covering pioneers like Jimmie
* Rodgers and the Carter Family and the other on bluegrass and western swing
* -- Century of Country captures the wide scope of country music and
celebrates it.
* The documentary touches on women in country music, rockabilly,
bluegrass,
western swing, the Grand Ole Opry and honky-tonk music. Many current stars
are interviewed, and the lives of greats like Hank Williams Sr., Jimmie
Rodgers and Patsy Cline are covered.
The Nashville Network will air the first of 13 weekly one-hour segments
of Century of Country at 6 p.m. MST Wednesday. The host is actor James
Garner and CBS newsman Bob Schieffer narrates.
Century of Country marks the first collaboration between TNN and CBS
News. Westinghouse Electric Corp., which owns CBS, bought TNN in 1997.
"I had more fun," said Schieffer, host of the weekly news show Face the
Nation on CBS. "Maybe because it was such a break after covering Monica
Lewinsky and Ken Starr. It was like a vacation to me. . ..
"I really learned a lot. They have gone out and interviewed everybody
that you ever heard of, and some that you've never heard of."
Among the things Schieffer learned: "Apparently Jimmie Rodgers, who was
the Singing Brakeman, was the first person to yodel," he said. "You would
think it came from ranches or something western.
"But apparently he heard some Swedish guy yodel," Schieffer said with a
laugh.
* The series is a step forward for TNN, whose claim to be THE country
music
cable station has slipped since it started showing a new version of Roller
Derby and reruns of the Waltons.
TNN has always been a Nashville booster rather than a critic, and
Century
of Country sidesteps anything that could dampen the party.
The shows still are a lot of fun, however. For example, it's hard to
resist the enthusiasm of singer Marty Stuart.
"You can wear cool clothes," Stuart says in the opening episode,
Celebration of Country. "You can wear your hair goofy. Girls like you. You
get applause. You get to live this nomad lifestyle. And you get paid for
it."
* During the segment on bluegrass, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Thile
* pays tribute to late bluegrass founder Bill Monroe, then reveals he's
* working on combining bluegrass and classical music.
"I find there's an amazing energy in Bach that is kind of like some of
the stuff that Bill Monroe was coming out with," Thile said. "I wrote a
* song where I try to get some of that same energy with the bluegrass
background in it -- sort of a 'grassical' song."
Ricky Skaggs tries to explain how exciting Monroe and the Blue Grass
Boys
were in their heyday.
"When they were on the stage it sounded like the Beatles were on stage,"
Skaggs said. "I hear these country people screaming at the top of their
voices hearing this new music that no one had ever heard before. It was a
new sound, it was a new day for this music."
Schieffer said he came into the assignment thinking he knew something
* about country music from a lifetime of listening. He saw Ernest Tubb
perform when he was a boy in Fort Worth, Texas, then became a fan of
Willie Nelson and Jennings.
The assignment showed him he had much to learn.
* "If you have just the vaguest interest in country music, you'll find
this
13 hours just fascinating," Schieffer said.
