Ken Burns making documentary series on Country Music...
Ken Burns Making Documentary on Country Music
PASADENA, Calif. January 20, 2014 (AP)
Associated Press
PBS documentary maker Ken Burns is examining the roots of country music and how it has changed through the present day for a multi-episode series on public broadcasting.
Country fans have a wait ahead of them, though. PBS said Monday that Burns' country music project isn't set to air until 2018.
The noted documentarian has several other projects in the works for PBS, including one on the Gettysburg Address that will air this spring, and films on the Roosevelts, Jackie Robinson and Vietnam.
The country series explores the question, "what is country music." It will track the careers of the Carter family, Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and others.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/ken-burns-making-documentary-country-music-21601867
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Willie. (Naturally!) 
Dolly Parton.
Crystal Gayle.
Oak Ridge Boys are still together.
Many, many more, who've been performing for decades.
I'm very interested in seeing how country went from working class, anti-corporate heroes like Johnny Cash to flag-waving, Bible thumping patriotic BS like Toby Keith and Carrie Underwood. 
I bought the The Complete Bascom Lamar Lunsford Bluegrass Story DVD years ago. Great stuff. 
to use up some of the many that didn't make the cut in his other documentaries.
In 1927, Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family were first recorded in Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia in an effort to save mountain music for historical purposes. That was the first known recordings of "country music". Of course, "mountain music" was around a long time before that.
There was the Renfro Valley Barndance before there was the Grand Ole Opry. There were mountain singers before there was country music. Most called it "hillbilly" music. That was the original country music.
Bill Monroe was the founder and leader of the "bluegrass" movement. It was popular in the 1930's, probably as avante garde as Elvis in the 50's or the Beatles in the '60's. Its roots were in the blues and black music similar to that from the Mississippi Delta.
The 40's brought entertainers like the Delmore Brothers, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, Patsy Montana, and Hank Snow. That was when "country music" really gained popularity and started to separate itself from the much-ridiculed "hillbilly" music. Even then, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville still mocked the "hillbillies" with acts like Homer and Jethro, Alonzo and Oscar, Stringbean, Minnie Pearl, and Bashful Brother Oswald.
Also, the 40's brought us Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys and country swing. Country music became Country & Western.
Some would say that country music hit the "mainstream" in the early 50"s when Hank Williams came along. His songs would be recorded by singers in every genre of music. However, Elvis was almost booed off the stage of the Grand Ole Opry when he attempted to do his version of Bill Monroe's song, Blue Moon of Kentucky. Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis were a couple of artists that were able to cross over from rock and roll to country and vice-versa.
Female country singers became much more popular during the 1960's. Not only did we have Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline, but singers like Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and Dolly Parton became very popular.
The 70's had Willie and Waylon and the "Outlaw" movement. That was probably the last definable "eras" of country music. From the 80's until the present, country music became much more diversified and "citified" and lost much of its traditional roots.
This is kentuck's synopsis of the history of country music. 
I like Ken Burns, but if this documentary is truthful, it will detail a steep decline of quality into the present day. Quick version: Hank Williams to Hank Williams Jr. to Hank Williams III. (Or if you're a real glutton for punishment, watching an episode of "Nashville."
If I had one request to make of Burns, it would be to include a hard look at the fucking-over the Dixie Chicks took from the industry, because of one political comment. Absolutely shameful.
I used to listen to country-western music, but I don't anymore. My main exposure to it now is an occasional look at the CMT network, to watch and laugh at the hideous country music videos, featuring the current bunch of "artists." God-awful but hilarious----get an old truck, a guitar and a gal in a skimpy cotton dress, and you're good to go; no need for any talent......
