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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019:: LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR
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‘I THINK
THE MOVIES
ARE MASKS’
Noah Baumbach on love , art
and making his new film
‘Marriage Story’PAGE E7Béatrice de GéaFor The TimesTHE CONTENDER
On the surface, rapper Lil Nas X’s record-setting smash “Old Town
Road” seems to have little connection with the forthcoming multipart film documentary
“Ken Burns’ Country Music.” ¶ One is a offhandedly radical merging of two styles of
music — hip-hop and country — that historically have occupied distant ends of the musical
spectrum; the other is a measured, exhaustively researched examination of nearly a century
of American music and cultural history. ¶ The common element, however, is that both
hone in on and illuminate — without definitively answering — the same question: What is
“country music”? ¶ “Old Town Road” has engendered countless debates and probably
more than a few bar fights at a jukebox over its country music credentials. What defines
country music and distinguishes it from other forms of popular music also is at the heart of
Burns’ eight-part, 16^1 ⁄ 2 -hour series, which premieres Sept. 15 on PBS. ¶ Veteran
songwriter Harlan Howard famously asserted that “Country music is three chords and the
truth.” In one of many revealing juxtapositions over the course of Burns’ series, critically
acclaimed singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell agrees, then points out: “It’s about the truth,
even when it’s a big, fat lie.” ¶ Other artists have taken stabs at crystallizing what they do.
“Country songs are the dreams of the working man,” Merle Haggard said. Waylon Jennings
offered a broadly inclusive outline: “Country music isn’t a guitar, it isn’t a banjo, it isn’t a
melody, it isn’t a lyric. It’s a feeling.” ¶ Hank Williams himself addressed the question,
saying, “You ask what makes our kind of music successful. I’ll tell
Luke Lucas
For The TimesKen Burns’ doc series on country music runs
through the ’90s, but its look at authenticity
and race echo fresh ‘Old Town Road’ debate
BYRANDYLEWIS>>>
[SeeCountry,E4]