↑ From left Willie
Nelson, Charley
Pride, Shania
Twain, Dolly Parton,
Garth Brooks,
and Johnny CashKEN BURNS NEVER BEGINS A PROJ-
ect with a specific intention. Yet, it
seems, each one of his epic histori-
cal docuseries—whether it examines
the Civil War or baseball—ends up
speaking to the current moment.
“Please tell me why that is—it’s
been [happening] my entire life,”
says the 66-year-old filmmaker with
a chuckle, before referring to a favor-
ite Mark Twain quote that “history
doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
The latest echoing intersection
between then and now comes in
the form of Country Music, directed
by Burns and co-produced withwriting and producing partners Day-
ton Duncan and Julie Dunfey, which
will air across eight nights on PBS
beginning Sept. 15.
“Our intention is to just tell stories,”
says Burns. “We don’t have a politi-
cal or another agenda. We do know
that a by-product of a deep dive
helps to rescue whatever the subject
is from the barnacles of sentimental-
ity that get encrusted around it.”
Over the course of the series,
Country Music chronologizes instru-
ments (fiddle, banjo, guitar),
movements (countrypolitan, outlaw,You’re Lookin’ atKEN BURNS gives EW the scoop on Country Music,
an eight-night, 16-hour deep dive tracing not only the
path of one of America’s most popular and enduring
art forms but U.S. history itself. BY SARAH RODMAN