If you know Whitley's music there was a clue in the first verse.

 

"I know your life

On earth was troubled

And only you could know the pain.

You weren't afraid to face the devil,

You were no stranger to the rain."

 

I'm still a few episodes behind, but it's been a great documentary. I've learned a lot so far.

 

Yeah, it makes total sense when you hear it and then find out he was in the same band with Keith. I just never put two and two together, and had always heard it was written after his brother died. I felt like Homer Simpson last night when he started talking about it. "Doh!"

I've had a pretty insanely busy couple of weeks, and as much as I love Ken Burns documentaries, I hate not having the time to pay the attention that I want to them when I watch. I've caught the first two episodes thus far, and they were really really good.

 

It's interesting that you mention Alabama/Randy Owen and Garth Brooks as "front men" in country music, because that is basically the point where I part ways completely with country music. The things I listen to from today's artists that some people might describe as the more twangy parts of my musical taste are what I would usually describe more as Americana artists or southern rockers than I would describe them as "country". And those artists' lack of overall popular status at things like the CMT Awards tend to support that. Hays Carll, Jason Isbell, Lucinda Williams, Ryan Adams, Sturgill Simpson, Scott Miller, John Prine, Justin Townes Earle, Ryan Bingam, Jeff Tweedy, Jay Farrar, Tyler Childers, Joe Pug, Colter Wall....that's my jam these days. Not much of anything making its way onto the CMTs. That stuff is just top 40 pop music wearing a cowboy hat.

 

I grew up in the 70's, but had exposure to the previous two decades because of my dad and his albums. So, I heard a lot of Marty Robbins, Hank Sr., Tex Ritter, Jim Reeves, Charlie Pride, Sonny James and the like, even if they weren't still on the radio. All of them had a distinct sound.

 

Same way for "my" artists that I heard on the radio. The Statler Brothers and Oak Ridge Boys both had their own sound. Conway, Loretta, George, Merle, Dolly, Tammy, Waylon, Willie, all were unmistakable. But, so too were most of the "lesser" artists...John Conlee, Crystal Gayle, Barbara Mandrell, Glenn Campbell, Kenny Rogers, Larry Gatlin, Tanya Tucker, Don Williams...all the way up to Randy Travis, Ricky Skaggs, Dwight Yoakum, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, Reba, Patty Loveless, Pam Tillis, Brooks & Dunn, Clint Black, and more. You didn't have to have a new song introduced (as to who the artist was), as you'd be able to HEAR the difference and know who it was automatically. In the early 2000's, that started becoming harder and harder to do.

 

That's when county lost me. Smooth, polished vocals sound good in theory, but often times there's no distinction that can be heard. If I had to pick a term to best describe it, it would be "homogenized". Everything that would normally make it distinct, has been boiled off to get to this polished end product. And as Allen Reynolds said last night, if they can copy something successful, they'll do it. And boy have they.

I've had a pretty insanely busy couple of weeks, and as much as I love Ken Burns documentaries, I hate not having the time to pay the attention that I want to them when I watch. I've caught the first two episodes thus far, and they were really really good.

 

It's interesting that you mention Alabama/Randy Owen and Garth Brooks as "front men" in country music, because that is basically the point where I part ways completely with country music. The things I listen to from today's artists that some people might describe as the more twangy parts of my musical taste are what I would usually describe more as Americana artists or southern rockers than I would describe them as "country". And those artists' lack of overall popular status at things like the CMT Awards tend to support that. Hays Carll, Jason Isbell, Lucinda Williams, Ryan Adams, Sturgill Simpson, Scott Miller, John Prine, Justin Townes Earle, Ryan Bingam, Jeff Tweedy, Jay Farrar, Tyler Childers, Joe Pug, Colter Wall....that's my jam these days. Not much of anything making its way onto the CMTs. That stuff is just top 40 pop music wearing a cowboy hat.

 

Based upon the above list, I think you might like Vincent Neil Emerson. He released a new album a few weeks ago, "Fried Chicken & Evil Women", which I've really enjoyed.

I've seen 3-4 episodes mainly covering the early years. One thing that has impressed me is how dirt poor many of the singers' families were.