The Carter Family
Gatherers and Transmitters
Jimmie Rodgers
Broadcasting Seeds
Bill Monroe
Father of Bluegrass
Minnie Pearl
“Howdy!” Millionairess
Hank Williams
Troubadour of Broken Hearts
Ray Charles
The Genius morphed country to soul
Patsy Cline
Queen who hopped country to pop
Brenda Lee
Rockabilly, Pop, and country darlin’
Charlie Pride
Resonant-Voiced Star who shocked the Opry when he stepped on stage
Johnny Cash
Iconic Country Legend Reborn Again and Again
Bob Dylan
Minnesota Folkie who dabbled country
Loretta Lynn
First Lady of Country Music and Feminist
Merle Haggard
Dirt poor ex-con Okie with a silver pen
George Jones
Possum’s voice can’t go wrong
Tammy Wynette
Blonde troubled angel
Townes Van Zandt
Lived (and cried) every lyric he wrote
Waylon Jennings
Nashville His Way
Willie Nelson
Texas Yo-Yo and Trigger Too
Buck Owens
Bakersfield Pioneer
Dwight Yoakum
Following Buck, Hillbilly Proud
Emmylou Harris
Harmony Angel Saves Ryman
Ricky Skaggs
Bill Monroe’s protege
Steve Earle
Copperhead with a Guitar
Vince Gill
Reluctant Superstar
Garth Brooks
Created Arena Country
Billy Strings
New and Now
Hillbilly music
ballads and old hymns
singing cowboys
bluegrass
honky tonk
rockabilly
the common man
lyrical poets
outlaws
new traditionalists
Though its forms are impermanent, country music endures.
Long live country music!
I just finished watching the 8-disk (16 hours) Country Music series created by Ken Burns. My “poem” is based on gleanings and impressions from it (for the most part.)
*“Three chords and the truth” is attributed to Harlan Howard.
Merril D. Smith is today’s host of dVerse. Merril says:
So, today for Poetics, I’d like you to think about impermanence, things that are transient, or things that have passed their time. If you want to stick to the seasons, nature, or the weather, that’s fine, but I’d like to challenge you to try to come up with something different or unusual. Your poem can be in any style or form.
Wow, the strength of this is overwhelming, it rushes over me like a tsunami of words and images. By the last line I was exhausted and thankful. Country music has always sung truth to power.
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Glenn, I’m glad you felt that. I condensed 16 hours of viewing into one poem. I could do a series on country stars and the starmakers. So true on truth to power. Did you ever see the clip where Nixon invited Johnny to The White House to sing? What did you think of Billy Strings’ performance?
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I remember that you wrote about Billy Strings before. He is really good.
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Yes he is. His star is rising.
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A delightful walk down memory lane!
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Thanks Beverly. The series was such a delight. The takeaway from it was that country music morphs over time but it endures.
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Love “Three chords and the truth.” You can just hear the notes vibrating in this.
I’m not a big country fan–though I do like some of the traditional. We saw Doc Watson perform a few times at a club in Bryn Mawr, and he was amazing.
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Amazing, Merril. That’s close to saying you’ve seen The Man in Black in concert!
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Hahaha. I think many more people know The Man in Black. But Doc and his “boy Merle” 😦 were amazing–especially in that little club. We saw a lot of wonderful musicians there way back when.
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You saw Merle too!? Oh man….
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Doc Watson’s son, Merle.
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Country music does, indeed, endure.
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what a great tribute to your muses … and many of them have already moved on 🙂
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Thanks, Kate. I was thinking about that very thing today, how many have passed on. Billy Strings is new talent whose star is on the rise.
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he looks so young but love his voice 🙂
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🙂
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Lovely tribute to country music! Billy Strings is good…thanks for sharing.
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Thank you, Punam. And he was born and raised about 3 hours from here!
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Oh, that’s great! Have you watched him live?
You are welcome, Li.
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No, but my friend and her daughter went to see him in Tennessee last year and loved him. That’s how I heard about him 🙂
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Wonderful! 🙂
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such a beautiful ode! felt like going through a museum of country music
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The series started from the beginning and went up through country music in the 90’s. I added Billy Strings at the end to show country is still going strong. So yes it is a museum with one new exhibit 😉
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Amazing!
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That is a lot of viewing, but detailed enough to provide a good perspective.
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Thank you, Frank.
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I grew up with country in the fifties and sixties. I left that behind, once I found my own music, but I can still listen to it. Not new country. Real country and bluegrass.
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I did also, with an eclectic mix (we belonged to a record club so new and varied music arrived each month.) I was hanging out at a small town dive during the era of Waylon and Willie and so came back to it then. Since blogging for the past couple of years, I’m being drawn back to it.
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I have listened to some of them… but where in your list is Dolly Parton? …
My favorite on the list is Emmylou Harris
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I figured I would take some heat for leaving somebody off of the list. Dolly has bigger accolades than she knows what to do with. I can’t choose a favorite, but Johnny Cash and George Jones are near the top.
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Very cool list and so accurate! I think Dwight might be my favorite. His song “Two Doors Down” is hard to beat…or get over. Haha. Great post!
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Parker, if you get a chance to watch that series, you’ll be delighted that Dwight’s commentary and insights get a lot of screen time. He’s one of my favorites also, and so is his predecessor, Buck.
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Oh really? Well I need to watch it, then! I think Dwight is a very smart man, along with being an unbelievable musician and singer and a fine actor as well. I love hearing his insights and will definitely check this out!
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p.s. Thank you, glad you enjoyed the post.
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Of course! You’re very welcome!
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