Ken Burn's Country Music Documentary Series

 Yes, you need to watch this, even if you're not a country music fan.  4.5 stars out of 5

Lots of the pre-history, the hows and whys, lots of the early development up from fiddle and banjo music, the radio "barn dance" craze and how WSM's ongoing Grand Ole Opry is the last and greatest of those shows, "Countrypolitian" music, Outlaw Country, etc., the entire 16 hour series (8 2 hour episodes) is well worth your time.  It's through, and I won't try to catalog it all here.

Now for the downsides, which are minor but worth noting.  The country-related genre of Americana music received only one brief mention, where it should have gotten at least 15 minutes' out of the 16 hours.  There may have been too much focus and interview time with too limited a handful of musicians and insiders, but hey, with documentaries sometimes you just roll with the folks who'll take the time and tell the story.  My biggest kick though is that it ends in 1996, and needs another episode to bring us up to the present.  In this nearly quarter-century, country music has taken all kinds of new directions, as has the rest of the music industry, with successful self-produced on-line publishing and a thriving live music scene.  I realize that some people are stuck in the 90s, but this is the 20s folks!

I need to go back through the series with a pen and pad, just to write down music to fetch in the near future.

OK, apart from "needs a ninth disc" it's everything it needs to be.  Recommended!

ps: Watch the extras, especially on the last episode.  The segment on "what one song do you think epitomizes country music?" was priceless.  Surprisingly, there was a pretty fair consensus among the musicians and insiders: George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," closely followed by one of several of Hank Williams' high-and-lonesome tunes.