American Epic - Arena BBC4

[johncorrigan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/arena-american-epic

Very interesting looking programme starting this Sunday on BBC4 and running for 4 weeks on the recording of American music starting in the 20s with episode 1 exploring the threat of radio to record sales and the quest to find new recording stars.
Narrated by Robert Redford and featuring the likes of Taj Mahal...and Reg Dwight.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08rnyxq

[johncorrigan]

Here's a piece from the Grauny by Joe Boyd about American Epic.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/may/19/american-epic-arena-bbc4-series-record-industry-crisis-blues-country-pioneers

[johncorrigan]

Particularly enjoyed the film of Maybelle and Sara Carter from last night's show - I've never seen them before and I found them very moving. As I did Charlie Musselwhite's version of his friend Will Shade's song - I liked very much the contrast between the hill folks of Appalachia and the performers in downtown 20's Memphis. Looking forward to investigating some more, but will be going back to look at those old Carter Family clips again.

[johncorrigan]

American Epic went looking for Elder Burch and his Triumph Church in Cheraw, South Carolina and found a straight link to Dizzy Gillespie who said that he learned so much listening to that local church in Cheraw, just down the road from his house.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNbNldA0W_s

Then we were in the West Virginia following the trail of the miners of Logan County and their hard life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxBilXPi4B8

...and finally the programme took us to the home of the blues and the search for Charlie Patton and his influence on the likes of Muddy Waters and in particular, Howling Wolf.

The programme is a bit disjointed, a bit all over the place, but in there is some wonderful music and great footage.

[Globaltruth]

Just caught up with this. I thought the version of On The Road again by Nas was great.
Here is a clip:

https://youtu.be/qIj5rFxeHFo

and an earlier version by the Memphis Jug Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3glET0vebQ

But the real star in my opinion was Ralph Peer

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/modern-music-industry-shaped-man-youve-never-heard/

without his interest in a huge range of genres and devoting such energy to travelling both America and South America, and recording with highly primitive equipment we wouldn't have the legacy we have now. He subsequently founded BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) which guarantees musicians get paid when their songs are played.

Yes, it is a bit disjointed but the overall low-key matter of fact approach worked really well, as did the choice of clips and interviewees.

[johncorrigan]

Just caught up with this. I thought the version of On The Road again by Nas was great.
Here is a clip:

https://youtu.be/qIj5rFxeHFo

and an earlier version by the Memphis Jug Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3glET0vebQ

But the real star in my opinion was Ralph Peer

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/modern-music-industry-shaped-man-youve-never-heard/

without his interest in a huge range of genres and devoting such energy to travelling both America and South America, and recording with highly primitive equipment we wouldn't have the legacy we have now. He subsequently founded BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) which guarantees musicians get paid when their songs are played.

Yes, it is a bit disjointed but the overall low-key matter of fact approach worked really well, as did the choice of clips and interviewees.

Before this series I'd never heard of Ralph Peer, but I'm with you on that, GT. Part 3 was terrific whether we're talkin' Hawaiian or Cajun, but the section about Mississippi John Hurt was a thing of delight and beauty.

[Stunsworth]

...the section about Mississippi John Hurt was a thing of delight and beauty.

What a delightfully warm human being he was.

I watched the 'jam sessions' episode last night. I enjoyed that too - though I'm not sure what Elton John was doing in it.