Three Chords and the Truth
COUNTRY MUSIC WAS BORN IN DALLAS. NO, NOT the country music you hear on every other radio station in the parts of America where church picnics outnumber trendy brunch spots. Country Music, as in the new eight-part Ken Burns PBS documentary that should have you glued to your TV starting September 15.
The seed of the project was planted more than three years ago when the prolific filmmaker—Burns has made more than 30 documentaries, has six films currently in production, and is booked through 2030—was having dinner with friend Cappy McGarr at Suze restaurant in Dallas. The well-known private equity investor, political fundraiser, and special advisor to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts told Burns his next film should tell the story of the music of America.
“He said, ‘What are you talking about? I’ve already done Jazz,’” McGarr recalls. “I said, ‘Ken, you have not done country music, and that is the music of America.’”
After dinner, Burns called longtime writing and producing partner Dayton Duncan to ask what he thought of the suggestion.
“It took me less than a minute to say it’s a terrific idea, but only if I get to write and produce it,”
