DAYTON DUNCAN, writer and producer of Country Music, is the
author of twelve other books, including Out West: An American
Journey Along the Lewis and Clark Trail, in which he retraced the
historic route of the expedition. He has worked with Ken Burns as a
writer and producer of documentary films for nearly thirty
years.
KEN BURNS, the producer and director of numerous film
series, including Vietnam, The Roosevelts, and The War, founded his
own documentary film company, Florentine Films, in 1976. His
landmark film The Civil War was the highest-rated series in the
history of American public television, and his work has won
numerous prizes, including the Emmy and Peabody Awards, and two
Academy Award nominations. He lives in Walpole, New Hampshire.
"It gives some of the deeper background on artists and on the
places and songs that the film can’t fully provide. Duncan’s
lavishly illustrated book — in many ways the photos alone are worth
the price of the book and tell a compelling story themselves — well
fulfills its purpose as a companion to the PBS series, encouraging
us to swim in the many streams that flow into the big river of
country music."
—No Depression
"An elegant encapsulation of the material in the documentary,
detailing country’s evolution and emergence as a musical form with
broader reach and inclusion than many might think."
—Nashville Scene
"Ken Burns' recent PBS opus charted the history of the music that
put Nashville on the map. He and his co-producer Dayton Duncan have
put equal care into this companion book."
—Newsday
"Master documentarian Burns and his stellar, longtime writer
collaborator Duncan have produced another large, handsome, avidly
researched volume bursting with vivid anecdotes and rare archival
photographs... This dynamic and monumental history captures
the spirit, resonance, variety, and power of country music as a
balm for hard times, catalyst for good times, and vibrant
expression of life’s obdurate complexities. While the Country Music
documentary series offers sound and motion, the book offers a
still, at-your-own-pace immersion that enriches the video
experience and stands steady on its own."
—Booklist, starred review
"This voluminous and hugely entertaining introduction to country
music coincides with the release of the eponymous PBS series, by
producer and writer Duncan (Out West) and producer and filmmaker
Burns (The Civil War)... The narrative—supported by concert
photos and images of album jackets and various memorabilia—moves at
a quick clip as the authors highlight the lives and music of such
influential musicians as Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton,
and Hank Williams... Duncan’s and Burns’s lavishly illustrated and
cinematic narrative will stand as the definitive history of the
genre."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"A lucid, jam-packed, richly illustrated companion to the Ken Burns
documentary series... Country music is America's music—which is to
say, music from every culture and ethnicity. An essential
guide."
—Kirkus, starred review
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