ANNOUNCER: FUNDING FOR "COUNTRY MUSIC" WAS PROVIDED BY THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS OF THE BETTER ANGELS SOCIETY: THE BLAVATNIK FAMILY FOUNDATION, THE SCHWARTZ/REISMAN FOUNDATION, THE PFEIL FOUNDATION, DIANE AND HAL BRIERLEY, JOHN AND CATHERINE DEBS, THE FULLERTON FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND, BY THE PERRY AND DONNA GOLKIN FAMILY FOUNDATION, JAY ALIX AND UNA JACKMAN, MERCEDES T. BASS, AND FRED AND DONNA SEIGEL AND BY THESE ADDITIONAL MEMBERS.
[BOB WILLIS AND HIS TEXAS PLAYBOYS' "NEW SAN ANTONIO ROSE" PLAYING] WILLIS: OH, TEAR IT DOWN, MR. MAN.
TEAR IT DOWN NOW.
MAJOR FUNDING WAS PROVIDED BY: THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION; BY THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS, DEDICATED TO STRENGTHENING AMERICA'S FUTURE THROUGH EDUCATION; BY BELMONT UNIVERSITY, WHERE STUDENTS CAN STUDY MUSIC AND MUSIC BUSINESS IN THE HEART OF MUSIC CITY; BY THE SOUNDTRACK OF AMERICA-- MADE IN TENNESSEE-- TRAVEL INFORMATION AT TNVACATION.COM; BY THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY; BY ROSALIND P. WALTER; BY THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING; AND BY VIEWERS LIKE YOU.
THANK YOU.
♪ HEADING DOWN SOUTH TO THE LAND OF THE PINE ♪ ♪ THUMBING MY WAY INTO NORTH CAROLINE ♪ ♪ STARING UP THE ROAD, PRAY TO GOD I SEE HEADLIGHTS ♪ ♪ SO, ROCK ME, MAMA, LIKE A WAGON WHEEL ♪ ♪ ROCK ME, MAMA, ANY WAY YOU FEEL ♪ ♪ HEY, MAMA, ROCK ME ♪ [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] HANK WILLIAMS: ♪ WHEN YOU ARE SAD AND LONELY ♪ ♪ AND HAVE NO PLACE TO GO ♪ ♪ COME TO SEE ME, BABY, AND BRING ALONG SOME DOUGH ♪ ♪ AND WE'LL GO HONKY TONKIN', HONKY TONKIN' ♪ ♪ HONKY TONKIN'... ♪ MAN: TWO THINGS-- BEER AND DANCING.
WELL, AS WE LIKE TO SAY ABOUT DANCING, IF YOU DANCE, YOU GOT A CHANCE.
[LAUGHS] THEY CALLED THEM "HONKY-TONKS," ROAD HOUSES, ICE HOUSES, "SKULL ORCHARDS."
[LAUGHS] SKULL ORCHARD.
UH.
WELL, THAT'S JUST A WAY OF DESCRIBING A... A NIGHTCLUB THAT HAS REGULAR FIGHTS IN IT, YOU KNOW?
SOMEBODY'S ALWAYS GETTING POPPED IN THE SKULL.
BUT THERE LITERALLY WERE PLACES WHERE THEY'D PUT CHICKEN WIRE OVER THE FRONT OF THE STAGE TO KEEP PEOPLE FROM GETTING HIT WITH BEER BOTTLES.
WILLIAMS: ♪ WHEN YOU AND YOUR BABY... ♪ MAN: IN THE HEYDAY OF HONKY-TONK MUSIC, THE BEER WAS FLOWING, THE CIGARETTES WERE LIT.
COUPLES WERE DANCING.
THEY'D RUB STOMACH TO STOMACH, CHEEK TO CHEEK.
WILLIAMS: ♪ HONKY-TONKIN', HONKY-TONKIN', HONEY, BABY ♪ ♪ WE'LL GO HONKY-TONKIN' AROUND THIS TOWN ♪ BENSON: ALCOHOL AND MEN AND WOMEN TOGETHER CREATE VIOLENCE, FIGHTS.
WHEN THERE'S A FIGHT, YOU DON'T STOP PLAYING.
IT'S THE ONE RULE.
KEEP PLAYING.
THE OTHER THING IS, AND I'VE HAD TO, IS A GUITAR IS A GREAT WEAPON.
[LAUGHS] YOU KNOW?
USUALLY, SOMEONE WOULD GET OUT OF HAND AND MAKE A PASS AT THE WRONG WOMAN.
LINES WERE CROSSED, PROPRIETY BLURRED.
MUSIC GOOD.
YOU KNOW, THE DANCING GOOD.
FIGHTS WOULD BREAK OUT, LIPS WOULD BE BUSTED.
BLOOD WOULD BE FLOWING, AND THEN THEY'D MAKE UP AND GO BACK TO DANCE AND SMOKE SOME MORE CIGARETTES AND DRINK SOME MORE WHISKEY.
GREAT CULTURE.
WILLIAMS: ♪ HONKY-TONKIN' ♪ ♪ HONEY, BABY, WE GOING HONKY-TONKIN' ♪ ♪ AROUND THIS TOWN ♪ MAN: ♪ HEY, THERE, TURN IT LOOSE!
♪ MAN: AFTER THE WAR, EVERYBODY CAME HOME SUPER CHARGED.
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WENT WITH THAT WAS AN ELECTRICITY AND A BIT OF AN ENERGY THAT CALLED FOR SOMETHING BESIDES FIDDLE TUNES.
ALL OF A SUDDEN, IT WAS ABOUT STOMPING AND DANCING.
THAT CALLED FOR DRUMS AND THAT CALLED FOR TWANGING GUITARS AND THIS... A STEEL GUITAR THAT WOULD CUT THROUGH THE NOISE AND GET ABOVE THE NOISE OF THE CROWD AND THE FIGHTS, AND THE HOOPING AND THE HOLLERING AS THE NIGHT WENT ON.
IT ALWAYS GETS LOUDER AT A HONKY-TONK AND MORE RAMBUNCTIOUS.
AS YOU MOVE TOWARD MIDNIGHT, THE EDGE MOVES CLOSER TO YOU.
SO, YOU NEED AN EDGY SOUND, YOU KNOW, THAT CUTS THROUGH THAT.
AND ELECTRICITY WAS YOUR FRIEND.
NARRATOR: IN THE LATE 1940s AND EARLY FIFTIES, AMERICANS FOUND THEMSELVES LIVING IN A WORLD THAT COULD END AT ANY MOMENT, AND EVERYTHING WAS CHANGING-- IN SCIENCE, IN THE ECONOMY, IN RACE RELATIONS, IN ART, IN LITERATURE, AND IN MUSIC.
COUNTRY MUSIC ADAPTED TO THE TIMES.
MEN HAD BEEN TO WAR; WOMEN HAD BEEN TO WORK; THE DIVORCE RATE WAS HITTING RECORD LEVELS.
SONGS THAT DEALT OPENLY ABOUT CHEATING AND DRINKING-- TOPICS ONCE CONSIDERED BEYOND THE PALE OF RESPECTABILITY-- BECAME AS POPULAR AS SONGS WITH MORE TRADITIONAL THEMES LIKE MOTHER OR A SENTIMENTAL LONGING FOR HOME.
AND THE NEW SONGS HAD A NEW SOUND-- A PIERCING ELECTRIC GUITAR, A DRIVING DRUM BEAT, INSISTENT BASS, AND A VOICE THAT DELIVERED LYRICS ABOUT BOTH GOOD TIMES AND HEARTBREAK WITH AN EMOTIONAL URGENCY.
THE NEW SOUND HAD SPRUNG UP IN DARKENED TAVERNS AND BARROOMS AROUND THE OIL FIELDS OF TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA, HAD SPREAD TO CALIFORNIA AND THEN TO THE INDUSTRIAL CITIES OF THE NORTH.
THE BEER HALLS WERE TOO NOISY FOR MUSICIANS PLAYING ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS AND TOO SMALL FOR THE BIG DANCE BANDS THAT PLAYED WESTERN SWING.
I THINK THE HONKY-TONK MUSIC, UM, CAME FROM WESTERN SWING, AND IT JUST PARED IT DOWN.
BOB WILLS HAD A BIG BAND, BIG AS HE COULD AFFORD OR WANT.
HONKY-TONKS WERE SMALL BANDS, AND IT WAS THE SAME THING THAT HAPPENED WITH THE BIG BANDS, YOU KNOW.
YOU WENT FROM 24 PEOPLE DOWN TO 8 PEOPLE.
IT WAS A SINGLE FIDDLE INSTEAD OF 3 FIDDLES.
IT WAS ONE GUITAR INSTEAD OF 3 GUITARS.
UH, NO PIANO.
NO HORNS.
YOU KNOW?
AND, UM, A SPARE KIND OF SOUND.
NARRATOR: IF A LIVE BAND WASN'T AVAILABLE, THE TAVERN OWNERS KEPT THE PATRONS HAPPY WITH A JUKEBOX IN THE CORNER THAT COULD BOOM OUT A SONG FOR A NICKEL.
BY 1946, THERE WERE NEARLY 300,000 JUKEBOXES IN THE NATION.
4 BILLION NICKELS WERE DROPPED INTO THEM.
♪ BUT THE NEW SOUND WOULD BE JUST ONE WAY COUNTRY MUSIC CHANGED AFTER WORLD WAR II.
A TENNESSEE FARM BOY WOULD GO IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION, BECOMING A CROONER OF LOVE SONGS THAT APPEALED TO PEOPLE WHO NORMALLY CONSIDERED HILLBILLY MUSIC BENEATH THEM.
THE LEADER OF A STRING BAND FROM KENTUCKY NOW ASSEMBLED A NEW GROUP OF MUSICIANS, INCLUDING A YOUNG TEXTILE-MILL WORKER FROM NORTH CAROLINA.
TOGETHER THEY WOULD PUSH THE BOUNDARIES OF ONE OF THE OLDEST FORMS OF COUNTRY MUSIC INTO ITS OWN CATEGORY, WITH ITS OWN NAME.
STILL, HONKY-TONK MUSIC WAS TAKING OVER, LED AT FIRST BY A SHARECROPPER'S SON FROM TEXAS, WHO CARRIED THE NEW ELECTRIFIED SOUND ALL THE WAY TO THE STAGE OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY.
WILLIAMS: ♪ 6 MORE MILES AND LEAVE MY DARLING... ♪ NARRATOR: BUT IT WAS A SKINNY SINGER-SONGWRITER FROM ALABAMA, WHO ROCKETED TO FAME AND WAS GONE BEFORE HE REACHED THE AGE OF 30, WHO WOULD LEAVE AN IMPERISHABLE MARK ON AMERICAN MUSIC.
WILLIAMS: ♪ 6 MORE MILES LONG AND SAD... ♪ NARRATOR: HE COULD GET ANY CROWD DANCING TO HIS GOOD-TIME BEAT, THEN BRING THEM TO TEARS WITH HIS SONGS OF ALMOST INEXPRESSIBLE HEARTACHE, WRITTEN FROM HIS OWN PERSONAL TORMENTS.
WILLIAMS: ♪ OH, I HEAR THE TRAIN A-COMIN' ♪ ♪ BRINGIN' MY DARLIN' BACK HOME ♪ ♪ 6 MORE MILES TO THE GRAVEYARD ♪ ♪ AND I'LL BE LEFT HERE ALL ALONE ♪ ♪ 6 MORE MILES... ♪ MAN: HE MADE YOU THINK HE WAS SINGING STRICTLY TO YOU.
"THIS GUY UNDERSTANDS ME.
HE KNOWS THE PAIN I FEEL.
"HE KNOWS WHAT I'VE DONE AND, UH, WHAT I'VE EXPERIENCED.
"HE KNOWS IT JUST AS WELL AS I DO AND THIS SONG HE'S SINGING, HE'S SINGING DIRECTLY TO ME."
WILLIAMS: ♪ I EVER HAD... ♪ MY MOTHER USED TO SING ME SONGS AT NIGHT TO MAKE ME GO TO SLEEP, AND SHE WAS A PRETTY DARN GOOD SINGER.
AND LATER ON IN LIFE, I LEARNED THAT THOSE SONGS THAT I LOVED THAT SHE WAS SINGING ME WERE SONGS BY HANK WILLIAMS.
SO, I WAS A HUGE HANK WILLIAMS FAN BEFORE I EVEN KNEW WHO HANK WAS.
HANK WILLIAMS HAD THE GUTS TO PUT INTO WORDS WHAT WE WERE ALL THINKING AND FEELING BUT WERE TOO EMBARRASSED TO SAY.
HE CUT RIGHT TO THE BONE.
♪ ♪ ♪ NOW, IF YOU LOVE YOUR MAMA ♪ ♪ AND YOU TREAT HER RIGHT ♪ ♪ BUT SHE KEEPS ON FUSSIN' AT YOU EVERY DAY AND NIGHT ♪ ♪ AND SHE'S GONNA TRIFLE ON YA ♪ ♪ THEY'LL DO IT EVERY TIME ♪ ♪ AND WHEN YOUR BABY STARTS TO STEPPIN' ♪ ♪ LORD, YOU NEARLY LOSE YOUR MIND ♪ ♪ NOW, IF YOUR MAMA'S MEAN, TAKE A TIP FROM ME, LOCK HER UP... ♪ MAN: I LOVED ERNEST TUBB.
"THREE CHORDS AND THE TRUTH," THAT'S PRETTY MUCH ERNEST.
HIS SONGS WEREN'T COMPLICATED; ANYBODY WHO COULD PLAY A LITTLE GUITAR COULD SING THEM.
AND THAT'S WHY I THINK HE WAS SO POPULAR.
NARRATOR: BY 1946, THE FIELD OF HONKY-TONK SINGERS WAS ALREADY CROWDED-- BUT NO ONE WAS BIGGER THAN THE 6-FOOT TEXAN WITH A TOOTHY SMILE AND A DEEP VOICE: ERNEST TUBB.
TUBB: ♪ ...LOVING, LORD, BUT WATCH HER CLOSELY, TOO ♪ ♪ 'CAUSE SHE'S GONNA... ♪ NARRATOR: EVERY SATURDAY AFTERNOON, HE WOULD BROADCAST A NATIONAL HALF-HOUR RADIO SHOW, THE CHECKERBOARD JAMBOREE, THEN PERFORM ON THE LIVE BROADCAST OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY FROM THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM, HEARD BY MILLIONS OF LISTENERS ON RADIO STATION WSM.
TUBB: ♪ YOU COME HOME TO YOUR MAMA... ♪ NARRATOR: AFTER THE SHOW, HE WOULD LOAD HIS BAND, THE TEXAS TROUBADOURS, INTO HIS TOUR BUS AND SET OFF FOR AS MANY PERSONAL APPEARANCES AS POSSIBLE BEFORE HE HAD TO BE BACK IN NASHVILLE FOR THE NEXT SATURDAY BROADCAST.
TUBB: ♪ ...STARTS TO STEPPIN', LORD, YOU NEARLY LOSE... ♪ NARRATOR: TUBB BELIEVED THAT PART OF HIS POPULARITY WAS BECAUSE HIS VOICE REALLY WASN'T ALL THAT GOOD.
TUBB: ♪ ...SAYS THAT SHE IS TRUE, BUT WAIT... ♪ BENSON: YOU KNOW, IT AIN'T CARUSO.
"WHY ARE YOU FAMOUS, ERNEST?"
HE SAYS, "WELL, I'M FAMOUS BECAUSE "AN OLD BOY PUTS A QUARTER-- A NICKEL IN THE JUKEBOX "AND PUTS IT ON AND SAYS, 'HELL, I CAN SING AS WELL AS THAT GUY.'"
YOU KNOW?
[LAUGHS] HE BRAGS TO HIS GIRLFRIEND.
TUBB: ♪ LOSE YOUR MIND ♪ AND IT DRIVES YOU CRAZY.
MAN: I'VE HEARD PEOPLE SAY, "WELL, HE NEVER COULD SING."
AND I SAID, "NO, AND HE GOES TO THE BANK EVERY MONTH AND PUTS A LOT OF MONEY IN THERE BECAUSE HE CAN'T SING."
NARRATOR: AFTER HEARING HIS FIRST JIMMIE RODGERS RECORD AT THE AGE OF 15 IN BROWNWOOD, TEXAS, ERNEST TUBB'S SOLE AMBITION IN LIFE HAD BEEN TO FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HIS IDOL.
TUBB: ♪ I'LL BE LOVING AMERICA THE YODELER ♪ ♪ JIMMIE RODGERS YOU ALL KNEW BY NAME... ♪ NARRATOR: IN 1936, HE MET RODGERS' WIDOW, AND TOGETHER THEY WENT ON A JIMMIE RODGERS TRIBUTE TOUR TO SMALL TOWN MOVIE THEATERS IN SOUTH TEXAS.
SHE EVEN LET HIM PLAY THE FAMOUS MARTIN GUITAR THAT RODGERS HIMSELF HAD ONCE USED.
TUBB: ♪ IT LEFT MANY EYES FILLED WITH TEARS ♪ ♪ HE GAVE UP THE STRIFE IN THE PRIME OF HIS LIFE ♪ ♪ SAID GOOD-BYE AFTER 35 YEARS ♪ NARRATOR: WHEN A TONSILLECTOMY LEFT HIS THROAT BADLY DAMAGED, TUBB COULD NO LONGER YODEL LIKE HIS HERO.
HE STARTED WRITING HIS OWN SONGS, DEVELOPING A WARMER VOCAL STYLE, BUT WHEN HE LEARNED THAT PEOPLE COULDN'T HEAR HIS ACOUSTIC MUSIC ON JUKEBOXES IN THE LOUD ROADHOUSES AROUND FORT WORTH, HE BROUGHT IN A MUSICIAN TO PLAY AN ELECTRIFIED LEAD GUITAR AT HIS NEXT RECORDING SESSION.
THE RESULT WAS A STRING OF HITS, STARTING WITH "WALKING THE FLOOR OVER YOU."
TUBB: ♪ YOU LEFT ME AND YOU WENT AWAY... ♪ FOSTER: YOU KNOW, THERE WAS A SERVICE STATION BUILT ABOUT A MILE AND A QUARTER FROM OUR FARM, UP ON HIGHWAY 108.
MR. SIM, WHO OWNED IT, PUT IN A JUKEBOX.
TUBB: ♪ YOU DID, DEAR, BUT I DO KNOW THAT YOU'RE GONE... ♪ FOSTER: AND I COULD BE OUT IN THE FIELDS AND SOMEBODY WOULD PLAY THE JUKEBOX.
AND I COULD HEAR IT.
NOW, I COULDN'T ALWAYS HEAR THE WORDS, BUT I COULD TELL WHAT MELODY IT WAS.
THERE WAS ONLY ONE ARTIST THAT PLAYED ON THAT JUKEBOX I COULD UNDERSTAND EVERY WORD, EVEN FROM WHERE I WAS, AND THAT WAS ERNEST TUBB.
AND I SAID TO MY MOTHER ONE DAY, "WHEN I GET ME A RECORD COMPANY SOMEDAY," WHICH WAS RIDICULOUS, "I'M ONLY GOING TO SIGN ARTISTS THAT ARE AS GOOD AS ERNEST TUBB."
TUBB: ♪ NOW, DARLING, YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU WELL... ♪ NARRATOR: IN 1947, ERNEST TUBB AND THE COMEDIENNE MINNIE PEARL HEADLINED AN OPRY CAST THAT PLAYED FOR TWO NIGHTS AT NEW YORK CITY'S CARNEGIE HALL, THE PALATIAL AND PRESTIGIOUS VENUE FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC.
"BOY," TUBB SAID AT THE START OF THE CONCERT, "THIS PLACE COULD SURE HOLD A LOT OF HAY."
TUBB: ♪ I'M HOPING AND I'M PRAYING... ♪ NARRATOR: THAT SAME YEAR, HE OPENED THE ERNEST TUBB RECORD SHOP IN DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE, NOT FAR FROM THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM.
TO PUBLICIZE THE STORE, TUBB STARTED THE MIDNITE JAMBOREE, BROADCAST ON LOCATION IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE GRAND OLE OPRY.
HE SERVED AS THE HOST, PREFERRING TO HIGHLIGHT OTHER ARTISTS AND THEIR SONGS, RATHER THAN HIS OWN.
HE DID IT REMEMBERING THE GENEROSITY OF JIMMIE RODGERS' WIDOW IN HELPING LAUNCH HIM INTO THE MUSIC BUSINESS.
"WHAT CAN I DO TO REPAY YOU?"
HE HAD ASKED HER.
"JUST DO THE SAME FOR OTHERS," SHE ANSWERED.
HE DID.
TUBB: ♪ WALKING THE FLOOR OVER YOU ♪ ♪ STUART: THERE'S A SAYING IN NASHVILLE, "IT ALL BEGINS WITH A SONG."
SONGS ARE THE MAGIC CARPETS THAT CHANGE THINGS.
WILLIAMS: ♪ AS WE JOURNEY ALONG... ♪ EVERYTHING REMAINS THE SAME UNTIL YOU FIND THE RIGHT SONG AND THEN THINGS CHANGE.
THE WORLD CHANGED BECAUSE OF HANK WILLIAMS' SONGS.
WILLIAMS: ♪ ...ARE WE... ♪ WOMAN: ONE OF MY GRANDFATHER'S MOST FAMOUS QUOTES, HE USED TO SAY, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN BY COUNTRY MUSIC.
I JUST WRITE SONGS THE WAY I KNOW HOW."
NARRATOR: IN THE LATE SUMMER OF 1946, HANK WILLIAMS WAS JUST A FEW DAYS SHY OF HIS 23rd BIRTHDAY.
THEY HAD BEEN A HARD 23 YEARS.
HE WAS BORN ON SEPTEMBER 17, 1923, IN A DIRT-FLOOR LOG HOUSE HIS PARENTS RENTED IN MOUNT OLIVE, ALABAMA, AND WAS CHRISTENED HIRIAM, AFTER ONE OF THE KINGS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
HIS FATHER, LON, WHO HAD RETURNED FROM WORLD WAR I SUFFERING FROM SHELL SHOCK, WORKED A VARIETY OF JOBS UNTIL HIS CONDITION FORCED HIM TO ENTER A VETERANS HOSPITAL IN LOUISIANA, IN EFFECT DEPARTING FROM HIS SON'S LIFE.
HIS MOTHER LILLIE WAS A STRONG AND AMBITIOUS WOMAN.
SHE MOVED HER SON AND DAUGHTER TO A SUCCESSION OF TOWNS IN SOUTHERN ALABAMA, FINALLY ENDING UP IN MONTGOMERY, WHERE SHE OPENED UP A BOARDINGHOUSE.
HER SON WAS FRAIL AND SKINNY, PROBABLY THE RESULT OF A CONGENITAL SPINAL DEFECT.
BUT HE WAS FUN-LOVING AND OUTGOING, AND PREFERRED THAT PEOPLE CALL HIM HANK, NOT HIRIAM.
LILLIE ENCOURAGED HIS INTEREST IN MUSIC, SENDING HIM TO A GOSPEL SINGING SCHOOL AND GETTING HIM HIS FIRST GUITAR AT AGE 8.
ALONG THE WAY, HE MET A BLACK STREET MUSICIAN, RUFUS PAYNE, KNOWN TO EVERYONE AS "TEE-TOT," WHO TAUGHT HIM CHORDS ON THE GUITAR AND LET THE BOY FOLLOW ALONG AS HE AND HIS BAND ROAMED THE STREETS PLAYING FOR HANDOUTS.
"ALL THE MUSIC TRAINING I EVER HAD," WILLIAMS SAID LATER, "WAS FROM HIM."
STUART: THE BLACK MUSICAL INFLUENCE IN COUNTRY MUSIC IS IMMEASURABLE AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED.
IF YOU TOOK MR. LESLEY RIDDLE OUT OF THE A.P.
CARTER EQUATION AS A SONG CATCHER AND A SONG GATHERER, IF YOU TOOK ARNOLD SHULTZ OUT OF BILL MONROE'S LIFE, OR IF YOU TOOK TEE-TOT OUT OF HANK WILLIAMS' LIFE, JUST THOSE 3 ALONE, LOOK HOW DIFFERENT IT WOULD HAVE TURNED OUT.
NARRATOR: IN MONTGOMERY, WILLIAMS SHINED SHOES, SANG ON STREET CORNERS WHILE HE HAWKED PEANUTS HIS MOTHER HAD ROASTED, AND QUIT SCHOOL EARLY.
HE DEVELOPED A TASTE FOR ALCOHOL AT 11, AND WHEN HE WON A LOCAL TALENT CONTEST, SINGING A SONG HE HAD WRITTEN, "WPA BLUES," HE IMMEDIATELY SPENT HIS $15 PRIZE PARTYING WITH HIS FRIENDS.
RADIO STATION WSFA SOON FEATURED HIM ON BROADCASTS AS "THE SINGING KID."
ENCOURAGED, HE FORMED A BAND CALLED THE DRIFTING COWBOYS, WHICH PLAYED SMALL-TIME GIGS AT THEATRES AND SCHOOLHOUSES IN ALABAMA, GEORGIA, AND THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE.
LILLIE WAS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND IT, PUTTING UP HANDBILLS, COLLECTING THE MONEY AT THE DOOR, AND CONSTANTLY SCOLDING HER SON WHENEVER HE STRAYED, WHICH WAS OFTEN.
MAN: IT'S HARD TO EXPLAIN HANK UNLESS YOU GO BACK TO THE WAY HE WAS RAISED.
HE WORKED THOSE LITTLE JOINTS.
HIS MOTHER LILLIE WOULD TAKE HIM, AND IF HE DIDN'T PLAY 'EM JUST RIGHT, SHE'D CUFF HIM.
HE GREW UP WITH THAT.
"YOU DO IT RIGHT, BOY."
NARRATOR: BUT SHE ALSO SOMETIMES CAME TO HIS DEFENSE WHEN DRUNKS IN THE AUDIENCE PICKED A FIGHT WITH HIM.
"THERE AIN'T NOBODY IN THIS HERE WORLD "THAT I'D RATHER HAVE STANDIN' NEXT TO ME IN A BEER JOINT BRAWL," HANK SAID, "THAN MY MAW WITH A BROKEN BOTTLE IN HER HAND."
BUT BY 1942, HIS OWN BINGE DRINKING HAD BECOME SUCH A PROBLEM, THE MONTGOMERY STATION FIRED HIM.
A YEAR LATER, WORKING IN A MEDICINE SHOW IN BRUNDIDGE, ALABAMA, HE MET A PRETTY DRUGSTORE CLERK WHO TURNED OUT TO POSSESS THE SAME STEELY DETERMINATION AS HIS MOTHER.
AUDREY MAE SHEPPARD WAS STILL TECHNICALLY MARRIED TO ANOTHER MAN WHO HAD ABANDONED HER AND HER YOUNG DAUGHTER, BUT SHE WAS IRRESISTIBLY DRAWN TO WILLIAMS.
"I KNEW WHAT I WANTED AND I WENT AFTER IT," SHE RECALLED.
"HE WAS LUCKY WITH A GOD-GIVEN TALENT, AND I WAS LUCKY WITH A FEW BRAINS."
HIS BACK PROBLEMS KEPT HIM OUT OF WORLD WAR II.
FOR A WHILE, HE AND AUDREY WORKED AT THE ALABAMA DRY DOCK AND SHIPBUILDING COMPANY IN MOBILE, UNTIL SHE PUSHED HIM TO GO BACK TO MONTGOMERY AND HIS MUSIC.
MAN: MY MOTHER SAID, "LOOK, YOU'RE GOOD.
YOUR MUSIC IS GOOD.
YOUR SONGS ARE GOOD."
AND YOU TAKE OUT MAMA, AND THEN MAYBE THE GUY SITS DOWN THERE AND WELDS SHIPS TOGETHER AND THEN GOES TO THE NEXT JOB.
MAYBE IF THERE'S NO AUDREY, THERE'S NO HANK.
NARRATOR: BY THE WAR'S END, THEY WERE MARRIED.
ONE NIGHT IN MONTGOMERY, HE WAS THE OPENING ACT FOR ONE OF HIS IDOLS, ERNEST TUBB.
WILLIAMS TOLD HIM THAT HE HAD TRIED IMITATING TUBB'S HONKY-TONK STYLE, AND HE HAD TRIED IMITATING ROY ACUFF'S MORE EMOTIONAL DELIVERY, BUT HAD FINALLY FOUND HIS OWN VOICE SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN.
IN 1946, HE AND AUDREY BOARDED A TRAIN FOR NASHVILLE, WHERE HE HOPED TO MAKE A NAME FOR HIMSELF.
THERE, HE MET WITH THE RENOWNED SONGWRITER FRED ROSE, WHO RAN ACUFF-ROSE PUBLISHING, ONE OF THE FIRST MUSIC PUBLISHERS IN TOWN.
ROSE TOOK AN IMMEDIATE LIKING TO WILLIAMS AND HELPED HIM GET A RECORDING DEAL OF HIS OWN, BEFORE HE AND AUDREY RETURNED HOME TO MONTGOMERY.
AMONG THE SONGS WILLIAMS RECORDED WAS ONE THAT SHOWED THE INFLUENCE OF RUFUS "TEE-TOT" PAYNE.
IT WAS CALLED "MOVE IT ON OVER."
WILLIAMS: ♪ ...SO, MOVE IT ON OVER ♪ MEN: ♪ MOVE IT ON OVER ♪ WILLIAMS: ♪ MOVE IT ON OVER ♪ MEN: ♪ MOVE IT ON OVER ♪ WILLIAMS: ♪ MOVE OVER, LITTLE DOG ♪ ♪ 'CAUSE THE BIG DOG'S MOVIN' IN... ♪ NARRATOR: WHEN IT WAS RELEASED IN JUNE OF 1947, IT BECAME WILLIAMS' FIRST HIT.
WILLIAMS: ♪ ...MORE, SO GET IT ON OVER ♪ MEN: ♪ MOVE IT ON OVER ♪ WILLIAMS: ♪ SCOOT IT ON OVER ♪ MEN: ♪ MOVE IT ON OVER ♪ WILLIAMS: ♪ MOVE OVER, SKINNY DOG ♪ ♪ 'CAUSE THE FAT DOG'S MOVIN' IN ♪ WILLIAMS, JR.: THEY SAY "ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK" IS THE FIRST ROCK SONG.
I DON'T AGREE WITH THAT.
"ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK" IS A DIRECT STEAL OF "MOVE IT ON OVER."
LISTEN TO THEM, COMPARE THEM SOMETIME.
♪ CAME IN LAST NIGHT AT A HALF PAST--DA, DA, DA, DA ♪ ♪ I'M GOING TO ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK, MOVE IT ON OVER ♪ WILLIAMS: ♪ ...SIDE'S MINE, SO, SHOVE IT ON OVER ♪ MEN: ♪ MOVE IT ON OVER ♪ WILLIAMS: ♪ SWEEP IT ON OVER ♪ MEN: ♪ MOVE IT ON OVER ♪ WILLIAMS: ♪ MOVE OVER, COLD DOG ♪ ♪ 'CAUSE A HOT DOG'S MOVIN' IN ♪ MAN: IT'S WSM, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, THE BROADCASTING SERVICE OF THE NATIONAL LIFE AND ACCIDENT INSURANCE COMPANY, PRESENTING THE GRAND OLE OPRY.
LET HER GO, BOYS.
♪ ROY ACUFF: ♪ FROM THE GREAT ATLANTIC OCEAN TO... ♪ MAN: NATIONAL LIFE AND ACCIDENT INSURANCE COMPANY WOULD TELL THEIR AGENTS TO WALK THROUGH NEIGHBORHOODS ON A SATURDAY NIGHT, AND IF THE DOOR WAS OPEN, THE WINDOW WAS UP, AND THEY HEARD THE GRAND OLE OPRY COMING THROUGH EITHER THE SCREEN DOOR OR THE WINDOW, OUT IN THE STREET, THEY MADE A NOTE.
THEY WROTE DOWN THE ADDRESS.
THEY WERE BACK IN THERE INTO THAT NEIGHBORHOOD ON MONDAY MORNING.
[KNOCKING ON DOOR] MAN 2: I'D KNOCK ON THE DOOR AND I'D INTRODUCE MYSELF.
I'D SAY, "I'M BUD WENDELL AND I'M WITH "THE NATIONAL LIFE AND ACCIDENT INSURANCE COMPANY OF NASHVILLE.
"WE OWN WSM AND THE GRAND OLE OPRY.
"PERHAPS YOU'VE HEARD OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY?
"AND I HAVE A LITTLE GIFT HERE I'D LIKE TO GIVE YOU.
MAY I STEP IN?"
AND THEY WOULD HAVE CANVASSING ITEMS, SOUVENIRS FROM THE GRAND OLE OPRY, THESE AGENTS.
THEY WOULD HAVE GRAND OLE OPRY, WSM CALENDARS.
THEY WOULD HAVE RULERS, FLY SWATTERS, JUST LITTLE THINGS THAT THEY COULD USE TO ENTICE, AND THEN THEY WOULD GET AROUND TO TALKING ABOUT INSURANCE.
WENDELL: A LOT OF THEIR QUESTIONS HAD TO DO WITH THE ARTISTS.
"DO YOU KNOW ROY ACUFF?"
OR "DO YOU KNOW MINNIE PEARL?"
OR "WE LISTENED TO THE OPRY LAST SATURDAY NIGHT AND WE SURE LOVED THE SONG THAT, UH, THAT ACUFF DID."
OR THAT SORT OF THING.
BUT I'D TRY TO GET THEM ONTO THE SUBJECT OF LIFE INSURANCE.
THAT'S WHY I'M THERE.
I'M NOT THERE TO TELL HIM THE LIFE STORY OF ANY OF THE OPRY STARS.
BUT THE CONNECTION WITH THE OPRY WAS A TREMENDOUS DOOR OPENER.
NARRATOR: HUNDREDS OF RADIO STATIONS ACROSS THE NATION NOW BROADCAST WEEKLY BARN DANCE PROGRAMS-- FROM PHILADELPHIA'S HAYLOFT HOEDOWN TO THE CAROLINA HAYRIDE IN CHARLOTTE, FROM THE OZARK JUBILEE IN SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI TO DALLAS' BIG D JAMBOREE AND CALIFORNIA'S HOLLYWOOD BARN DANCE.
BUT THE LINE-UP OF STARS AT NASHVILLE'S GRAND OLE OPRY WAS UNEQUALED, AND WSM's POWERFUL 50,000-WATT SIGNAL COULD BEAM THE SHOW TO BOTH COASTS FROM THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM, THE MOTHER CHURCH OF COUNTRY MUSIC.
MAN: OH, MY GOODNESS, FOR A COUNTRY MUSICIAN TO BE ASKED TO JOIN THE OPRY, THAT'S KIND OF LIKE SAYING YOU WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE.
[LAUGHS] IT'S THE TOP OF THE LADDER, IT'S THE ULTIMATE.
DO YOU WANT TO PLAY FIRST BASE FOR THE NEW YORK YANKEES?
DO YOU WANT TO PITCH FOR THE BOSTON RED SOX?
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?
AND TO SAY THAT ABOUT... DO YOU WANT TO BE A MEMBER OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY, THAT'S JUST ABOUT AS GOOD A QUESTION AS ANYBODY COULD EVER ASK.
AND THERE'S ONLY ONE ANSWER.
YEAH!
[LAUGHS] EDDY ARNOLD: ♪ I'M SENDING YOU A BIG BOUQUET OF ROSES ♪ MAN: HE SPREAD THE WORD.
HE WAS OUR FIRST POP CROSSOVER.
PEOPLE BOUGHT EDDY ARNOLD RECORDS WHO WOULDN'T BUY COUNTRY RECORDS BECAUSE, AS EDDY SAID, HE WAS SMOOTH.
ARNOLD: ♪ TEARS WILL FALL ♪ NARRATOR: IN OCTOBER 1947, NOT LONG AFTER ERNEST TUBB HAD PERFORMED AT CARNEGIE HALL, ANOTHER STAR OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY APPEARED IN ANOTHER UNLIKELY VENUE FOR A HILLBILLY SINGER.
EDDY ARNOLD FILLED WASHINGTON, D.C.'s CONSTITUTION HALL FOR TWO STRAIGHT NIGHTS.
ARNOLD: ♪ SO, I'M SENDING YOU A BIG BOUQUET OF ROSES ♪ NARRATOR: HIS MUSIC, PROMINENTLY FEATURING A STEEL GUITAR, WAS UNMISTAKABLY COUNTRY.
BUT HE WAS JUST AS UNMISTAKABLY NOT ANOTHER ERNEST TUBB OR THE UP-AND-COMING HANK WILLIAMS.
MAN: MY GRANDFATHER WAS A ROMANTIC.
AND SO, HE REALLY ALWAYS FOCUSED IN ON LOVE SONGS.
THEY WEREN'T ABOUT, YOU KNOW, DRINKING OR CHEATING, OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT, NECESSARILY.
THEY WERE ABOUT LOVE.
NARRATOR: RICHARD EDWARD ARNOLD WAS BORN ON A FARM NEAR HENDERSON, TENNESSEE IN 1918, THE YOUNGEST OF 16 CHILDREN.
ON HIS 11th BIRTHDAY, HIS FATHER DIED, SO DEEPLY IN DEBT THE FAMILY FARM AND IMPLEMENTS HAD TO BE AUCTIONED OFF, AND THE ARNOLDS FOUND THEMSELVES AS TENANTS WORKING ON WHAT HAD BEEN THEIR OWN LAND.
EDDY DECIDED SINGING MIGHT BE HIS WAY OUT.
IN 1938, HE AND A FRIEND LANDED A JOB AT A ST. LOUIS RADIO STATION, BILLED AS THE TENNESSEE HARMONY LADS.
BUT ARNOLD DREAMED OF BIGGER THINGS.
"I KNEW WHERE I WANTED TO GO," HE SAID, "BECAUSE I COULDN'T GO BACK."
HIS BIG BREAK CAME IN 1940, WHEN PEE WEE KING INVITED HIM TO JOIN THE GOLDEN WEST COWBOYS FOR A GUARANTEE OF $15 A WEEK.
BILLED AS "SMILIN' EDDY ARNOLD," HE WOULD SING BALLADS, SELL PEE WEE'S SONGBOOKS AT INTERMISSION, AND FOR EXTRA MONEY SWEEP OUT THE AUDITORIUM AFTER EACH PERFORMANCE.
IN 1943, HE WENT OUT ON HIS OWN, SINGING ON THE OPRY AS THE TENNESSEE PLOWBOY AND DOING A MORNING SHOW ON WSM RIGHT AFTER ERNEST TUBB'S.
[ARNOLD YODELING] NARRATOR: PEOPLE RESPONDED TO HIS CLEAN-CUT IMAGE-- NEATLY PRESSED SLACKS; A CRISP, WHITE SHIRT; A HANDSOME, SQUARE-JAWED FACE; SOMETIMES WITH A DAPPER RANCHER'S HAT ON HIS HEAD.
THEY LOVED HIS MUSIC EVEN MORE, A MELLOW VOICE THAT COULD NOT ONLY CROON LOVE BALLADS, BUT ALSO BREAK INTO A SMOOTH YODEL ON A FAVORITE UPBEAT SONG, "CATTLE CALL."
[ARNOLD YODELING] NARRATOR: HE WAS MANAGED NOW BY THOMAS A. PARKER, A FORMER CARNIVAL PROMOTER WITH A FLAIR FOR PUBLICITY WHO INSISTED ON BEING CALLED COLONEL PARKER.
TO ATTRACT ATTENTION TO HIS STAR ON THE ROAD, PARKER OFTEN DEMANDED A POLICE ESCORT INTO TOWN, OR EVEN WHEN THEY WENT OUT FOR A HAMBURGER.
AT THE END OF 1947, ARNOLD'S SONG "I'LL HOLD YOU IN MY HEART" REACHED NUMBER ONE ON BILLBOARD'S RANKING OF HILLBILLY MUSIC.
IT WOULD STAY THERE FOR AN UNPRECEDENTED 21 WEEKS, AND BE FOLLOWED BY 4 OTHERS.
OF THE 6 NUMBER-ONE COUNTRY SONGS IN 1948, EDDY ARNOLD HAD 5 OF THEM.
ARNOLD: ♪ WAIT FOR ME ♪ STUART: THE FIRST STAR THAT I EVER SAW IN MY LIFE IN PERSON WAS BILL MONROE.
HE COULD DO THINGS THAT NOBODY ELSE IN COUNTRY MUSIC COULD DO, YOU KNOW.
[PLAYING MANDOLIN] HE COULD DO THAT.
AND HE REQUIRED EVERYBODY AROUND HIM TO DO THAT, AT THAT LEVEL, TOO.
MAN: IN MUSIC HISTORY, BILL MONROE, TO ME, HE'S AS IMPORTANT AS CHARLIE PARKER.
I MEAN, YOU THINK ABOUT IT, HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE A GENRE OF MUSIC THAT THEY STARTED, THAT THEY CAN SAY, "THIS MAN RIGHT HERE STARTED A WHOLE NEW GENRE OF MUSIC."
BILL MONROE DID THAT.
♪ BILL MONROE AND HIS BLUE GRASS BOYS: ♪ IT'S MIGHTY DARK ♪ ♪ FOR ME TO TRAVEL, FOR MY... ♪ MAN: I THINK THERE ARE COSMIC FORCES BY WAY OF HUMAN BEINGS THAT HIT THE PLANET.
BILL MONROE WAS ONE.
THERE'S JUST ONE BILL MONROE.
UH, THERE'S JUST ONE MARK TWAIN.
YOU KNOW, THERE'S JUST ONE EINSTEIN, ONE HEMINGWAY.
SKAGGS: WHEN BILL PUT HIS BAND TOGETHER AND CAME TO NASHVILLE IN 1939 AND GOT TO BE A MEMBER OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY, HIS MUSIC STARTED CHANGING.
AND HE STARTED LOOKING FOR A DIFFERENT SOUND.
I THINK IN HIS BRAIN HE WAS HEARING SOMETHING THAT WAS UNIQUE, BUT HE DIDN'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT IT WAS.
NARRATOR: BILL MONROE WAS TEMPERAMENTAL, QUICK TO TAKE OFFENSE, AND A PERFECTIONIST, NEVER ENTIRELY SATISFIED WITH THE MUSIC HE HAD BEEN PLAYING WITH THE BLUE GRASS BOYS, NAMED IN HONOR OF HIS HOME STATE OF KENTUCKY.
IN LATE 1945, HE BEGAN RECONFIGURING THE BAND, BRINGING IN CHUBBY WISE, WHO HAD POPULARIZED "ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL," ON THE FIDDLE; CEDRIC RAINWATER ON BASS; LESTER FLATT, FROM DUNCAN'S CHAPEL, TENNESSEE, SINGING LEAD AND PLAYING GUITAR.
AND TO REPLACE DAVE "STRINGBEAN" AKEMAN ON BANJO, MONROE HIRED A QUIET 21-YEAR-OLD FROM FLINT HILL, NORTH CAROLINA NAMED EARL SCRUGGS.
SCRUGGS HAD BEEN PLAYING BANJO SINCE AGE 4, AND AS A BOY STARTED EXPERIMENTING WITH A 3-FINGERED TECHNIQUE POPULAR IN NORTH CAROLINA'S PIEDMONT.
♪ AFTER WORKING IN A TEXTILE MILL TO SUPPORT HIS WIDOWED MOTHER DURING THE WAR, SCRUGGS JOINED A BAND IN KNOXVILLE AND FURTHER REFINED HIS PROPULSIVE, ROLLING STYLE, SO DIFFERENT FROM THE "CLAWHAMMER" TECHNIQUE USED BY STRINGBEAN AND THE OPRY'S UNCLE DAVE MACON, BOTH OF THEM AS MUCH COMEDIANS AS BANJO PLAYERS.
SCRUGGS WAS DEFINITELY NOT A COMEDIAN.
ALMOST PAINFULLY SHY, HE OVERCAME HIS STAGE FRIGHT BY CONCENTRATING ON MAKING HIS LIGHTNING-LIKE FINGER WORK APPEAR EFFORTLESS.
WHEN EARL WALKED UP ANYWHERE NEAR THAT MIC, HE WAS PICKING SO HARD AND DEFINITE THAT HIS EXCITEMENT WOULD PENETRATE THE AUDIENCE.
IT WOULD JUST MAKE THEM NUTS.
HE BROUGHT TO IT THE SAME THING THAT EDDIE VAN HALEN BROUGHT TO ROCK AND ROLL SHREDDING GUITAR.
[IMITATING PLAYING GUITAR] IT WAS SO FAST.
IT WAS WHAT EXCITED PEOPLE.
STUBBS: HE WAS A 21-YEAR-OLD KID, PLAYING THE BANJO IN A WAY THAT NO ONE HAD EVER HEARD BEFORE.
HE WASN'T THE FIRST PERSON TO PLAY WITH A 3-FINGER ROLL, BUT HE WAS THE FIRST PERSON WHO CAME TO NASHVILLE WITH IT.
EARL SCRUGGS IS ONE OF THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT MUSICIANS, NOT JUST IN THE HISTORY OF COUNTRY MUSIC, NOT JUST AS AN ARCHITECT OF WHAT WE KNOW AS BLUEGRASS MUSIC, BUT HE'S ONE OF THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT INSTRUMENTALISTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE MUSIC OF THE WORLD.
SKAGGS: WHEN BILL HEARD EARL PLAY THAT FIERY 3-FINGERED ROLL, IT WAS THE LAST COG THAT THE MACHINE NEEDED TO RUN ON AND REALLY MAKE THE ENGINE GO.
NARRATOR: MONROE'S NEW SOUND NOW FEATURED INDIVIDUAL SOLO BREAKS IN EACH SONG-- WISE'S FURIOUS FIDDLE, MONROE'S EXTRAORDINARY MANDOLIN, AND SCRUGGS' SYNCOPATED BANJO, WITH FLATT KEEPING PACE ON HIS GUITAR AND PROVIDING A STRONG VOCAL LEAD WHILE MONROE ADDED HIS OWN HIGH TENOR HARMONY.
BILL MONROE AND HIS BLUE GRASS BOYS: ♪ THERE'S FOLKS BUILDING HOMES ♪ ♪ AS SWEET AS CAN BE... ♪ SKAGGS: IN A COUNTRY BAND, THE MUSIC IS BUILT AROUND THE LEAD SINGER.
THEN YOU HAVE THE BAND BACK BEHIND IT.
IN A BLUEGRASS BAND, IT'S THE BAND.
THE FIDDLE PLAYER'S AS IMPORTANT AS THE MANDOLIN PLAYER.
DON'T TELL MR. MONROE THAT.
BUT THE BANJO PLAYER IS EQUALLY AS IMPORTANT AS THE MANDOLIN PLAYER.
DON'T TELL MR. MONROE THAT.
BUT I'M TELLING YOU, IT'S A BAND SOUND.
BILL MONROE, HE NEVER MADE IT ABOUT HIM.
BILL MONROE AND HIS BLUE GRASS BOYS: ♪ ...FOR ME, A MANSION FOR ME ♪ ♪ A MANSION FOR ME... ♪ McEUEN: I THINK THAT WHEN MONROE HAD LESTER AND EARL WITH HIM, IT BROUGHT TOGETHER THESE ELEMENTS OF GREAT RHYTHM, HARD-DRIVING, FAST, RAPID EIGHTH NOTES THAT WERE CRAZY.
GREAT FIDDLE, MONROE'S RHYTHM CHUNKS, HIS HIGH VOICE, A GREAT HARMONY, AND STORIES ABOUT DEAD PEOPLE.
NARRATOR: THANKS TO THEIR GRAND OLE OPRY BROADCASTS AND MONROE'S RELENTLESS SCHEDULE OF TOURING THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH, THE BAND'S STYLE BEGAN INFLUENCING OTHER STRING BANDS.
BILL MONROE AND HIS BLUE GRASS BOYS: ♪ LORD JESUS IS BUILDING ♪ ♪ A MANSION FOR ME ♪ NARRATOR: IN SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA, THE STANLEY BROTHERS, RALPH AND CARTER, WERE PAYING PARTICULAR ATTENTION.
THEY HAD BEEN RAISED IN THE PRIMITIVE BAPTIST CHURCH, WHERE ENTIRE CONGREGATIONS SANG HYMNS A CAPPELLA, LED BY A CHURCH ELDER LIKE THEIR FATHER.
ONE OF RALPH STANLEY'S EARLIEST MEMORIES WAS HEARING HIS FATHER'S VOICE OUTSIDE THEIR HOME AS THE DAY ENDED.
MAN: UH, LATE OF THE EVENING, OR JUST BEFORE BEDTIME, WHY, HE'D BE OUT WALKING AROUND SOMEWHERE AND SINGING THE OLD SONGS BY HIMSELF.
♪ I AM A MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW ♪ ♪ I'VE SEEN TROUBLE ALL MY DAY ♪ ♪ I BID FAREWELL TO OLD KENTUCKY ♪ ♪ THE STATE WHERE I WAS BORNED AND RAISED ♪ THAT'S THE WAY I LEARNED TO SING.
NARRATOR: THEIR MOTHER LOVED THE BANJO, USING THE OLD CLAWHAMMER STYLE, AND WHEN YOUNG RALPH EXPRESSED AN INTEREST IN LEARNING TO PLAY IT, SHE TOLD HIM THAT FOR AN UPCOMING PRESENT FROM HER, HE HAD A CHOICE TO MAKE.
STANLEY: WELL, IT WAS A BANJO OR A PIG.
I WAS INTERESTED IN HOGS, YOU KNOW, AT THAT TIME.
MY AUNT OWNED THEM AND SHE WANTED $5.00 APIECE FOR EITHER ONE OF THEM.
WELL, MY MOTHER TOLD ME, SHE SAID, "NOW, ONE OF THEM IS ALL I CAN AFFORD.
SO, YOU PICK THE BANJO OR THE PIG."
SO, I PICKED THE BANJO.
THE STANLEY BROTHERS: ♪ COME, LITTLE GIRL, LET'S GO GET MARRIED... ♪ NARRATOR: RALPH'S BROTHER CARTER PICKED UP THE GUITAR, AND THE STANLEY BROTHERS SOON BEGAN PERFORMING LOCALLY.
THE STANLEY BROTHERS: ♪ AT MY WEDDING, MY LITTLE WIFE YOU'LL BE ♪ ♪ OH, WILLIE, DEAR, LET'S BOTH CONSIDER ♪ ♪ WE'RE BOTH TOO YOUNG TO BE MARRIED NOW...♪ MAN: RALPH'S VOICE SOUNDED LIKE IT HAD COAL DUST IN IT IN A REALLY COOL WAY, AND I LOVE THAT BROTHER HARMONY.
I'VE ALWAYS BEEN A NUT FOR THAT BROTHER HARMONY THAT RALPH AND CARTER HAD TOGETHER.
NARRATOR: AFTER SERVING IN THE WAR, THEY CAME HOME AND FORMED THE CLINCH MOUNTAIN BOYS, BECAME REGULARS ON WCYB IN BRISTOL, AND WENT TO SEE THE MUSICIANS THEY ADMIRED THE MOST-- BILL MONROE AND HIS BLUE GRASS BOYS.
RALPH WATCHED EARL SCRUGGS INTENTLY.
STANLEY: WELL, I SAID, I WILL HAVE TO TRY TO GET THAT STYLE MYSELF.
SO, I STARTED WORKING ON IT.
HEH HEH.
♪ THE STANLEY BROTHERS: ♪ O RUN O MOLLY RUN ♪ ♪ RUN O MOLLY RUN, TENBROOK'S GONNA BEAT YOU ♪ ♪ TO THE BRIGHT SHINING SUN ♪ ♪ BRIGHT SHINING SUN, O LORD, THE BRIGHT SHINING SUN... ♪ MAN: THE STANLEYS WERE JUST STARTING AND THEY WERE IDOLIZING BILL.
THEY'D LISTEN TO HIM ON SATURDAY NIGHT AND ON THEIR NOON TIME SHOW, ON BRISTOL, THEY'D DO, VERBATIM, EVERYTHING HE'D DONE.
IT WAS A TRIBUTE.
BUT IT TICKED BILL OFF BECAUSE THEY WERE COPYING HIM, YOU SEE?
STANLEY: WE SUNG THE SAME WAY BILL DID, ONLY IT WAS A DIFFERENT SOUND.
STANLEY SOUND.
NARRATOR: WHEN THE STANLEYS RELEASED A SONG OF HIS, "MOLLY AND TENBROOK," MONROE WAS FURIOUS.
HE HAD RECORDED THE SAME TUNE A YEAR EARLIER, BUT HIS LABEL, COLUMBIA, HAD NOT RELEASED IT YET.
THEN COLUMBIA SIGNED THE STANLEY BROTHERS; MONROE RETALIATED BY SWITCHING TO DECCA RECORDS.
THERE WERE MORE AGGRAVATIONS.
IN 1948, TWO OF MONROE'S STARS, LESTER FLATT AND EARL SCRUGGS, FRUSTRATED BY HOW LITTLE MONEY THEY WERE MAKING, DECIDED TO STRIKE OUT ON THEIR OWN.
THEY EVENTUALLY FORMED THEIR OWN BAND, THE FOGGY MOUNTAIN BOYS.
ONCE AGAIN, MONROE WAS INCENSED.
HE CONVINCED THE OPRY NOT TO ALLOW FLATT AND SCRUGGS TO PERFORM THERE FOR YEARS.
WISEMAN: HE KEPT THEM OFF OF THE OPRY FOR A LONG TIME.
THAT'S HOW POSSESSIVE HE WAS.
SO, THE WAY THAT EVERYBODY DEALT WITH IT IS NOBODY SPOKE FOR LIKE 25 YEARS.
THEY PLAYED AT THE GRAND OLE OPRY, THEY'D WORK AROUND EACH OTHER AND, YOU KNOW, EXIST IN THE SAME INDUSTRY, BUT NOBODY SPOKE.
WOMAN: BILL TOLD ME HE'D BE BACKSTAGE AT THE OPRY AND THEY'D BE STANDING THERE AND HE'D JUST WALK ON RIGHT ON INTO THEM, LIKE THEY WASN'T EVEN THERE.
I SAID, "WOULDN'T YOU SAY NOTHING?"
HE SAID, "NO."
I SAID, "WOULD YOU NOT EVEN SAY, 'EXCUSE ME'?"
AND HE SAID, "NO."
WELL, I WOULD LAUGH WHEN HE'D TELL ME SOMETHING LIKE THAT 'CAUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS SO IMMATURE AND SILLY, BUT I'D...ANYWAY, I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY.
NOBODY CAN HOLD A GRUDGE LIKE HILLBILLIES.
[LAUGHS] I CAN ATTEST TO THAT.
NARRATOR: THEN, DURING A VISIT TO FLATT AND SCRUGGS' STATION IN BRISTOL, MONROE STOLE THEIR SINGER, MAC WISEMAN.
WISEMAN: WELL, RIGHT ON THE AIR, MONROE SAID TO ME, "IF YOU EVER WANT A JOB ON THE OPRY, JUST CALL ME."
WELL, IT MADE FLATT MIGHTY, MIGHTY ANGRY.
[LAUGHS] NARRATOR: A LITTLE LATER, FLATT AND SCRUGGS CAME OUT WITH AN INSTRUMENTAL SONG EARL HAD WRITTEN, "FOGGY MOUNTAIN BREAKDOWN," NAMED FOR THE NEW BAND.
EXCEPT FOR A FEW CHANGES, IT CLOSELY RESEMBLED A TUNE HE HAD WORKED ON WITH MONROE CALLED "BLUEGRASS BREAKDOWN."
STUART: "BLUEGRASS BREAKDOWN."
[PLAYING SONG ON MANDOLIN] WELL, "FOGGY MOUNTAIN BREAKDOWN," WHEN EARL TOOK IT OUT ON THEIR OWN, IT WAS LIKE... [PLAYING] ONE CHORD CHANGE.
[PLAYING] SO... ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: IN THE MIDST OF ALL THE FEUDING, AUDIENCE MEMBERS AT FLATT AND SCRUGGS CONCERTS WOULD WANT TO REQUEST A BILL MONROE TUNE DATING FROM THE TIME THEY WERE STILL A PART OF THE BLUE GRASS BOYS.
BUT AS EVERETT LILLY, A MEMBER OF THE FOGGY MOUNTAINS BOYS, RECALLED, THE FANS WERE AFRAID EVEN TO MENTION BILL MONROE.
MAN: THE PUBLIC BEGAN TO SAY, "BOYS, WOULD YOU PLEASE DO ONE OF THEM OLD BLUE GRASS TUNES LIKE YOU USED TO DO?"
THEY KNEW ME AND LESTER COULD SING THEM DUETS LIKE HIM AND BILL.
THEY'D SAY, "WOULD YOU PLEASE DO AN OLD BLUEGRASS TUNE?"
THE PUBLIC NAMED BLUEGRASS MUSIC...
THROUGH THE FEAR TO SPEAK BILL MONROE'S NAME TO 'EM.
♪ ♪ MADDOX BROTHERS AND ROSE: ♪ GOOD MORNING, CAPTAIN ♪ ♪ HOWDY, GAL ♪ ♪ GOOD MORNING, SON ♪ ♪ I'M A-SHINING ♪ ♪ DO YOU NEED ANOTHER MULE SKINNER... ♪ NARRATOR: IN 1948, AN OLD JIMMIE RODGERS SONG GOT A NEW LEASE ON LIFE.
RODGERS, COUNTRY MUSIC'S FIRST SUPERSTAR, ORIGINALLY RECORDED "MULE SKINNER BLUES" IN THE 1920s WITH JUST HIS GUITAR.
BILL MONROE HAD MADE HIS GRAND OLE OPRY DEBUT WITH A STUNNINGLY ENERGETIC REINTERPRETATION OF IT WITH THE BLUE GRASS BOYS BACK IN 1939.
NOW AN ELECTRIFIED BAND OUT IN CALIFORNIA'S CENTRAL VALLEY GAVE IT A HONKY-TONK BOUNCE.
IT WAS THE MADDOX BROTHERS AND ROSE.
THEY HAD ARRIVED IN CALIFORNIA IN THE DEPTHS OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION, RIDING FREIGHT TRAINS FROM ALABAMA AND BARELY SURVIVING AS MIGRANT FARM WORKERS BEFORE TAKING UP INSTRUMENTS AND PUTTING THEIR YOUNG SISTER ROSE IN FRONT OF A MICROPHONE.
THEY WORKED THE BARS AND DANCE HALLS OF THE CENTRAL VALLEY PLAYING HILLBILLY MUSIC FOR OTHERS LIKE THEM, ECONOMIC REFUGEES DENIGRATED AS OKIES.
WHEN HER BROTHERS WENT OFF TO WAR, ROSE HAD APPROACHED THE KING OF WESTERN SWING, BOB WILLS, FOR A JOB.
MAN: AND BOB WILLS ALREADY HAD A GIRL SINGER, SO HE WASN'T INTERESTED IN USING ROSE IN HIS BAND.
AND THE WAY I HEARD IT, THAT ROSE SAID, "WELL, IF YOU DON'T USE ME, YOU'RE GOING TO BE SORRY "BECAUSE WHEN MY BROTHERS GET HOME, WE'RE GOING TO PUT YOU OUT OF BUSINESS."
[LAUGHS] LATER ON, I HEARD THAT BOB WILLS WAS TELLING THAT STORY TO SOMEBODY AND HE SAID, "YOU KNOW, THEY ALMOST DID PUT US OUT OF BUSINESS."
NARRATOR: LULA MADDOX, THE FAMILY MATRIARCH AND DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE BAND, OUTFITTED HER CHILDREN IN FLAMBOYANT WESTERN CLOTHES MADE BY NATHAN TURK, A POLISH-BORN TAILOR IN HOLLYWOOD, WHO HAD DESIGNED COSTUMES FOR MOVIE COWBOYS.
NO ONE HAD EVER SEEN OR HEARD ANYTHING QUITE LIKE IT BEFORE-- SHOWS THAT INCLUDED SLAPSTICK HUMOR, SHOUTS AND HOLLERS, SONGS THAT MIXED HONKY-TONK AND BOOGIE WOOGIE AND THE BLUES, AN ELECTRIFIED HILLBILLY SOUND IN OVERDRIVE.
MADDOX BROTHERS AND ROSE: ♪ SALLY, LET YOUR BANGS HANG DOWN ♪ STUART: THE WORLD'S MOST COLORFUL HILLBILLY BAND.
THEY UNDERSTOOD THE ART OF SHOWMANSHIP.
WEARING THESE MATCHING COSTUMES, FANCY COWBOY CLOTHES LIKE THEY'D SEEN THE COWBOY STARS WEAR, MADE BY MR. NATHAN TURK, DRIVING MATCHING CADILLACS INTO THESE TOWNS.
THEY WOULD BARNSTORM A PLACE.
THEY DIDN'T KNOW IT, BUT THEY WERE ROCK STARS AS WELL AS HILLBILLY STARS AND COUNTRY STARS.
MAN: ♪ THAT'S FRIENDLY HENRY, THE WORKING GIRL'S FRIEND ♪ ♪ I WONDER IF SALLY'S A WORKING GIRL ♪ [LAUGHTER] ROSE: ♪ HOWDY, BOYS ♪ MAN: ♪ NOW I'LL HAVE TO... ♪ MAN: IT WAS LIKE A CIRCUS ACT.
THEY WERE COLORFUL.
THEY WERE FUNNY.
THEY WERE TALENTED.
SOMETIMES, YOU GO SOMEPLACE AND YOU WONDER IF YOU'RE AT THE RIGHT PLACE OR NOT.
BUT WHEN YOU WENT TO THE MADDOX BROTHERS AND ROSE, YOU KNEW YOU'D COME TO THE RIGHT SHOW.
YOU COULD NOT BE AT ONE OF THEIR SHOWS AND NOT BE HAPPY.
YOU KNOW, IT--THEY JUST WOULDN'T HAVE IT.
MADDOX BROTHERS AND ROSE: ♪ SALLY, LET YOUR BANGS HANG DOWN ♪ STUART: THEY WERE THE PRELUDE TO ROCK AND ROLL.
THEY PUT THE BOOGIE IN COUNTRY MUSIC.
[PLAYING MANDOLIN] ♪ WELL, ME AND MY BABY WALKING DOWN THE STREET ♪ ♪ TELLING EVERYBODY BUT THE CHIEF OF POLICE ♪ ♪ GOTTA STEP IT UP AND GO ♪ ♪ HEY-YO, STEP IT UP AND GO, WHOO!
♪ ♪ CAN'T STAY, HONEY, BUT YOU SURE GOTTA STEP IT UP AND GO ♪ THE MADDOX BROTHERS AND ROSE.
MAN: LET'S STEP IT UP AND GO.
NARRATOR: BY THE LATE 1940s, THE MADDOX BROTHERS AND ROSE WERE THE HOTTEST COUNTRY BAND IN CALIFORNIA.
15 YEARS EARLIER, THEY HAD LIVED IN A CONCRETE CULVERT IN OAKLAND.
NOW THEY MOVED INTO A LAVISH MANSION IN HOLLYWOOD.
HAGGARD: 1949.
I'D HAVE BEEN 12 YEARS OLD, I GUESS, AND, UH, I HAD AN OLDER BROTHER WHO WAS 14 YEARS OLDER THAN ME.
AND HE AND HIS WIFE TOOK ME TO-- TO SEE THE MADDOX BROTHERS AND ROSE, BUT ALSO TO SEE THEIR GUITAR PLAYER, WHO WAS ROY NICHOLS.
SO, I WAS SEEING ONE OF MY HEROES FOR THE FIRST TIME.
I REMEMBER MY BROTHER MADE THE REMARK, HE SAID, "HE DON'T HAVE TO PICK COTTON OR GO TO SCHOOL, EITHER ONE."
I SAID, "I WANT HIS JOB."
MADDOX BROTHERS AND ROSE: ♪ ...GOTTA [INDISTINCT] ♪ ♪ I SWEAR I GOTTA STEP IT UP AND GO ♪ ♪ YEAH ♪ MAN: ♪ WHEN I WAS A LITTLE BOY... ♪ NARRATOR: IN 1948, THE GRAND OLE OPRY WELCOMED A NEW SINGER TO THE STAGE AT RYMAN AUDITORIUM.
MAN: ♪ I WOULD HAVE TO BE RIGHT STILL ♪ ♪ UNTIL THE WHOLE CROWD ATE ♪ ♪ MY MAMA ALWAYS SAID TO ME, "JIM, TAKE A TATER AND WAIT" ♪ ♪ NOW, TATERS... ♪ NARRATOR: FROM THE COAL-MINING REGION OF SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA, THE OLDEST OF 13 CHILDREN, JAMES CECIL DICKENS WAS 28 YEARS OLD AND HAD BEEN MOVING FROM ONE LOCAL RADIO STATION TO ANOTHER, LEARNING HOW TO ENTERTAIN AUDIENCES AND KEEP A SHOW'S SPONSORS HAPPY BY PERSUADING LISTENERS TO BUY WHATEVER WAS BEING ADVERTISED.
STUBBS: THIS COULD BE CLOVERINE SALVE; IT COULD BE BABY CHICKS; IT COULD BE LIVER PILLS; IT COULD BE PRAYER CLOTHS; RADIOACTIVE DIRT; ANYTHING.
THAT--AND FOR EVERY ORDER THAT CAME IN, THE ARTIST WOULD RECEIVE A SMALL PERCENTAGE.
THEY WERE CALLED THE P.I.
DEALS, PER INQUIRY.
NARRATOR: NO ONE WAS BETTER AT IT THAN DICKENS.
ONLY 4 FEET, 10 INCHES TALL, HE TURNED HIS SHORT STATURE INTO PART OF HIS ACT, PROMOTING EVERYTHING FROM FRUIT TREES TO KITCHEN UTENSILS TO PATENT MEDICINE.
EARLY IN HIS CAREER, HE WOULD STAND ON A CHAIR TO SHARE THE MICROPHONE WITH T. TEXAS TYLER, AND GLADLY ADOPTED THE NICKNAME TYLER GAVE HIM, LITTLE JIMMY DICKENS.
MAN: AND HE WAS 6 FEET TWO AND HERE I WAS ABOUT 4-10, YOU KNOW.
AND WE MADE A GOOD LITTLE TEAM.
"HERE'S THE LITTLE MAN THAT EVERY MOTHER IN AMERICA WOULD LIKE TO CALL THEIR SON."
DICKENS: ♪ WELL, I THOUGHT THAT I'D STARVE TO DEATH ♪ ♪ BEFORE MY TIME... ♪ NARRATOR: TO FURTHER DISTINGUISH HIMSELF ON STAGE, DICKENS WENT TO HOLLYWOOD FOR FLASHIER CLOTHES.
HE FOUND THEM AT THE MAIN COMPETITOR OF NATHAN TURK, WHO WAS OUTFITTING THE MADDOX BROTHERS AND ROSE.
DICKENS: ♪ AN OLD COLD TATER AND WAIT ♪ NARRATOR: NUTYA KOTLYRENKO HAD BEEN BORN IN KIEV, IN THE UKRAINE, BUT CHANGED HIS LAST NAME TO COHN WHEN HE CAME TO AMERICA.
CHILDHOOD FRIENDS IN BROOKLYN, HAVING TROUBLE WITH HIS FIRST NAME, CALLED HIM NUDIE INSTEAD.
NOW HE RAN A TAILOR SHOP IN HOLLYWOOD.
LITTLE JIMMY DICKENS WAS THE FIRST STAR FROM THE GRAND OLE OPRY TO APPEAR IN WHAT BECAME KNOWN AS NUDIE SUITS.
DICKENS: THE MAIN THING IN COUNTRY MUSIC IS TO SELL YOURSELF TO THE AUDIENCE OTHER THAN JUST SINGIN' TO THEM.
'CAUSE IF I HAD TO DEPEND ON MY SINGIN', I'D BE UP THE CREEK.
STUBBS: HE DIDN'T GO OUT ONSTAGE TO GO OVER.
HE CAME OUT ONSTAGE TO TAKE OVER.
AND HE DID EVERY TIME.
AND HE WOULD SAY, "YOU KNOW, THEY MAY NOT KNOW WHO I AM NOW, BUT WHEN I GET DONE WITH THEM, THEY WILL."
HE WAS FEARLESS.
DICKENS: ♪ NOW, I'M JUST A SIMPLE GUY ♪ ♪ BUT THERE'S ONE THING SURE AS SHOOTIN'... ♪ NARRATOR: ONE OF LITTLE JIMMY'S HITS, "COUNTRY BOY," CAME FROM AN UNLIKELY SOURCE.
BOUDLEAUX AND FELICE BRYANT WERE HARDLY COUNTRY BUMPKINS.
SHE WAS A SICILIAN-AMERICAN FROM MILWAUKEE WHO LOVED WRITING ROMANTIC POETRY.
HE WAS THE SON OF A SMALL-TOWN GEORGIA LAWYER AND HAD BEEN TRAINED AS A CLASSICAL VIOLINIST.
MAN: MY FATHER WAS PLAYING AT 18 IN THE SYMPHONY IN ATLANTA.
PLAYING PAGANINI, EVERYTHING ELSE, BUT THAT DIDN'T PAY FOR THE HABITS AN 18-YEAR-OLD BOY MIGHT WANT TO DEVELOP IF HE HAD ANY MONEY.
AND SO, MY FATHER TOOK OFF PLAYING WITH SOME OF THE STRING BAND GROUPS.
HE COULD MAKE 20 BUCKS A NIGHT, AND YOU COULDN'T MAKE THAT IN A WEEK DOING ANYTHING ELSE.
DICKENS: ♪ WHERE I COME FROM, OPPORTUNITIES ♪ ♪ THEY NEVER WERE TOO GOOD... ♪ NARRATOR: BOUDLEAUX WAS PART OF A QUARTET WORKING IN THE COCKTAIL LOUNGE OF MILWAUKEE'S SCHROEDER HOTEL WHEN HE BUMPED INTO FELICE.
BRYANT: AND MY MOTHER WAS THE ELEVATOR OPERATOR.
SHE TOOK HIM DOWNSTAIRS, BOUGHT HIM A DRINK, AND THEN IMMEDIATELY TOLD HIM THAT SHE HAD DREAMT OF HIM ALL--ALL OF HER LIFE AND THAT THEY SHOULD BE MARRIED.
THEY WERE HITCHED VERY QUICKLY, OR AT LEAST WERE DOING WHAT HITCHED PEOPLE USUALLY DO VERY QUICKLY.
DICKENS: ♪ SUNDAY, I'M A PLAIN, OLD... ♪ NARRATOR: BUT THEY WOULD STRUGGLE TO GET BY, MOVING FROM TOWN TO TOWN WITH THEIR TWO SMALL BOYS IN A TRAILER THEY PULLED BEHIND THEIR CAR.
MEANWHILE, BOUDLEAUX BEGAN SETTING SOME OF FELICE'S POEMS TO MUSIC.
WHEN THE HEAD OF ACUFF-ROSE PUBLISHING HEARD THEIR SONG "COUNTRY BOY," HE PASSED IT ON TO JIMMY DICKENS AND URGED THE BRYANTS TO MOVE TO NASHVILLE.
DICKENS: ♪ OLD GRAY MULE WHEN THE SUN COMES UP ON MONDAY ♪ NARRATOR: LITTLE JIMMY DICKENS WOULD RECORD A NUMBER OF THEIR COMPOSITIONS, INCLUDING A LOVE SONG FELICE HAD WRITTEN FOR BOUDLEAUX AS A BIRTHDAY PRESENT-- "WE COULD."
BRYANT: MY MOTHER ALWAYS SAID, ABOUT LITTLE JIMMY DICKENS, AND A LOT OF PEOPLE SAID THIS, THAT HE COULD SING A BALLAD BETTER THAN ANYONE.
♪ IF ANYONE COULD FIND THE JOY ♪ ♪ THAT TRUE LOVES BRINGS A GIRL AND BOY ♪ ♪ WE COULD, WE COULD, YOU AND I ♪ ♪ IF ANYONE COULD EVER SAY ♪ ♪ THAT THEIR TRUE LOVE WAS HERE TO STAY ♪ ♪ WE COULD, WE COULD, YOU AND I... ♪ BRYANT: HE WASN'T, IN SOME WAYS, EVERYONE'S FAVORITE SINGER, BUT HE COULD SELL IT.
"TAKE ME AS I AM, OR LET ME GO," HE WAS THE FIRST ARTIST TO CUT THAT.
THAT WAS ONE OF MY PARENTS'.
AND IT'S BEEN CUT BY EVERYONE FROM HIM TO BOB DYLAN.
AND, OF COURSE, "WE COULD," WHICH WAS A SONG MY MOTHER HAD WRITTEN.
SHE USED TO CRY WHEN SHE'D HEAR JIMMY SING IT 'CAUSE HE COULD EMOTE.
NARRATOR: IMPRESSED BY THE NUMBER OF HITS THEY WERE WRITING, A NEW YORK PUBLISHER FLEW DOWN TO TRY TO PERSUADE THE BRYANTS TO MOVE TO THE BIG APPLE, THE NATION'S SONGWRITING CAPITAL.
THEY TURNED HIM DOWN.
FELICE AND BOUDLEAUX WERE ON THEIR WAY TO PROVING THAT SONGWRITERS, NOT JUST PERFORMERS, COULD MAKE IT IN NASHVILLE.
WILLIAMS: ♪ GOOD-BYE, JOE, AIN'T GOT TO GO ♪ ♪ ME, OH, MY, OH... ♪ MAN: WHEN HANK WILLIAMS CAME TO TOWN, THAT WAS GOING TO BE A BIG DEAL.
I WAS DEFINITELY A BIG FAN.
WILLIAMS: ♪ ME, OH, MY, OH ♪ KENNEDY: I REMEMBER GOING DOWN AROUND 5:00 FOR AN 8:00 SHOW.
WILLIAMS: ♪ FUN ON THE BAYOU ♪ ♪ JAMBALAYA... ♪ KENNEDY: AND IT WAS PROBABLY CLOSE TO 10:00 BEFORE THEY BROUGHT HIM OUT.
WE HAD ALL BEEN WAITING.
AND UNFORTUNATELY, HANK HAD BEEN OVERSERVED OR SOMETHING.
AND HE DID THE CHORUS TO "JAMBALAYA" 3 TIMES AND WALKED OFF.
THAT WAS MY SEEING HANK WILLIAMS.
WILLIAMS: ♪ FUN ON THE BAYOU ♪ IT DID NOT BOTHER ME IN THE LEAST THAT THAT'S ALL I HAD SEEN.
I HAD SEEN HANK WILLIAMS.
[HORN HONKS] MAN: IF HANK WOULD DRINK A LITTLE BEER, HE WAS ALL RIGHT.
WHEN HANK, HE GOT ON THE HARD STUFF, DRINKING, YOU DIDN'T WANT TO BE AROUND HIM.
NARRATOR: HANK WILLIAMS' MARRIAGE TO AUDREY HAD BEEN TURBULENT FROM THE START.
AT THEIR HOME IN MONTGOMERY, THERE WERE CONSTANT TENSIONS ABOUT HER INSISTENCE ON BEING PART OF HIS ACT, TROUBLES OVER MONEY, ANGRY FIGHTS DURING HIS RECURRENT BOUTS OF HEAVY DRINKING.
HIS FRIEND JIMMY KEY SAW IT FIRSTHAND.
KEY: I HAD AN APARTMENT.
SO, WHEN HANK AND AUDREY WOULD HAVE A FIGHT, HANK WOULD COME MOVE IN WITH ME.
I CAME HOME FROM WORK FOR LUNCH, AND HE'S SITTING IN THE HALLWAY, AND, UH, HE WAS JUST COMPLETELY SNOOKERED.
AND HE WAS WAILING AWAY ON "LOVESICK BLUES."
AND IT TICKED ME OFF.
I DON'T KNOW, IT JUST HIT ME WRONG 'CAUSE HE WAS, THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY, IN THE JUICE TOO MUCH.
AND HE SAID, "WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS SONG?"
AND I SAID, "IT AIN'T WORTH A DAMN.
IT WON'T SELL 10 RECORDS."
NARRATOR: WILLIAMS' PUBLISHER, FRED ROSE, CONTINUED TO HAVE FAITH IN HIS WAYWARD PROTÉGÉ.
ROSE, A RECOVERING ALCOHOLIC HIMSELF, HAD DEVELOPED A FATHERLY INTEREST IN HANK AND PLEADED WITH HIM TO GIVE UP DRINKING.
BUT WILLIAMS WAS UNABLE TO STOP, AND HIS REPUTATION AS AN UNRELIABLE DRUNK SPREAD.
HIS DREAM OF GOING BACK TO NASHVILLE AND PLAYING ON THE GRAND OLE OPRY SEEMED MORE AND MORE OUT OF REACH.
THEN, AUDREY FILED FOR DIVORCE.
WILLIAMS: HE CONSTANTLY, I THINK, WAS DEALING WITH THE BATTLE OF, I DON'T WANT TO SAY GOOD AND BAD, BUT MORE LIGHT AND DARK.
HE BELIEVED IN THE REAL REDEMPTIVE NATURE OF CHRIST AND THAT, YOU KNOW, "I HAVE STRUGGLES "LIKE EVERYONE ELSE DOES, AND I'M A SINNER.
"AND I DO THIS WRONG AND DO THIS WRONG, BUT, YOU KNOW, I HAVE FAITH IN MY SALVATION."
AND HE WROTE MANY SONGS ABOUT THAT.
NARRATOR: ONCE, WILLIAMS HAD BEEN IN THE BACK SEAT OF HIS BAND'S TOURING CAR, SLEEPING OFF YET ANOTHER BENDER, WHEN HIS MOTHER, WHO WAS DRIVING, SAW THE BEACON LIGHT OF MONTGOMERY'S AIRPORT IN THE DISTANCE AND TRIED TO ROUSE HIM FROM HIS STUPOR.
"HANK, WAKE UP," SHE SHOUTED.
"WE'RE NEARLY HOME.
I JUST SAW THE LIGHT."
BY THE TIME THEY ARRIVED, HE HAD TURNED IT INTO A SONG, CLOSELY BASED ON A GOSPEL TUNE CALLED "HE SET ME FREE."
WILLIAMS: "I SAW THE LIGHT."
EVERYONE KNOWS IT, EVERYONE LOVES IT.
SLAP YOUR HIP, WHETHER YOU LOVE JESUS OR NOT, WHETHER YOU'RE RELIGIOUS OR NOT, IT'S A SONG THAT JUST STICKS IN YOUR HEAD LIKE GLUE, YOU KNOW, AND YOU CAN'T STOP SINGING IT.
IT'S HAPPY.
IT'S UP-TEMPO.
AT THE SAME TIME, IT'S A SONG OF REDEMPTION AND THIS BROKEN MAN WHO HAS SEEN THE LIGHT.
WILLIAMS: ♪ PRAISE THE LORD, I SAW THE LIGHT ♪ ♪ I SAW THE LIGHT, I SAW THE LIGHT ♪ ♪ NO MORE DARKNESS, NO MORE NIGHT ♪ ♪ NOW I'M SO HAPPY, NO SORROW INSIDE ♪ ♪ PRAISE THE LORD, I SAW THE LIGHT... ♪ CROWELL: AND YOU GO HOWLING AT THE MOON ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT.
YOU WRECK YOUR CAR.
YOU KNOW, YOU CHASE WOMEN.
YOU COME IN DRUNK.
BUT THEN, SUNDAY MORNING, YOU FACE THE MUSIC 'CAUSE SOMEBODY'S MAMA AND SOMEBODY'S FAVORITE AUNT IS GOING TO GRAB YOU BY THE EAR AND DRAG YOU OUT OF THAT BED AND TAKE YOU TO CHURCH.
EVERYBODY OUT THERE WHO'S HAD SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING CAN SAY, "HE'S TELLING US ABOUT OUR LIVES."
AND WHEN YOU GET IT RIGHT, WHEN AN ARTIST GETS IT RIGHT FOR THEMSELVES, IT'S RIGHT FOR EVERYBODY.
WILLIAMS: ♪ NOW I'M SO HAPPY, NO SORROW IN SIGHT ♪ ♪ PRAISE THE LORD, I SAW THE LIGHT ♪ NARRATOR: BY THE TIME THEIR DIVORCE WAS FINALIZED IN MAY OF 1948, HANK AND AUDREY HAD ALREADY RECONCILED.
HANK HAD SOBERED UP, AND FRED ROSE SOON GOT HIM A SPOT ON A NEW RADIO PROGRAM, THE LOUISIANA HAYRIDE, BROADCAST FROM SHREVEPORT'S MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM.
IT HOPED TO OUTDO THE GRAND OLE OPRY AND WAS SEARCHING FOR NEW TALENT.
HANK WILLIAMS QUICKLY BECAME THE SHOW'S TOP STAR, AND HIS MOST POPULAR SONG ON ITS STAGE WAS THE ONE HE HAD PLAYED FOR JIMMY KEY OUTSIDE HIS APARTMENT, EMMETT MILLER'S OLD HIT, "LOVESICK BLUES."
DESPITE THE VEHEMENT OBJECTIONS OF FRED ROSE, WHO CALLED IT "THE WORST DAMN THING I EVER HEARD," WILLIAMS INSISTED ON RECORDING IT.
"YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE THE SONG," HANK TOLD ROSE, "BUT WHEN I WALK OFF THE STAGE "AND THROW MY HAT BACK ON THE STAGE AND THE HAT ENCORES, THAT'S PRETTY HOT."
MAN: ♪ I'VE GOT A FEELING CALLED THE BLUES, OH, LORD ♪ ♪ SINCE MY BABY WENT AWAY ♪ THAT SONG, ♪ I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M GOING TO DO... ♪ THERE'S A SENTIMENTAL HEARTACHE TO THAT SONG, BUT YET, THERE'S STILL A RAW-EDGED KIND OF RAUCOUS, MUD IN YOUR EYE, FLIPPING THE FINGER AT THE WORLD BECAUSE YOU FEEL THIS BAD SIDE OF IT.
♪ HEY, LORD, I'VE GOT 'EM ♪ ♪ I'VE GOT THE LOVESICK BLUES ♪ THERE'S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT-- IT'S STILL, BUT THERE'S AN EDGE TO IT.
IT'S ROCKING.
ANYWAY.
WILLIAMS: ♪ I GOT A FEELING CALLED THE BLUES, OH, LORD ♪ ♪ SINCE MY BABY SAID GOOD-BYE ♪ ♪ LORD, I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'LL DO ♪ ♪ ALL I DO IS SIT AND SIGH, OH, LORD ♪ ♪ THAT LAST LONG DAY SHE SAID GOOD-BYE ♪ ♪ BUT, LORD, I THOUGHT I WOULD CRY ♪ ♪ SHE'LL DO ME, SHE'LL DO YOU ♪ ♪ SHE'S GOT THAT KIND OF LOVIN' ♪ ♪ LORD, I LOVE TO HEAR HER WHEN SHE CALLS ME SWEET DADDY ♪ ♪ SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DREAM... ♪ NARRATOR: WITHIN A FEW MONTHS OF ITS RELEASE IN EARLY 1949, IT WAS THE NATION'S NUMBER-ONE HILLBILLY SONG AND WOULD STAY ON THE CHARTS FOR NEARLY A YEAR.
HANK WILLIAMS' ERRATIC CAREER HAD TURNED AROUND.
AND AUDREY HAD GIVEN BIRTH TO A CHILD OF THEIR OWN-- HANK WILLIAMS, JR. WILLIAMS: ♪ I GOT THE LOVESICK BLUES... ♪ NARRATOR: WITH HIS NEWFOUND SUCCESS, WILLIAMS SET HIS SIGHTS ON THE GRAND OLE OPRY.
ON JUNE 11, 1949, HE MADE HIS DEBUT, SINGING "LOVESICK BLUES" TO SUCH THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE HE WAS QUICKLY ASKED TO BECOME A MEMBER.
WILLIAMS: ♪ BUT SHE JUST WOULDN'T STAY... ♪ NARRATOR: THE WILLIAMS FAMILY NOW MOVED TO NASHVILLE, TO A NEW HOUSE ON 3 ACRES.
THEY FILLED IT WITH FURNITURE SO EXPENSIVE, HANK SAID HE WAS AFRAID TO SIT ON IT.
IN NOVEMBER, THOUGH STILL A RELATIVE NEWCOMER TO THE OPRY, HE WAS ASKED TO JOIN OTHER HEADLINERS ON A TWO-WEEK TOUR OF AMERICAN MILITARY BASES IN EUROPE.
THE CAST INCLUDED ROY ACUFF, MINNIE PEARL, AND LITTLE JIMMY DICKENS.
WILLIAMS: ♪ LORD, I THOUGHT I WOULD CRY ♪ ♪ SHE'LL DO ME, SHE'LL DO YOU ♪ ♪ SHE'S GOT THAT KIND OF LOVIN' ♪ ♪ LORD, I LOVE TO HEAR HER WHEN SHE CALLS ME SWEET DADDY ♪ ♪ SUCH A BEAUTIFUL... ♪ NARRATOR: IN BERLIN, HANK WAS ISSUED A DOCUMENT WRITTEN IN RUSSIAN, IN CASE HE ENDED UP IN THE SOVIET-CONTROLLED ZONE.
"THEY AIN'T GONNA WIN THE NEXT WAR," HE SAID WHEN HE SAW IT.
"THEY CAN'T EVEN SPELL."
BACK HOME, AS 1949 ENDED, HANK WILLIAMS WAS THE SECOND-BEST-SELLING COUNTRY SINGER OF THE YEAR, WITH 8 SONGS ON THE CHARTS.
ONLY EDDY ARNOLD, WITH 13, WAS AHEAD OF HIM.
WILLIAMS: ♪ ...LOVESICK BLUES ♪ MAN: MY FEELING IS THAT PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT RECORDS CALLED RACE RECORDS AND PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT RECORDS CALLED HILLBILLY RECORDS WERE OFFENDED BY THOSE TERMS.
AND THE RECORD COMPANIES FINALLY GOT A CLUE.
NARRATOR: FROM THE VERY FIRST RECORDINGS OF FIDDLIN' JOHN CARSON BACK IN 1923, RECORD LABELS HAD TROUBLE NAMING THE MUSIC THAT HAD SPRUNG FROM SO MANY DIFFERENT ROOTS.
MOST PEOPLE REFERRED TO IT AS "HILLBILLY MUSIC," AND "BILLBOARD" MAGAZINE USED THAT TERM FOR A WHILE.
BY THE 1940s, THE GROWTH OF ADDITIONAL STYLES-- WESTERN SWING, HONKY-TONK, BLUEGRASS-- MADE CATEGORIZING IT EVEN MORE DIFFICULT, AND BILLBOARD'S FIRST POPULARITY CHARTS LUMPED IT ALL UNDER THE BROAD TITLE OF "FOLK RECORDS."
FEW ARTISTS SEEMED TO MIND.
HANK WILLIAMS CALLED HIS SONGS FOLK MUSIC, THOUGH HE WAS EQUALLY COMFORTABLE REFERRING TO HIMSELF AS A HILLBILLY.
BUT ERNEST TUBB AND THE SINGER RED FOLEY PUSHED FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
AND ON JUNE 25, 1949, WHEN BILLBOARD DROPPED THE TERM "RACE MUSIC" AND SUBSTITUTED "RHYTHM AND BLUES," IT ADDED A NEW CATEGORY-- "COUNTRY AND WESTERN."
SLOWLY, THE TERM "FOLK MUSIC" BEGAN TO DESCRIBE SONGS PERFORMED BY GROUPS MORE LIKELY TO BE BASED IN NEW YORK CITY.
THOUGH THEY INCLUDED OLD STANDARDS, THERE WERE ALSO SONGS OF SOCIAL PROTEST THAT BOTHERED SOME MORE CONSERVATIVE LISTENERS, ESPECIALLY SINCE THE UNITED STATES WAS LOCKED IN A COLD WAR AGAINST INTERNATIONAL COMMUNISM.
CAUGHT UP IN THE ANTI-COMMUNIST BACKLASH WAS WOODY GUTHRIE.
GUTHRIE: ♪ BAD, BAD, BAD, AND I AIN'T... ♪ NARRATOR: "I AIN'T A COMMUNIST NECESSARILY," GUTHRIE SAID, "BUT I'VE BEEN IN THE RED ALL MY LIFE."
STUART: SOMEBODY HAD TO CLAIM WOODY.
AND THE FOLK MUSIC COMMUNITY CLAIMED HIM.
COUNTRY MUSIC MISSED, 'CAUSE, IN MY MIND, WHEN I LISTEN TO WOODY GUTHRIE, HE'S ONE OF THE PUREST COUNTRY ARTISTS THAT GOD EVER MADE.
COME ON.
I MEAN, YOU LISTEN TO THOSE EARLY RECORDINGS, ANYTHING THAT WOODY EVER DID, HE'S COUNTRY.
I'M SORRY POLITICS GOT IN SOME PEOPLE'S MINDS AND GOT IN THE WAY.
TAKE IT TO THE MUSIC.
PUT IT ON THE MUSIC.
SHINE THE LIGHT ON THE MUSIC AND WHAT THE MAN WROTE.
UH, MIGHTY POWERFUL.
"DEPORTEE," "THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND," JUST START THERE AND KEEP GOING TO THE END OF THE LINE.
THERE YOU HAVE COUNTRY MUSIC.
GUTHRIE: ♪ ...THIS WAY ♪ ♪ AND I AIN'T GONNA BE TREATED THIS WAY ♪ ♪ LORD, GOD, I AIN'T GONNA BE TREATED THIS WAY ♪ [RADIO STATIC] RADIO ANNOUNCER: THE GRAND OLE OPRY IS THE BIG TALK OF FOLK MUSIC... NARRATOR: ONE DAY IN 1950, AS A WSM ANNOUNCER INTRODUCED A POPULAR MORNING PROGRAM, HE IMPROVISED A LITTLE.
[MAN SINGING] NARRATOR: THE SHOW, HE SAID, WAS COMING FROM "MUSIC CITY USA, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE."
IT WAS MORE AN OFF-HAND COMMENT THAN A STATEMENT OF FACT, BUT FOR MORE AND MORE COUNTRY ARTISTS, NASHVILLE HAD BECOME THE PROMISED LAND THEY ALL WANTED TO REACH.
THAT NOW INCLUDED 4 MEMBERS OF THE FIRST FAMILY OF COUNTRY MUSIC.
♪ I GOT A MAN, SWEET TALKING MAN ♪ ♪ SWEET TALKING'S ALL FOR ME ♪ ♪ I GOT A MAN, SWEET TALKING MAN ♪ ♪ SWEET TALKING MAN ♪ ♪ I CAN'T BE FREE ♪ ♪ AND I DON'T CARE IF HE HASN'T GOT A DIME ♪ ♪ ALL I NEED TO KNOW IS THAT ♪ ALL: ♪ HE'S ALL MINE ♪ ♪ I GOT A MAN, SWEET TALKING MAN ♪ ♪ SWEET TALKING'S ALL FOR ME ♪ ♪ I GOT A MAN... ♪ McEUEN: I WAS ASKING MAYBELLE ONE NIGHT IN KNOXVILLE, SHE WAS DOING A SOUND CHECK, AND SHE HAD THE AUTOHARP AND SHE'S TRYING TO GET IT LOUDER, AND IT'S STARTING TO FEEDBACK AND I SAID, "MAYBELLE, WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU HAVE TROUBLE WITH THAT MIC?"
"OH, I JUST DO WHAT I TELL THE GIRLS TO DO "WHEN THEY HAVE TROUBLE WITH THE MIC, JUST SMILE REAL LOUD."
GOOD ADVICE.
♪ I GOT A MAN, SWEET TALKING MAN ♪ ♪ SWEET TALKING'S ALL FOR ME ♪ ♪ YES, HIS ♪ ♪ SWEET TALKING'S ALL FOR ME ♪ ♪ I SAID HIS ♪ ♪ SWEET TALKING'S ALL FOR ME ♪ [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] NARRATOR: BACK IN 1927, MAYBELLE CARTER HAD BEEN PART OF THE ORIGINAL CARTER FAMILY WHEN THEY MADE THEIR GROUNDBREAKING RECORDINGS IN BRISTOL, TENNESSEE.
NOW SHE WAS PERFORMING WITH HER 3 DAUGHTERS.
MAN: HELEN CARTER WAS THE INSTRUMENTALIST IN THE GROUP.
SHE PLAYED ACOUSTIC GUITAR, SHE PLAYED THE ACCORDION.
SHE ALSO SANG.
SHE WAS A WONDERFUL GUITAR PLAYER, AS STRONG AS HER MOTHER, IN HER OWN STYLE.
ANITA WAS THE YOUNGEST OF THE CARTER SISTERS.
ANITA HAD THE MOST BEAUTIFUL, PITCH-PERFECT, CLEAR SOPRANO VOICE.
MY MOTHER, THE MIDDLE CHILD, JUNE CARTER, WAS NOT THE VOCALIST THAT HER SISTER ANITA WAS.
MY MOTHER HAD THIS ENERGY AND THIS VIBRANCE AND THIS VITALITY THAT CAME THROUGH WITH EVERYTHING SHE DID.
WOMAN: MY MOM WAS BORN AN ENTERTAINER.
SHE HAD A GREAT COMEDIC SENSE.
AND MOM MADE HERSELF OUT TO BE NOT AS GOOD A SINGER AS SHE WAS BECAUSE HER SISTERS TEASED HER ALL THE TIME THAT SHE COULDN'T SING AS GOOD AS THEM.
SO, MAMA KIND OF TURNED IT INTO AN ACT, YOU KNOW, WHERE SHE'D GO ♪ I'M AMMMAAA MEEE MEEEE... ♪ AND PEOPLE WOULD CRACK UP LAUGHING.
SO, SHE WOULD JUST GO ON WITH IT, TRYING TO FIND HER NOTE.
SHE KNEW EXACTLY WHERE IT WAS.
CARTERS SISTERS AND MOTHER MAYBELLE: ♪ LITTLE DARLING, PAL OF MINE ♪ RADIO ANNOUNCER: AND NOW, FOLKS, IT'S TIME-- GIRL: WHAT YOU TRYING TO DO ANYHOW, JOE, INSULT ME OR SOMETHING OTHER?
NO, I'M JUST TRYING TO TELL THE FOLKS WHO YOU ARE.
OH, THERE AIN'T NO SENSE IN THAT.
THAT TAKES UP TOO MUCH TIME.
I'M JUST MOMMY MAYBELLE'S MIDDLE-SIZED YOUNGIN', LITTLE OL' PUNY JUNEY, AND I AIM TO DO A LITTLE SINGING HERE IF YOU-INS WON'T RUN OFF.
IF I CAN GET EVERYBODY TO HELP ME OUT, WE GOT AN OLD TIMER HERE CALLED "I'LL BE BACK FOR SUNDAY."
♪ MY LITTLE PEA PATCH SWEETHEART ♪ ♪ YOU'RE CUTE AS PUMPKIN SEEDS... ♪ NARRATOR: IN 1948, THE CARTERS HAD LANDED A JOB ON THE MIDDAY MERRY-GO-ROUND ON KNOXVILLE'S WNOX AND ASKED A GIFTED YOUNG GUITARIST TO JOIN THE ENSEMBLE.
HIS PLAYING STYLE, MUCH DIFFERENT FROM MAYBELLE'S DISTINCTIVE "CARTER SCRATCH," LEANED MORE TOWARD JAZZ THAN OLD-TIME COUNTRY MUSIC.
JUNE: WHOO-HOO!
NARRATOR: CHESTER ATKINS CAME FROM THE REMOTE HOLLOWS OF EAST TENNESSEE, WHERE HE HAD MADE HIS OWN CRYSTAL SET TO HEAR MUSIC ON LOCAL RADIO STATIONS.
PAINFULLY SHY AND SICKLY AS A BOY, HE HAD TAKEN UP THE FIDDLE AND THEN GUITAR, DRAWN TO THE STYLINGS OF JAZZ GUITARIST DJANGO REINHARDT AND THE INFLUENTIAL FINGER PICKING OF KENTUCKY'S MERLE TRAVIS, WHO HAD ESTABLISHED HIMSELF AS A TOP SESSION MUSICIAN ON THE WEST COAST.
JUNE: ♪ I'LL BE BACK SUNDAY ♪ WE ARE FIXING TO HEAR FROM CHESTER ATKINS.
HE'S GONNA INTRODUCE SOME REAL FANCY GUITAR PICKING.
[GUITAR MUSIC] GILL: HE WAS SUCH A STICKLER FOR THE MELODY, WHICH I ALWAYS ADMIRED ABOUT CHET.
YOU ALWAYS COULD HEAR THE MELODY, AND HE WAS NOT THE KIND OF GUITAR PLAYER THAT WAS PLAYING YOU ALL KINDS OF FLASHY STUFF.
HIS--EVERYTHING HE PLAYED, AS HARD AS IT WAS, STILL WAS CENTERED VERY MUCH AROUND THE MELODY.
THERE'S A GREAT STORY ABOUT CHET IN THE DAY WHERE SOME MUSICIAN, THEY WERE WORKING ON SOMETHING, AND THE MUSICIAN SAID, "I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO PLAY HERE, CHET."
CHET JUST SIMPLY SAID, "THE MELODY USUALLY WORKS."
[LAUGHS] NARRATOR: DESPITE HIS VIRTUOSITY, ATKINS HAD BEEN HAVING TROUBLE MAKING A LIVING, BOUNCING FROM ONE RADIO STATION TO ANOTHER, FIRED BECAUSE HIS MUSIC WASN'T CONSIDERED HILLBILLY ENOUGH FOR THEIR AUDIENCES.
HE WAS FEELING DEFEATED WHEN THE CARTER SISTERS AND MOTHER MAYBELLE OFFERED HIM AN EQUAL SHARE OF THEIR RECEIPTS IF HE WOULD BECOME PART OF THEIR ACT.
THE COMBINATION OF HIS BLUESY GUITAR PLAYING, THE CARTERS' FIRM GROUNDING IN TRADITIONAL APPALACHIAN BALLADS, AND JUNE'S EFFERVESCENT PERSONALITY WAS AN IMMEDIATE SUCCESS.
[GUITAR PLAYING] IN 1949, THEY ALL MOVED TO A STATION IN SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI, WHERE THEY BECAME THE FEATURED ATTRACTION ON A NATIONALLY SYNDICATED SHOW SPONSORED BY RED STAR FLOUR.
WHEN THE COMPANY'S SALES INCREASED, ITS MAIN COMPETITOR, THE MARTHA WHITE FLOUR COMPANY, WHICH SPONSORED A SEGMENT ON THE GRAND OLE OPRY, PRESSURED WSM TO FINALLY BRING THE CARTERS TO NASHVILLE.
IT WAS AN OFFER EVERY COUNTRY MUSICIAN DREAMED OF.
BUT THERE WAS A PROBLEM.
THEY WERE TOLD THEY COULDN'T BRING CHET ATKINS WITH THEM.
CARTER CASH: THEY SAID, "PLEASE COME, BUT DON'T BRING THAT GUITAR PLAYER," AND THE REASONING BEHIND THIS, ACCORDING TO MY MOTHER, WAS THAT THE GRAND OLE OPRY WAS CONCERNED THAT CHET WOULD COME TO NASHVILLE AND BASICALLY TAKE OVER.
CARTER: THE OPRY GUYS DIDN'T WANT CHET AROUND BECAUSE HE HAD SOMETHING TO OFFER.
AND HE WAS GOING TO TAKE SOME WORK AWAY FROM THEM.
CARTER CASH: MY GRANDFATHER AND GRANDMOTHER SAID, "THANK YOU VERY MUCH, WE'RE GOING TO STAY IN SPRINGFIELD.
WE'RE NOT INTERESTED IN COMING IF WE CAN'T BRING CHESTER."
NARRATOR: THE OPRY SWEETENED ITS OFFER.
STILL, THE CARTERS HELD OUT.
CARTER: GRANDMA HAD TAKEN CHET KIND OF UNDER HER WING.
AND THE GIRLS, THEY ADORED CHET.
GRANDMA STOOD UP FOR HIM AND SAID, "NO, CHESTER'S COMING."
NARRATOR: WSM FINALLY GAVE IN.
THE CARTER SISTERS AND MOTHER MAYBELLE, WITH CHET ATKINS, DEBUTED ON THE OPRY IN SEPTEMBER 1950.
"THE ROOF," JUNE RECALLED, "CAME OFF THAT BUILDING."
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] NASHVILLE WOULD BECOME THE CARTERS' HOME, AND CHET ATKINS' HOME, TOO.
HE WOULD BECOME ONE OF THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER GUITAR PLAYERS IN MUSIC CITY, JUST AS THE OTHER MUSICIANS HAD FEARED.
WILLIAMS: ♪ HEAR THAT LONESOME WHIP-POOR-WILL... ♪ STUART: SONGWRITING IS THE MOST MYSTERIOUS OF ALL THE TRADES.
IT CANNOT BE EXPLAINED.
THERE'S A CRAFT THAT GOES ALONG WITH IT.
BUT AT THE SAME TIME, IT'S THE DIVINE GIFT.
IT'S THAT THING YOU CAN'T EXPLAIN.
WILLIAMS: ♪ I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY ♪ ♪ I'VE NEVER SEEN... ♪ STUART: I GUESS HE SAID IT BEST WHEN SOMEBODY ASKED HIM, "HANK, HOW DO YOU WRITE THEM OLD SAD SONGS?"
HE SAYS, "HOSS, I DON'T WRITE 'EM.
I JUST HANG ONTO THE PEN AND GOD SENDS THEM THROUGH."
THE WAY I SEE IT, IF YOU'RE COLLABORATING WITH GOD, THE CREATOR, WHO MADE THE MOUNTAINS AND THE STARS AND THE MOON, AND THE SKY, YOU KNOW, A 3-MINUTE COUNTRY SONG IS NOT THAT BIG OF A STRETCH, BUT, UM, THOSE KIND OF SONGS, LIKE "I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY," "YOUR CHEATIN' HEART," UNEXPLAINABLE.
LEE: ♪ CAN YOU HEAR THAT LONESOME WHIP-POOR-WILL?
♪ ♪ HE SOUNDS TOO BLUE TO FLY ♪ NOW, WHAT A LINE IS THAT?
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF A BIRD BEIN' TOO BLUE TO FLY?
APPARENTLY HANK DID.
WILLIAMS: ♪ HAVE YOU SEEN A ROBIN WEEP?
♪ WILLIAMS: HANK WAS SAYING, "HEAR THAT LONESOME WHIP-POOR-WILL.
"HE SOUNDS TOO BLUE TO FLY.
"THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN IS WHINING LOW, I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY."
SO, IT'S THIS STUNNING, BEAUTIFUL, HEARTBREAKING LONELINESS, BUT IT'S-- IT'S SIMPLE ENOUGH ENGLISH, BUT IT'S JUST PUT TOGETHER IN THESE LITTLE, PERFECT LITTLE MAZES OF WORDS THAT JUST CUT RIGHT AT YOUR HEART, YOU KNOW?
WILLIAMS: ♪ ...OF A FALLING STAR ♪ ♪ LIGHTS UP A PURPLE SKY ♪ ♪ AND AS I WONDER WHERE YOU ARE ♪ ♪ I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY ♪ NARRATOR: LIKE JIMMIE RODGERS, HANK WILLIAMS COULD NEITHER READ NOR WRITE MUSICAL NOTATIONS.
BUT HE WAS NOW CRANKING OUT HIT AFTER HIT.
"HIS SECRET," HE SAID, "CAN BE EXPLAINED IN JUST ONE WORD-- SINCERITY."
WILLIAMS: ♪ I WENT DOWN TO THE RIVER ♪ TO WATCH THE FISH SWIM BY... ♪ NARRATOR: MOST OF HIS SONGS WERE HONKY-TONK.
WILLIAMS: ♪ BUT I GOT TO THE RIVER ♪ ♪ SO LONESOME I WANTED TO DIE, OH, LORD... ♪ NARRATOR: AND HE DREW ADORING CROWDS WHEREVER HE WENT.
"HE HELD THEM IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND," ONE OF THE DRIFTING COWBOYS REMEMBERED.
"ONCE HANK WALKED OUT THERE AND CURLED UP AROUND THAT MICROPHONE," HE ADDED, "A NAKED LADY COULD HAVE RODE AN AFRICAN ELEPHANT BEHIND HIM AND WOULDN'T NOBODY HAVE SEEN HER."
CROWELL: MY FATHER'S DREAM IN LIFE WAS THAT HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN HANK WILLIAMS.
HE TOOK ME TO SEE HANK WILLIAMS' NEXT-TO-LAST PERFORMANCE IN HOUSTON.
IT WAS DECEMBER 14, 1952.
WE WENT, AND I WAS ON HIS SHOULDERS, AND I REALLY THINK IT IS MY SECOND MEMORY IN LIFE.
BUT THE MEMORY WAS ALL-- WAS MADE MORE VIVID AND MORE REAL THAT MY FATHER WOULD CONSTANTLY REMIND ME, "DON'T FORGET, I TOOK YOU TO SEE HANK WILLIAMS.
I TOOK YOU TO SEE THE HILLBILLY SHAKESPEARE."
WILLIAMS: ♪ AND NOW ♪ ♪ I'M LONESOME BLUES ♪ NARRATOR: AT THE END OF EACH TOUR, HANK WOULD RETURN WITH A SUITCASE BULGING WITH MONEY THAT HE EMPTIED ONTO THE CASHIER'S COUNTER AT HIS NASHVILLE BANK.
THEN HE AND AUDREY SPENT IT AS FAST AS THEY COULD.
SHE BOUGHT THEM HIS AND HERS CADILLACS.
HE LEFT EXTRAVAGANT TIPS AT RESTAURANTS, SENT MONEY TO PEOPLE WHO WROTE HIM WITH HARD-LUCK STORIES.
TOGETHER, THEY OPENED A CLOTHING STORE IN DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE NEAR ERNEST TUBB'S RECORD STORE.
WILLIAMS WAS CONSTANTLY COMPOSING, WRITING NEW LYRICS WHILE HE TRAVELED-- ON SCRAPS OF PAPER HE STUFFED INTO HIS WALLET, ON HOTEL STATIONERY, EVEN ON THE CARDBOARD THAT CAME WITH HIS PRESSED SHIRTS.
BACKSTAGE AT THE OPRY, WHERE HE AS NOW THE SHOW'S BIGGEST STAR, HE WOULD SOMETIMES TRY OUT A NEW SONG FOR OTHER ARTISTS AND ASK IF THEY WANTED IT.
IF THEY REALLY LIKED IT, HE WOULD USUALLY RECORD IT HIMSELF.
JIMMY DICKENS GOT THE TREATMENT WHEN HE WAS ON TOUR WITH WILLIAMS AND MINNIE PEARL.
DICKENS: HE SAID, "YOU NEED A HIT."
I SAID, "WELL, WHO DOESN'T?"
[LAUGHS] HE SAID, "LET'S JUST WRITE YOU ONE RIGHT NOW.
YOU GOT ANY PAPER?"
AND MINNIE PEARL REACHED IN HER GLOVE COMPARTMENT AND GAVE HIM A LITTLE PAD OF PAPER, AND HE GAVE ME A PEN AND HE SAID, "NOW, WRITE THIS DOWN."
AND HE'D QUOTE ME ONE LINE AT A TIME, ONE LINE AT A TIME.
AND IN 15 MINUTES, HE HAD WRITTEN "HEY, GOOD LOOKIN'."
AND HE SAID, "NOW, YOU RECORD THIS, AND IT'LL MAKE YOU A HIT."
I SAID, "AS SOON AS I CAN GET IN THE STUDIO, IT'LL BE PUT DOWN."
ABOUT A WEEK LATER, HE SAID, "I RECORDED YOUR SONG TODAY."
I SAID, "WHEN IT HITS, YOU'LL KNOW THAT IT'S MINE."
HE SAID IT WITH A SMILE.
MAN: HANK WILLIAMS!
JUNE: GO RIGHT THERE!
COME HERE, HANK.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] JUNE, HONEY, I GOT A SONG I WROTE JUST ESPECIALLY FOR YOU I'M GONNA SING HERE.
JUST FOR YOU.
WHAT IS IT?
IT'S CALLED "HEY, GOOD LOOKIN'."
OHH!
♪ SAID, HEY, GOOD LOOKIN' ♪ ♪ WHATCHA GOT COOKIN'?
♪ ♪ HOW'S ABOUT COOKIN' SOMETHING UP WITH ME?
♪ ♪ SAY, HEY, SWEET BABY ♪ ♪ DON'T YOU THINK MAYBE... ♪ NARRATOR: "HEY, GOOD LOOKIN'" WOULD BE ANOTHER NUMBER-ONE HIT FOR HANK WILLIAMS.
♪ I GOT A HOT ROD FORD AND A $2.00 BILL ♪ ♪ AND I KNOW A SPOT RIGHT OVER THE HILL ♪ ♪ THERE'S SODA POP AND THE DANCIN' IS FREE ♪ ♪ SO IF YOU WANT TO HAVE FUN, COME ALONG WITH ME ♪ ♪ SAY, HEY, GOOD LOOKIN' ♪ ♪ WHATCHA GOT COOKIN'?
♪ ♪ HOW'S ABOUT COOKIN' SOMETHING UP WITH ME?
♪ [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] NARRATOR: IN 1951, WHEN MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA STAGED A HUGE HOMECOMING FOR THEIR FAVORITE SON, 9,000 PEOPLE SHOWED UP.
THE PROGRAM INCLUDED THE CARTER SISTERS AND MOTHER MAYBELLE WITH CHET ATKINS.
MAN: FRIENDS, IT'S TIME ON OUR SHOW... NARRATOR: THAT SAME YEAR, THE MAKERS OF MOTHER'S BEST FLOUR SAW WILLIAMS AS A DRAW FOR THEIR PRODUCTS, AND HE PRE-RECORDED 70 15-MINUTE RADIO SHOWS FOR THEM TO DISTRIBUTE.
BESIDES HIS HITS, AND ALWAYS A HYMN OR GOSPEL SONG, THE BROADCASTS OFTEN INCLUDED RECITATIONS FROM AN ALTER EGO HE CREATED, LUKE THE DRIFTER, WHO DISPENSED MORAL ADVICE HANK WILLIAMS HIMSELF NEVER FOLLOWED.
WILLIAMS: ♪ PRAISE THE LORD, I SAW THE LIGHT... ♪ NARRATOR: AND SOMETIMES, OVER THE OBJECTIONS OF THE BAND, THE SHOWS INCLUDED VOCALS BY AUDREY, WHO, DESPITE HER LIMITED TALENT, SEEMED TO CRAVE THE LIMELIGHT THAT INCREASINGLY FOCUSED ONLY ON HANK.
WILLIAMS: ♪ PRAISE THE LORD, I SAW THE LIGHT ♪ NARRATOR: THOUGH HANK AND AUDREY PRESENTED A PUBLIC IMAGE OF A HAPPY COUPLE, THEIR RELATIONSHIP WAS AS EXPLOSIVE AS EVER, FILLED WITH FIGHTS AND BROKEN FURNITURE.
SHE SUSPECTED HIM OF CHEATING ON HER, AND WHEN HE WAS ON THE ROAD, HE SUSPECTED HER OF THE SAME THING.
KEY: THEY LOVED EACH OTHER.
I THINK THEY TRULY DID LOVE EACH OTHER.
BUT FOR SOME REASON, THEY JUST...
THEY FOUGHT A BATTLE, I THINK, EVERY DAY.
NARRATOR: AFTER A FEW MONTHS OF SOBRIETY, HANK HAD RESUMED HIS BOUTS OF HEAVY DRINKING.
ONCE, WHEN AUDREY HAD LOCKED HIM FROM THEIR HOME, WILLIAMS CHECKED INTO THE TULANE HOTEL AND FELL ASLEEP IN HIS ROOM WITH A LIT CIGARETTE, WHICH STARTED A FIRE THAT RESULTED IN HIM BEING ARRESTED.
OCCASIONALLY, HE TURNED TO MOTHER MAYBELLE.
MY MOTHER WOULD TELL ME THAT HE WOULD COME TO THE HOUSE SOMETIMES, YOU KNOW, LATE AT NIGHT AND WOULD JUST SIT IN THE LIVING ROOM OR IN THE KITCHEN AREA AND HAVE COFFEE AND TALK TO MAYBELLE.
CARTER: THEY WORRIED ABOUT HIM A LOT.
AND THEY'D TRY TO STEAL HIS LIQUOR, POUR IT OUT.
THERE WAS NEVER ANY JUDGMENT THERE.
AND HER DOOR WAS ALWAYS OPEN.
THERE WAS SOME CORNBREAD AND SOME STEW, AND SOME PINTO BEANS WITH A HAM HOCK IN IT, NO MATTER WHAT.
SHE'D FEED YOU AND LIFT YOU BACK UP AND TALK TO YOU AND COUNSEL YOU.
SHE'D JUST LOVE ON YOU UNTIL YOU FELT BETTER.
NARRATOR: WILLIAMS CONTINUED TO POUR HIS TROUBLES INTO HIS SONGS.
WHEN AUDREY REFUSED TO LET HIM KISS HER ONE DAY, HE TOLD THE CHILDREN'S BABYSITTER HIS WIFE HAD A COLD, COLD HEART.
THEN HE SAT DOWN, AND IN AN HOUR WROTE OUT A SONG.
[APPLAUSE] ♪ I TRY SO HARD, MY DEAR, TO SHOW ♪ ♪ THAT YOU'RE MY EVERY DREAM ♪ ♪ YET YOU'RE AFRAID EACH THING I DO ♪ ♪ IS JUST SOME EVIL SCHEME ♪ ♪ THE MEMORY FROM YOUR LONESOME PAST ♪ ♪ KEEPS US SO FAR APART ♪ ♪ WHY CAN'T I FREE YOUR DOUBTFUL MIND ♪ ♪ AND MELT YOUR COLD, COLD HEART?
♪ GILL: I THINK THERE'S SUCH BEAUTY IN THE STORYTELLING AND IN THE LYRICS.
IF YOU HEAR THE WORDS, "WHY CAN'T I FREE YOUR DOUBTFUL MIND AND MELT YOUR COLD, COLD HEART," IF THAT DOESN'T STIR SOMETHING UP IN YOU, THEN WE'LL PASS.
WE'LL JUST--WE'LL JUST LET YOU GO ON BY.
BUT, TO ME, THAT'S AS POETIC AS ANYTHING YOU COULD EVER HEAR.
AND IT'S REAL.
♪ IN ANGER, UNKIND WORDS ARE SAID ♪ ♪ THAT MAKE THE TEARDROPS START... ♪ NARRATOR: AS "COLD, COLD HEART" ROSE IN THE COUNTRY CHARTS, MANY POPULAR ARTISTS, INCLUDING TONY BENNETT, PERRY COMO, DINAH WASHINGTON, AND LOUIS ARMSTRONG, RECORDED THEIR OWN VERSIONS.
STUART: IT WAS SAID ONE TIME THAT HIS SONGS COULD GO TO PLACES THAT HE COULDN'T BECAUSE HE WAS SO PURE AS A COUNTRY BOY AND AS A COUNTRY SINGER.
AND HIS HILLBILLY FENCE MIGHT HAVE STOPPED HIM, BUT THE SONGS COULD GO BEYOND THE FENCE.
NARRATOR: MORE TROUBLES PLAGUED HIM.
HE FELL OFF A STAGE IN CANADA, FURTHER AGGRAVATING HIS CHRONIC BACK PROBLEM AND SENDING HIM TO THE HOSPITAL TO BE FITTED FOR A STEEL AND LEATHER BRACE THAT MADE LIFE ON THE ROAD EXCRUCIATING.
♪ THE MORE WE DRIFT APART... ♪ NARRATOR: OVER CHRISTMAS OF 1951, HE AND AUDREY ARGUED AND FOUGHT FOR A WEEK.
BY NEW YEAR'S EVE, SHE HAD MOVED OUT WITH THE CHILDREN.
10 DAYS LATER, SHE FILED FOR DIVORCE...AGAIN.
♪ ...COLD HEART ♪ [APPLAUSE] WILLIAMS: ♪ AND AS I WONDER... ♪ STUART: I HEARD THIS BEAUTIFUL STORY ABOUT CHARLIE PARKER ONE TIME STANDING IN FRONT OF THE JUKEBOX IN NEW YORK CITY LISTENING TO COUNTRY RECORDS.
AND HIS BUDDIES WERE GOING, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
HE SAYS, "THE STORIES, MAN, IT'S THE STORIES."
LEFTY FRIZZELL: ♪ IF YOU'VE GOT THE MONEY ♪ ♪ I'VE GOT THE TIME ♪ ♪ WE'LL GO HONKY-TONKING, WE'LL HAVE A TIME... ♪ NARRATOR: BY 1952, 1,200 RADIO STATIONS IN EVERY CORNER OF THE NATION WERE DEVOTING AT LEAST TWO HOURS TO COUNTRY AND WESTERN MUSIC EVERY DAY.
HANK WILLIAMS MAY HAVE BEEN THE BEST-KNOWN HONKY-TONK STAR, BUT HE WAS NOT ALONE.
TWO SINGERS FROM THE LOUISIANA HAYRIDE, WEBB PIERCE AND FARON YOUNG, WERE HOPING TO GRADUATE TO THE GRAND OLE OPRY.
FRIZZELL: ♪ THERE AIN'T NO USE TO TARRY ♪ ♪ SO LET'S START OUT TONIGHT ♪ ♪ WE'LL SPREAD JOY, OH, BOY, OH, BOY ♪ ♪ AND WE'LL SPREAD IT RIGHT ♪ ♪ WE'LL HAVE MORE FUN, BABY ♪ ♪ ALL THE WAY DOWN THE LINE ♪ ♪ IF YOU GOT THE MONEY, HONEY ♪ ♪ I'VE GOT THE TIME... ♪ NARRATOR: BUT OF ALL THE RISING HONKY-TONK STARS, NONE WAS CHALLENGING HANK WILLIAMS FOR SUPREMACY MORE THAN LEFTY FRIZZELL FROM CORSICANA, TEXAS, WHO HAD GIVEN UP WORKING OIL RIGS TO SING AND WRITE SONGS.
HAGGARD: A LOT OF PEOPLE REFER TO THAT PERIOD AS THE PERIOD OF HANK AND LEFTY, AND THE JUKEBOX WAS JUST FULL OF LEFTY FRIZZELL AND HANK WILLIAMS.
AND IT WAS A TOSSUP TO WHO WAS THE HOTTEST.
HE RELEASED A SONG CALLED "I LOVE YOU A THOUSAND WAYS," AND THE BACK SIDE OF IT WAS CALLED "IF YOU'VE GOT THE MONEY, I'VE GOT THE TIME."
BOTH OF THEM WENT ON TO BE COUNTRY MUSIC STANDARDS.
THE NEXT 5 RECORDS WERE TREATED THE SAME WAY.
THEY WERE ALL NUMBER-ONE SONGS.
FRIZZELL: ♪...HONEY, I'VE GOT THE TIME ♪ NARRATOR: IN EARLY 1952, A NEW SONG, "THE WILD SIDE OF LIFE," ROCKETED TO THE TOP OF THE COUNTRY AND WESTERN CHARTS.
IT WAS SUNG BY ANOTHER SINGER FROM TEXAS, HANK THOMPSON.
THOMPSON: ♪ THE GLAMOUR OF THE GAY NIGHTLIFE HAS LURED YOU... ♪ NARRATOR: ITS MELODY CAME FROM THE CARTER FAMILY'S "I'M THINKING TONIGHT OF MY BLUE EYES."
THOMPSON: ♪... AND LIQUOR FLOW ♪ ♪ YOU GAVE UP THE ONLY ONE THAT EVER LOVED YOU... ♪ NARRATOR: IT WAS TOLD FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF A HUSBAND WHO BELIEVES HIS WIFE'S ATTRACTION TO THE LOCAL HONKY-TONK HAS RUINED THEIR MARRIAGE.
THOMPSON: ♪ ...OF LIFE ♪ NARRATOR: "THE WILD SIDE OF LIFE" WAS STILL RISING IN THE CHARTS WHEN A NEW SONG WITH THE SAME MELODY CAME OUT AS A DIRECT ANSWER TO IT, SUNG BY KITTY WELLS.
WELLS: ♪ AS I SIT HERE TONIGHT, THE JUKEBOX PLAYING ♪ ♪ THE TUNE ABOUT THE WILD SIDE OF LIFE ♪ ♪ AS I LISTEN TO THE WORDS... ♪ WOMAN: I LIKED THAT SONG BEING THE ANSWER TO HANK THOMPSON'S SONG BECAUSE HE HAD HAD HIS SAY, AND IT WAS REALLY AMAZING THAT KITTY WOULD STAND UP AND HAVE HER SAY.
WELLS: ♪ IT WASN'T GOD WHO MADE HONKY-TONK ANGELS ♪ ♪ AS YOU SAID IN THE WORDS OF YOUR SONG ♪ ♪ TOO MANY... ♪ NARRATOR: "IT'S A SHAME ALL THE BLAME IS ON US WOMEN," SHE SANG.
"TOO MANY TIMES MARRIED MEN THINK THEY'RE STILL SINGLE.
THAT'S CAUSED MANY A GOOD GIRL TO GO WRONG."
WELLS: ♪ TO GO WRONG... ♪ NARRATOR: THE HAPPILY-MARRIED KITTY WELLS WAS NO HONKY-TONK ANGEL.
AFTER SEVERAL UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS AT GOSPEL RECORDINGS, SHE HAD AGREED TO DO THE NEW SONG SIMPLY TO EARN THE SESSION FEE AND HAD NO EXPECTATIONS FOR IT.
BUT HER SONG STRUCK A CHORD IN WOMEN EVERYWHERE.
IT SOON ECLIPSED "THE WILD SIDE OF LIFE" TO BECOME THE FIRST SONG BY A WOMAN TO REACH THE TOP OF BILLBOARD'S COUNTRY AND WESTERN CHART.
WELLS: ♪ IT WASN'T GOD WHO MADE... WOMAN: WOMEN WERE SINGING SONGS FROM A MAN'S POINT OF VIEW.
THEY WERE SINGING WHAT MEN WANTED US TO SING, YOU KNOW, THAT, "I'LL BE HERE, YOU CAN GO DO WHATEVER, BUT I'LL ALWAYS BE HERE WAITING."
WELL, THAT WAS CHANGING, YOU KNOW?
WELLS: ♪ ...CAUSED MANY A GOOD GIRL ♪ ♪ TO GO WRONG ♪ [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] [NEW SONG BEGINS] WILLIAMS: ♪ THE NEWS IS OUT... ♪ NARRATOR: AS HANK AND AUDREY WILLIAMS' SECOND DIVORCE WAS FINALIZED IN 1952, HE ONCE MORE TURNED HIS TROUBLES INTO A SONG.
WILLIAMS: ♪ ...OF RUNNING ROUND... ♪ KEY: "YOU WIN AGAIN."
THAT WAS AN AUDREY SONG.
IT'S A SAD SONG, BUT IT REALLY TELLS A LOT ABOUT HIS LIFE AT THAT POINT.
AND I THINK WHEN HE SPLIT WITH AUDREY, I THINK THAT WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
WILLIAMS: ♪ THIS HEART OF MINE ♪ ♪ COULD NEVER SEE ♪ NARRATOR: WILLIAMS MOVED IN BRIEFLY WITH RAY PRICE, A RISING COUNTRY STAR WHO REMEMBERED HANK CALLING AUDREY EVERY DAY, ONLY TO HAVE HER HANG UP.
WILLIAMS: ♪ JUST TRUSTIN' YOU ♪ ♪ WAS MY GREAT SIN ♪ ♪ WHAT CAN I DO?
♪ ♪ YOU WIN AGAIN ♪ [NEW SONG BEGINS] ♪ OH, PLEASE DON'T LET ME LOVE YOU... ♪ NARRATOR: HE WAS STILL WRITING AND RECORDING HIT AFTER HIT.
WILLIAMS: ♪ I'M FEELING BLUE ♪ ♪ AND PLEASE... ♪ NARRATOR: HIS PUBLISHER REPORTED THAT 89 SONGS THAT WILLIAMS HAD WRITTEN WERE RECORDED IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1952 ALONE.
WILLIAMS: ♪ YOU'LL BE UNTRUE ♪ ♪ BECAUSE YOU'RE SWEET... ♪ NARRATOR: BUT HIS PHYSICAL CONDITION WAS DETERIORATING.
NOTHING EASED HIS CONSTANT BACK PAIN, AND NOW HE ADDED A STEADY MIX OF DRUGS TO COMBAT IT-- AMPHETAMINES TO GET HIMSELF GOING, SEDATIVES TO HELP HIM SLEEP, SOMETIMES MORPHINE TO NUMB THE PAIN.
KEY: THE DRINKING WAS BAD ENOUGH, BUT HE PROGRESSED TO OTHER THINGS.
WILLIAMS: ♪ YOU'LL BE UNTRUE ♪ KEY: I WENT ON OUT TO THE HOUSE, AND HE CAME OUT IN HIS UNDERWEAR, AND HE LOOKED LIKE DEATH EATING A CRACKER.
I MEAN, HE JUST...
IT WAS REALLY, REALLY SAD TO SEE.
NARRATOR: IN A RECORDING SESSION IN NASHVILLE, WILLIAMS WAS SO WEAK, HE WOULD COLLAPSE INTO A CHAIR TO REST BETWEEN TAKES.
AS HE FINISHED THE LAST SONG, "I'LL NEVER GET OUT OF THIS WORLD ALIVE," CHET ATKINS, WHO PLAYED GUITAR IN THE SESSION, REMEMBERED THINKING, "HOSS, YOU AIN'T JIVIN'."
ON TOUR, WILLIAMS CONTINUED DRAWING HUGE CROWDS, THOUGH HE OFTEN WAS DRUNK OR SURLY ON STAGE OR SIMPLY FAILED TO APPEAR.
WILLIAMS: ♪ ...OUT OF THIS WORLD ALIVE... ♪ NARRATOR: IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, WITH RAY PRICE AS THE OPENING ACT, HE HAD TROUBLE REMEMBERING THE LYRICS AND STAYING ON KEY AND WALKED OFF AFTER 3 SONGS, LEAVING PRICE AND THE DRIFTING COWBOYS TO TRY TO APPEASE THE ANGRY CROWD.
AFTER ANOTHER RAGGED PERFORMANCE, A DISGUSTED ROY ACUFF TOLD HIM, "YOU'VE GOT A MILLION-DOLLAR VOICE AND A 10-CENT BRAIN."
WILLIAMS: ♪ ...STRUGGLE AND STRIVE, I'LL NEVER GET OUT... ♪ NARRATOR: AT A CONCERT IN EL PASO, HE WAS IN SUCH BAD SHAPE THAT MINNIE PEARL WAS ASKED TO STAY WITH HIM BETWEEN PERFORMANCES TO MAKE SURE HE DIDN'T MISS THE SECOND SHOW.
SHE TRIED TO BRIGHTEN HIS MOOD BY SINGING "I SAW THE LIGHT."
AND HE PAUSED AND SAID, "MINNIE, THERE AIN'T NO LIGHT."
WILLIAMS: ♪ ...WORLD ALIVE ♪ WILLIAMS, JR.: THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID.
"THERE AIN'T NO LIGHT FOR ME, MINNIE."
NOT A GOOD THOUGHT.
NARRATOR: ON AUGUST 11, 1952, AFTER HEARING REPORTS THAT WILLIAMS WAS DRUNK DURING A SHOW IN PENNSYLVANIA, THE MANAGER OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY CALLED HIM UP AND FIRED HIM.
ON OCTOBER 19th, HE MARRIED 19-YEAR-OLD BILLIE JEAN JONES.
THE CEREMONY TOOK PLACE IN NEW ORLEANS IN AS PUBLIC A MANNER AS POSSIBLE.
FOR TICKETS RANGING FROM $1.00 TO $2.80, PEOPLE COULD ATTEND THE AFTERNOON REHEARSAL OR THE EVENING CEREMONY, COMPLETE WITH A MUSICAL PERFORMANCE.
14,000 FANS ATTENDED.
THEN WILLIAMS WENT BACK ON TOUR FOR THE REMAINDER OF 1952.
STUART: THOSE LAST DAYS MUST HAVE BEEN A PHYSICAL CHALLENGE BECAUSE THE DISEASE OF ALCOHOLISM AND DRUG ADDICTION, ON TOP OF WHATEVER PHYSICAL AILMENTS, AND RIDING UP AND DOWN THE ROAD IN A BACK SEAT OF A CAR TO SING COUNTRY MUSIC WAS NOT A GLAMOROUS LIFE.
SO IT MUST HAVE BEEN JUST A PHYSICAL NIGHTMARE AND A SOUL NIGHTMARE.
WILLIAMS: ♪ I'M A ROLLING STONE... ♪ NARRATOR: HIS HEALTH WORSENED.
CHEST PAINS MADE IT HARD TO CATCH HIS BREATH.
HIS BACK HURT SO MUCH, HE SOMETIMES LAID ON THE FLOORBOARD OF HIS TOURING CAR CRYING.
"EVERY TIME I CLOSE MY EYES," HE SAID, "I SEE JESUS COMIN' DOWN THE ROAD.
HE'S COMIN' AFTER OL' HANK."
WILLIAMS: ♪ ON THE LOST HIGHWAY... ♪ KEY: EVERYBODY WAS GRABBING AT HIM.
EVERYBODY WANTED MONEY, EVERYBODY WANTED THIS, THEY WANTED THAT.
HE HAD THE TASTE OF SUCCESS, AND HE HAD SUCH A FEAR OF LOSING IT THAT I THINK THAT JUST KEPT PULLING HIM AND PULLING HIM.
NARRATOR: FOR A RETAINER OF $300 A WEEK, WILLIAMS BROUGHT ON A QUACK DOCTOR WITH A PHONY DEGREE WHO ADDED A NEW DRUG TO HANK'S BAG OF PILLS-- CHLORAL HYDRATE, PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS WHEN COMBINED WITH ALCOHOL.
WILLIAMS: ♪ OH, THE DAY WE MET... ♪ NARRATOR: ON DECEMBER 30, 1952, WILLIAMS PREPARED TO LEAVE MONTGOMERY FOR TWO SHOWS IN WEST VIRGINIA AND OHIO.
A FREAK WINTER STORM CANCELLED HIS PLANS TO FLY, SO HE HIRED 17-YEAR-OLD CHARLES CARR TO DRIVE HIM IN WILLIAMS' CADILLAC.
THEY STARTED LATE AND MADE SEVERAL STOPS FOR WILLIAMS TO BUY BEER AND FIND A DOCTOR WHO WOULD PROVIDE HIM WITH A SHOT OF MORPHINE BEFORE STOPPING FOR THE NIGHT.
ON THE 31st, THEY SET OUT EARLY.
HANK WAS IN GOOD SPIRITS.
AFTER BREAKFAST, HE BOUGHT A BOTTLE OF BOURBON AND SANG ALONG WITH THE RADIO AT TIMES.
STOPPING IN CHATTANOOGA FOR LUNCH, HE PLAYED TONY BENNETT'S VERSION OF "COLD, COLD HEART" ON THE JUKEBOX AND LEFT A $50 TIP.
WILLIAMS: ♪ I WAS JUST A LAD... ♪ NARRATOR: IT WAS SNOWING WHEN THEY REACHED KNOXVILLE AND LEARNED THAT THE FIRST SHOW, SCHEDULED FOR THAT NIGHT IN CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA, HAD BEEN CANCELLED, AND THEY WERE TO PROCEED DIRECTLY TO CANTON, OHIO.
WILLIAMS: ♪ NOW I'M LOST TOO LATE... ♪ NARRATOR: HANK PERSUADED A DOCTOR TO GIVE HIM TWO MORE SHOTS OF MORPHINE BEFORE THEY DEPARTED AT 10:45 P.M. WILLIAMS: ♪ ON THE LOST HIGHWAY... ♪ NARRATOR: WILLIAMS WAS LYING DOWN IN THE BACK SEAT, COVERED BY HIS OVERCOAT AND A BLANKET, AS THEY HEADED FOR CANTON.
HE NEVER MADE IT.
SOMEWHERE ON THE MOUNTAIN ROADS BETWEEN BRISTOL, TENNESSEE AND OAK HILL, WEST VIRGINIA, IN THE EARLY HOURS OF JANUARY 1, 1953, HANK WILLIAMS, THE HILLBILLY SHAKESPEARE, DIED IN THE BACK SEAT OF HIS CAR.
HE WAS 29 YEARS OLD.
[MUSIC PLAYING ON RADIO] FOSTER: THERE WAS A RADIO BEHIND THE COUNTER PLAYING A HANK WILLIAMS SONG.
SO I ORDERED MY BREAKFAST, AND THE DJ COMES IN AND SAID, "WELL, THERE HE IS, FOLKS, THE LATE AND GREAT HANK WILLIAMS."
SO, I SAID TO THE WAITRESS, "WHAT?
IS HANK WILLIAMS DEAD?"
AND SHE SAID, "OH, YEAH.
HAVEN'T YOU HEARD?
HE'S DEAD."
AND I WEPT.
I COULDN'T HELP IT, 'CAUSE THERE WAS A LOSS, MAN, FOR ALL MANKIND, I THOUGHT.
NARRATOR: ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 20,000 MOURNERS GATHERED OUTSIDE MONTGOMERY'S MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM FOR THE FUNERAL OF HANK WILLIAMS, THE LARGEST CROWD IN THE CITY'S HISTORY SINCE THE DAY JEFFERSON DAVIS WAS INAUGURATED AS PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERACY IN 1861.
ONLY 2,750 COULD FIT INSIDE, INCLUDING 200 AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO FILLED THE SEGREGATED BALCONY, AS HIS OPEN CASKET WAS PLACED AT THE FOOT OF THE STAGE, FLANKED BY FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS IN THE SHAPE OF A GUITAR.
ERNEST TUBB COMFORTED LILLIE WILLIAMS IN THE AUDIENCE, THEN SANG A HYMN WITH THE DRIFTING COWBOYS.
RED FOLEY PERFORMED "PEACE IN THE VALLEY," AND ROY ACUFF JOINED HIM AND CARL SMITH AND WEBB PIERCE TO SING "I SAW THE LIGHT," WHILE LITTLE JIMMY DICKENS, JUNE CARTER, AND BILL MONROE SAT WITH THE CROWD.
THE SOUTHWIND SINGERS SANG AN OLD GOSPEL HYMN.
THEN WILLIAMS WAS LAID TO REST IN OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
["YOUR CHEATIN' HEART" PLAYING] WILLIAMS: ♪ YOUR CHEATING HEART ♪ ♪ WILL MAKE YOU WEEP ♪ ♪ YOU'LL CRY AND CRY ♪ ♪ AND TRY TO SLEEP ♪ ♪ BUT SLEEP WON'T COME... ♪ NARRATOR: "YOUR CHEATIN' HEART," RELEASED AFTER HIS DEATH, WOULD GO ON TO BECOME ONE OF HIS BEST-KNOWN SONGS, AND FOR MANY PEOPLE DEFINE COUNTRY MUSIC.
MAN: I LOVED HANK WILLIAMS.
WILLIAMS: ♪ WHEN TEARS COME DOWN... ♪ MAN: HE HAD HIS HEART AND HIS SOUL INTO EVERY WORD.
EMOTIONALLY, IT MOVED YOU.
AND IT'S STILL THE SAME.
I STILL LOVE TO HEAR HIS RECORDS.
I WISH THAT HE'D LIVED TO BE AS OLD AS I AM, 'CAUSE I KNOW THERE WAS A LOT OF GREAT SONGS IN THERE.
WILLIAMS: ♪ YOUR CHEATIN' HEART WILL TELL ON YOU... ♪ GILL: WHAT I LOVED ABOUT HANK WILLIAMS WERE THOSE SONGS AND THE WAY HE MADE YOU FEEL HOW MUCH HE MUST HAVE HURT.
WILLIAMS: ♪ ...AND CALL MY NAME ♪ ♪ YOU'LL WALK THE FLOOR... ♪ GILL: I WAS ALWAYS DRAWN TO THE MELANCHOLY ONES MORE THAN THE FUN ONES-- "YOUR CHEATIN' HEART," "I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY."
WILLIAMS: ♪ ...WILL TELL ON YOU ♪ YOU CAN'T SAY IT ANY MORE PLAIN OR ANY MORE POETIC THAN "I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY."
WILLIAMS: ♪ HEAR THAT LONESOME WHIP-POOR-WILL ♪ ♪ HE SOUNDS TOO BLUE TO FLY ♪ ♪ OH, THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN IS WHINING LOW ♪ ♪ I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY ♪ WILLIAMS: ♪ I'VE NEVER SEEN A NIGHT SO LONG ♪ ♪ WHEN TIME GOES CRAWLIN' BY ♪ ♪ THE MOON JUST WENT BEHIND THE CLOUDS ♪ ♪ TO HIDE ITS FACE AND CRY ♪ NARRATOR: NEXT TIME ON "COUNTRY MUSIC"... BOBBY BRADDOCK: THERE WAS A SAYING--"THE BLUES HAD A BABY AND THEY CALLED IT ROCK AND ROLL"--AND I ALWAYS SAID, "YEAH, AND I THINK THE DADDY WAS THE HILLBILLY."
NARRATOR: TWO NEW CAREERS ARE LAUNCHED IN MEMPHIS... MARTY STUART: WHEN IT COMES TO MUSIC, MEMPHIS HAS ALWAYS HAD A LITTLE MORE SOUL.
IT'S IN THE GUMBO DOWN THERE.
NARRATOR: AND TWO LEGENDARY WOMEN COME TO NASHVILLE... TRISHA YEARWOOD: WHEN YOU HEAR HER SING, YOU FEEL THE EMOTION IN EVERY LYRIC.
NARRATOR: WHEN "COUNTRY MUSIC" CONTINUES.
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TO ORDER KEN BURNS' "COUNTRY MUSIC" ON DVD OR BLU-RAY OR THE COMPANION BOOK, VISIT SHOPPBS OR CALL 1-800-PLAY-PBS.
THE 5-DISC CD SET IS ALSO AVAILABLE.
THIS PROGRAM IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO.
♪ ♪ ♪ THE SILENCE OF A FALLEN STAR ♪ ♪ LIGHTS UP A PURPLE SKY ♪ ♪ AND AS I WONDER WHERE YOU ARE ♪ ♪ I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY ♪