Country Music, Episode 4

Episode four is full of developments, though most aren't all that earth shattering. Hank Williams lit up the sky like a meteor and crashed to earth as quickly, leaving a void in his wake. Elvis Presley merged all the forms of American music he knew, just as country music had in its beginnings. But Presley ultimately leads to a completely new musical genre rather than another branch in the country tree. The popular audience starts to fragment, and with the country audience shrinking, the Bradleys and Chet Atkins commercialize the whole Nashville operation in search of hits. The Nashville sound is born. The best country music of this period comes from two utterly amazing singers - but one of them, Ray Charles, is just visiting and the other, Patsy Cline, dies in a plane crash with her career barely underway. Despite all this, there's "Long Black Veil." It was a brand new song in 1959, but it sounded at least 100 years old. It had everything - sin, death, judgement, a ghost, grief, secrets and a melody that no one could ever forget. She walks these hills...