What am I Doing Here?

Where's my banjo?

Tonight is hopefully the last in 16 parts of a Country and Western series by Ken Burns. It was a pretty deep examination of the history of what we now call Americana (?) but I will still call it C & W.
I did not know the beginnings of this genre of music. I just thought that it was Hillbilly or mishmash of people who lived only in the country.
Yes part of that is true. These were poor people who came from all walks of life. Most of them were southerners. The songs were unsophisticated to me. I would prefer to play and/or listen to classical music. But now that I think about this, my classical music, written by giants such as Mozart, Brahms, Wagner, and more was older. But it was played for royalty. It was on paper. It made sense to me.
There were also some great religious music. Choirs sang these songs at weddings, funerals and holidays of the Christian religion. (Messiah) It was played on the organ or a cappella. Sometimes other instruments were used. It was my kind of music.
Back to C & W in which the earlier tunes came from religious song. (Let the Circle Be Unbroken.) People also added things from their culture such as yodeling. And the basic instrument was a stringed kind such as mandolin, harp, guitar and later the banjo. These people, including women were outstanding
The songs that took from religious ones were also the kind that told of sorrow as well as happiness.
I could go on and on but this was a long show. Stan and I have sat tjhrough 8 nights of 2 hour parts. I do wish that the shows were only 1 hour, but I am not Ken Burns. I do hope that tonight was the last but it may not be.
I am saying this because this series of the history of C & W made a great impression on Stan. He enjoyed every minute of it. He has looked up some of the songs. He knew many of the singers that I did not.
The only thing I will close with is that many of the earlier artists died young because they did some drugs or drank a lot. A few were in bad accidents. (airplane crashes) Some went on to will awards and get nice contracts. This kind of work was not for the feint of heart. I do think the I should show more respect to those I have learned about and enjoy more those I know.
Both men and women, young and old, created a part of history that will be looked at and listened to for a long time.
Hurrah for 'The Grand Ole Oprea and C & W. Oh last thing many stars came from Texas and Oklahoma. I'm happy to know that.
Nighty Night! YEEE HAW!