Posted by Robert Wagner on April 18, 2026, 8:35 am
August 4, 2019, I started a thread on this forum expressing my concerns that Jim Reeves music and history would be completely ignored or slighted, in the upcoming Ken Burns Country Music Documentary.
It turns out my suspicions were correct.
Later investigation revealed that one of the contributors to the documentary was Marty Stewart who proved himself, not to be a Jim Reeves fan, in voice overs in later releases of various "examples" of Country Music. Those comments minimized Jim Reeves and promoted lesser artists.
There was a thread in this forum covering this finding as well.
Burns, who fancies himself an "expert" on everything, received his "higher education" at Hampshire College in Amherst Massachusetts.
Hampshire College is a radically liberal institution with questionable values, and teaching methods. They have made nationwide news in the past, for their anti police and other anti establishment views.
Burns has almost single handedly supported Hampshire College monetarily, whose student population is historically miniscule.
The party is over for this scam institution. A recent news release reports that this is Hampshire College's last semester. They report having 600 students, but I think 6 would be more accurate.
The reason I post this is because Burns did a tune on Jim Reeves legacy with a faulty substandard documentary which accurately reflects the substandard education he received from, a flawed institution he promoted to this day, as well as his "knowledge" and "expertise".
Thank you Bob for your re-visit to the troubling mess of a so called Documentary on Country Music.
Always painful to just imagine how much of a missed opportunity this turned out to be. But for the fact that Burns was in charge, pulling all the wrong strings, too many times to comprehend. How could anyone, who did produce past documentaries garnering acceptance, mess up so bad on this one. That, to me, will always be the question never answered.
If I recall correctly, I believe Jim Reeves got 91 seconds of air time, but the top dog of course was Johnny cash at 22 minutes. I will always refer to that episode as the Johnny Cash Show. Yes Cash was good at what he did, but NOT to the degree that others were virtually ignored.
The saddest part is realizing this will be, unfortunately view by a younger audience as an accurate portrayal of the History of Country Music. So very sad ....
I blame a lot of the presentation on the influence of Marty Stewart, who appears to be considered a Country Music "Historian" of sorts. Burns apparently relied heavily on his input.
As you point out, Johnny Cash, and George Jones also, get recognition beyond what I believe is deserved, by these "historians". I am not denigrating them, they had good songs, but they simply are not in Jim's class.
Accordingly, I will never understand how the Beatles got such monumental status also with some good songs, but not that great sound. I might be in a minority here.
Lastly, on the day you posted this, local talk radio "The Howie Carr Show" (GREAT BY THE WAy) had some nutty professor from Hampshire College on the air speaking about the closing of the institution.
He described some useless curriculums, with no possibility of a future or career, or success in life, for the tuition of about $80,000.00 per year. Four years of partying.
Burns monetary support for Hampshire College by his success, which has to be an anomaly, and not the norm, was discussed on the radio. Burns questionable current mindset was also mentioned.
Like you report, this "Documentary", was not just substandard, but actually damaging to the History of Country Music, and to Jim Reeves especially.
We very much seem to have similar experiences and conclusions. Validating for me.
on April 18, 2026, 8:35 am