Country Music By Ken Burns – BBC4

Hank Williams Country Music By Ken Burns

(Image credit: BBC/PBS/Les Leverett Collections)

This week’s Country Music by Ken Burns on BBC4 looks at post-war country and the life and music of the Hillbilly Shakespeare Hank Williams

‘I don’t write them, I just hang on to the pen and God sends them through,’ Hank Williams allegedly said when asked how he wrote such beautiful songs. This first episode in a double-bill of BBC4’s Country Music By Ken Burns celebrates the music of the man also known as the Hillbilly Shakespeare, because his songs resonated with people in a way country music had never done before.

A heavy drinking habit and a turbulent marriage gave Hank plenty of material for his songs, but didn’t make for a very stable or happy home life.

Chet Atkins and the Carters Country Music By Ken Burns — Chet Atkins and the Carter Family, as seen on BBC4’s Country Music By Ken Burns

Featuring interviews with musicians, historians, friends and Hank’s son and granddaughter, this is a comprehensive insight into one of the greats of country music.

For full listings, see our TV Guide.

TV Times rating: ***

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Joanne Lowles has been writing about TV since 2002. After graduating from Cardiff University with a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism, she worked for All About Soap magazine covering the ups and downs of life on the cobbles, the square and the Dales.

Next came nearly 10 years at TV Times magazine as a writer and then deputy features editor. Here she spent many happy days interviewing the biggest names in entertainment and visiting the sets of some of our most popular shows including Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife and Strictly Come Dancing.

With a love of nature and wildlife she’s also interviewed the leading experts in this area including David Attenborough, Chris Packham and Steve Backshall. She’s also travelled the world visiting Mongolia, Canada and South Africa to see how the best in the business make the most brilliant natural history documentaries.

Freelance since 2013, she is now is a digital writer and editor for What to Watch, previews the best on the box for TV Times mag each week and loves being constantly surprised, entertained and informed by the amazing TV that she is lucky enough to watch.