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Music Will Get Through (1973-1983)

Bluegrass retained a strong core of avid fans during the 1970s, while in Austin, Texas, Willie Nelson discovered a new music scene where hippies and rednecks seemed to get along.

Though no longer heard on country radio for much of the 1970s and early 1980s, bluegrass still had a strong core of avid fans. Marty Stuart toured with Lester Flatt and sometimes with the ‘father of bluegrass’, Bill Monroe.

Back in his home state of Texas, Willie Nelson discovered a new music scene in Austin, where a mixture of hippies and rednecks seemed to get along and welcomed offbeat artists like Nelson, whose music became a hit.

Ricky Skaggs had deep bluegrass credentials, but his time with Emmylou Harris’s Hot Band inspired him to experiment with a sound combining the acoustic instruments of a string band with something more electric. Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings launched the ‘Outlaw’ movement, and Emmylou Harris bridged folk and rock with country music in a way that influenced a new generation of artists.

51 minutes

Music Played

  • Johnny Cash, The Tennessee Two

    The Wreck of The Old Ninty Seven

  • Paul Henning

    The Beverly Hillbillies

  • Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and The Foggy Mountain

    Foggy Mountain Breakdown

  • Lester Flatt and The Nashville Grass

    Shuckin' The Corn

  • Willie Nelson

    Whiskey River

  • Willie Nelson

    Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain

  • Willie Nelson

    Red Headed Stranger

  • Waylon Jennings

    Honky Tonk Heroes

  • Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson

    A good hearted Woman

  • Willie Nelson

    Stardust

  • Johnny Cash

    Orange Blossom Special

  • Bobby Bare

    Five Hundred Miles Away From Home

  • Rosanne Cash

    Baby, Better Start Turnin' Em Down

  • Rosanne Cash

    Seven Year Ache

  • George Jones

    I Just Don't Give a Damn

  • George Jones

    Two Story House (Album Version)

  • George Jones

    He Stopped Loving Her Today

  • Willie Nelson

    Pancho and Lefty (Album Version)

  • Dolly Parton

    Jolene

Credit

Role Contributor
Director Ken Burns

Broadcasts