The 47th Annual Country Music Awards will take place tonight in Nashville, hosted by Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley. The show will feature presenters such as Lucy Hale of Pretty Little Liars and the women of Duck Dynasty, performances such as Taylor Swift with Alison Krauss, Tim McGraw, Hunter Hayes with Jason Mraz, and the Zac Brown Band with Dave Grohl. There will also be a tribute bands formed to honor the legend of George Jones, who died last April, and the 75-yearr-old Kenny Rogers, who was just inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In honor of this event, the longest-running annual music awards show on network television, you may have a taste for the deeply American genre’s history. Here’s a list for a mini-marathon (all free to watch now via FilmOn):
Carrie Underwood – All American Girl: Unauthorized Biography (2012)--This is is an interesting, if light, look at the life of the 47th CMA co-host and Billboard’s ‘Top Female artist of the 2000’s’.
Bill Monroe – The Father of Bluegrass Music (1999) The late Monroe is simply spectacular, star-studded interviews and performances, yet a laid-back, down-home tone, fantastic insights and asides(the ‘brother harmony’ timeline, ‘hat-acts’…). The past that became the future, yet was always now.
Legends In The Heart of Country (2005) This documentary has geat ‘70’s-style country performances and looks at Nashville’s Church Street Station, notably the late George Jones (rocking some serious ‘burns), Tanya Tucker (performing “Delta Dawn”), Elvis’ former backup singers The Jordanaires, the Osmonds, and the Bellamy Brothers (who perform “Let Your Love Flow”).
And heading in from left field, to take you back out again:
Leonard Cohen’s Lonesome Heroes (2010)— Another great profile of a musical icon, this documentary is notable for, among many interesting moments, e for its revealing of Cohen’s ‘country side,’ stretching back to his early performer days as a ‘Buckskin Boy’, and evident in his choice of recording site for his second and third albums. Great clip of ‘influence’ Hank Snow performing “Movin’ On” (also famously covered by Elvis on his Memphis Record).
All hopes for a great award show and a wild hoedown after-rave with Big Kenny…
The CMA Awards air on ABC at 8pm, Nov. 6. To see if the show is available to watch via FilmOn in your area click here.
Related Links:
Carrie Underwood’s The Sound of Music is making fans freak (in a bad way)
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Jimi Hendrix: Newly discovered footage to air on PBS’ American Masters’ Hear My Train A Comin’
