THIS SEPTEMBER PBS DISTRIBUTION RELEASES COUNTRY MUSIC FROM KEN BURNS, CHRONICLING THE HISTORY OF THIS UNIQUELY AMERICAN ART FORM

THIS SEPTEMBER PBS DISTRIBUTION RELEASES  COUNTRY MUSIC FROM KEN BURNS, CHRONICLING THE HISTORY OF  THIS UNIQUELY AMERICAN ART FORM 
 DVD and Blu-ray Feature Over 3 Hours of Extra Bonus Footage Not Airing During Broadcast

Arlington, VA – July 30, 2019 – This September, PBS Distribution will release COUNTRY MUSIC,  a film by director and producer Ken Burns, on DVD/Blu-ray/Digital coinciding with the national broadcast on PBS. In this new landmark documentary series, Ken Burns chronicles the history of a uniquely American art form, country music. Starting from its early days in the 1920s and following it through the mid-1990s, Burns takes viewers on a compelling journey of “America’s Music.” The DVD and Blu-ray include over 3 hours of extra bonus footage that will not be airing, including a behind-the-scenes look at how the film was made and additional material gleaned from hours of interviews. Information about the program is listed below.  Country Music: A Film by Ken Burns





The series focuses on the personal stories of the fascinating characters who created and shaped the genre – from the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Bill Monroe and Bob Wills, to Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Charley Pride, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Garth Brooks and many more — as well as the times and places in which they lived. Much like the music itself, the film tells unforgettable stories of hardships and joys shared by everyday people.   Country Music digs deep to uncover the roots of the music, including ballads, minstrel music,hymns and the blues, and its early years in the 1920s, when it was first recorded and called “hillbilly music.” It then shows how the music sprouted many new branches during the twentieth century: Western swing and singing cowboys, bluegrass and honky tonk, rockabilly and the "outlaws," the smooth Nashville Sound and harder-edged Bakersfield Sound, and many others––showing that country music never was just one style but a broad American mixture that became a major cultural force.

Street Date: September 17, 2019 Run Time: 16 hours on 8 discs SPR: DVD $99.99 Blu-ray $129.99 Format:  DVD, Blu-ray, Digital Genre: Arts: Music: Country
Country Music is a production of Florentine Films and WETA, Washington, DC. Directed by Ken Burns, written by Dayton Duncan, and produced by Duncan, Julie Dunfey and Burns. 


About WETA WETA Washington, DC, is one of the largest producing stations of new content for public television in the United States. WETA productions and co-productions include PBS NewsHour, Washington Week, The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize, The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, Latino Americans and The Italian Americans; documentaries by filmmaker Ken Burns, including The Civil War, Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, Mark Twain, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea and The Dust Bowl; and productions by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., including Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Seasons Three-Five) and Reconstruction: America After the Civil War. Sharon Percy Rockefeller is president and CEO. The WETA studios and administrative offices are located in Arlington, Virginia. More information on WETA and its programs and services is available at www.weta.org. On social media, visit www.facebook.com/wetatvfm on Facebook or follow @WETAtvfm on Twitter. 

About PBS Distribution PBS Distribution is a leading distributor of public media content around the world, reaching audiences through multiple platforms and formats including direct-to-consumer subscription video-on-demand (DTC-SVOD), transactional video-on-demand (TVOD), subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) licensing, and physical products on DVD and Blu-ray. In addition, the company operates three streaming channels — PBS MASTERPIECE, PBS KIDS, and PBS LIVING — all on Amazon Prime Video Channels, with PBS LIVING also available on the Apple TV App. Other divisions of the company include: theatrical releasing, educational, nontheatrical, inflight and international licensing businesses.   PBS Distribution offers consumers and educators the highest quality factual, scripted and children’s programming, including films from producer Ken Burns, hit dramas from MASTERPIECE, entertaining and educational children’s series and award-winning documentaries from NOVA, FRONTLINE, AMERICAN MASTERS, NATURE, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and many independent producers. For over 20 years, the company has extended the reach of programming beyond broadcast while generating revenue for the public television system, stations and producers. Follow PBS Distribution on Facebook and Twitter.