Ken Burns has earned a reputation for chronicling all things American with his many documentary series produced for Public Television.  He has produced hours of content on subjects like Baseball, Jazz, the Civil War, the Vietnam War and many others.

I have been recording each episode of his latest series, all about country music.  He devoted several minutes to the legendary Roy Acuff.  That got me thinking back.

To be totally honest, I have never liked country music much.  I was even a country music disc jockey back in the 1970s while going to college, playing the country tunes in order to make a little extra money.  But the music, with a few isolated exceptions, never did much for me.

However, my Dad loved country music.  Anytime I was in the car with him, he had the local country radio station tuned-in.  It drove me crazy, but, hey, he was my Dad, so I tolerated it.

For years, I never understood why Dad was such a country music fan.  It wasn’t until many years later when we were talking, that I finally understood.

My father was part of a large farm family just south of Loogootee in southwest Indiana.  Life on the farm was hard, very hard.  The days were long and the work often backbreaking.

My dad did look forward to one event every week.  The family gathered around the radio, tuned into radio station WSM in Nashville, Tennessee every Saturday night and listened to the Grand Ole Opry.

The Burns documentary series on country music explores all the old barn dance live performances on radio stations throughout the nation, but the Grand Ole Opry was the biggest and remains a Saturday night radio event to this day.

Watching this documentary, I envisioned the millions of families all around the nation, tuning into the 50,000 watt power of WSM radio (which covers most of America) just like my Dad’s family, working hard, not exactly prosperous, but having that big night, Saturday, listening to the Grand Ole Opry.

When my father was in hospice care 25 years ago, we asked him what music he wanted.  We didn’t really need to ask.  He listened to the greatest hits of Roy Acuff.  I lost count of how many times he listened to The Great Speckled Bird and the Wabash Cannon Ball.

Burns documents that Acuff didn’t have much of a singing voice and was an average musician at best, but he put so much emotion and feeling into every performance, audiences adored him.  I think that’s why my Dad loved his music so much.

I have this vision in my head of my Dad and Roy Acuff in heaven singing the Wabash Cannot Ball.  That would certainly be heaven for my Dad.

There are still important television programs only an outlet like Public Broadcasting is capable of producing, such as Ken Burns’ Country Music series.  Thanks, Ken Burns and PBS, for bringing back some wonderful memories of my father.