Ken Burns' 'Country Music': George Jones, Kris Kristofferson and 'The Circle'

Episode 6 of Ken Burns' "Country Music" begins in 1968 — a time when "America was more divided than it had ever been since the Civil War," narrates Peter Coyote, and country music was not immune.

But in these divided times, outliers found a voice in the genre. Bluegrass traditionalists found unlikely allies, and a new country music power couple emerged. 

George Jones

"I always say George didn't sing country songs," Brenda Lee says. "George was a country song."

The country legend's childhood was marred by poverty and an abusive father. Hard liquor turned Jones' dad "uncontrollably violent." He would often come home late at night and pull Jones out of bed to sing for him, "belt-whipping the boy if he hesitated," Coyote narrates.

"George would perform with tears streaming down his face."

Jones' talent would soon set him free. By his mid-teens, he'd dropped out of school and was singing in local bars for tips and free beer. 

Over the next decade, he'd work his way through a few record deals, two marriages and a soon-to-be-infamous drinking habit. Jones ultimately topped the charts in 1959 with his breakout hit "White Lightning."

Of course, he was just getting started. Producer Pappy Daily helped him find his own unmistakable voice on 1962's "She Thinks I Still Care."

Tammy Wynette

After his second marriage dissolved in 1968, Jones, now 37, moved from Texas to Nashville, and vowed to stay single until he was 69. 

That lasted less than one year, "Country Music" points out. Instead, he married Tammy Wynette, another remarkable singer who'd also been married twice before. 

Also, her personal life "seemed just as fragile and tormented as her new husband's," narrates Coyote. 

Born in Mississippi and raised by her grandparents, Wynette was first married at 17. By 23, she was divorced, raising three daughters. In 1966, they all moved to Nashville, where soon, Wynette was signed by producer/songwriter Billy Sherrill.

By 1968, Wynette was a sensation, topping the charts with "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and "Stand By Your Man." She got to know Jones — her longtime idol — as they shared concert bills together. One year later, they were married, and touring together in a bus with the words "Mr. and Mrs. Country Music." 

Kris Kristofferson

A Rhodes Scholar, Army captain and instructor at West Point — and a future country music giant.

But in his earliest days in Nashville, Kris Kristofferson just appeared to be the janitor at Nashville Columbia Recording Studio, one who'd occasionally slip lyric sheets and demo recordings to the clients.

When he opted to abandon his promising military career to pursue his music dreams, he ended up getting divorced, and "disowned" by his mother. 

After four years of rubbing elbows with the likes of Johnny Cash, Kristofferson finally got his break. In 1969, Music Row great Fred Foster didn't just sign him to the songwriting deal he was hoping for, he insisted he record his original songs for his own album.

Looking back on Kristofferson's audition, Foster said, "I thought, honestly, before he finished those four songs that I was hallucinating. I said, 'There's no way anybody can be this great. My God, what is this?'"

Foster also gave Kristofferson the seed for his classic "Me and Bobby McGee" after meeting a secretary named Barbara McKee.

Later in the episode, we learn that a brutal hangover was actually "a blessing" for Kristofferson, as it, and his feelings of isolation, were chronicled in his masterpiece "Sunday Morning Coming Down."

Bluegrass creates 'its own world'

Among the divisions country music saw in the '60s: the "phasing out" of bluegrass music from country radio playlists, explains WSM's Eddie Stubbs.

"The music was changing in a big time way, and if you had an acoustic band like the Stanley Brothers being played back-to-back with a record by Skeeter Davis, say, 'The End of The World,' with the voices and the strings? I mean, it was a head-on collision. The program director would come in and say, 'What in the world was that ... no more bluegrass. We don't want any of that.'" 

But in the midst of the '60s folk revival, bluegrass was embraced by a new audience: middle-class college students. Soon, bluegrass festivals were sprouting up across the country — a circuit that kept "many string bands afloat," Coyote narrates. 

"Bluegrass began to create its own world," says historian Bill C. Malone.

And even with two huge mainstream moments for Flatt and Scruggs — the "Beverly Hillbillies" theme and the use of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" in the 1967 film "Bonnie and Clyde" — bluegrass musicians kept waiting for a breakthrough year that never came, explains John McEuen.

"The thing about bluegrass is, it's always been big," he says.

'Will The Circle Be Unbroken'

It's been 84 years since The Carter Family reworked the hymn "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" and created country music's eternal theme song.

“That song really encompasses what country music is all about because of how timeless it is. It changes, but in a way, it doesn’t change at all," says Trisha Yearwood.

"It starts off with someone who is dead and being buried and carried away. It’s not like an uplifting, positive song, although it is. Because how sad this moment is, but there’s a better home awaiting. It is a song about sadness, hope, redemption, love. It’s about how we’re all gonna be together. You never, ever hear that song without a chorus of people singing it."

“That’s the way I’ve seen life work. I’ve really seen it work in circles," adds Vince Gill.

"...The music comes back around. Maybe a stretch will go through where it’s not as traditional as you would like, and then it’ll find its way back to it.”

'Country Music' Episode 6 soundtrack

1. "Stand by Your Man" by Tammy Wynette
2. "She Thinks I Still Care" by George Jones
3. "You Ain’t Going Nowhere" by The Byrds
4. "Me and Bobby McGee" by Kris Kristofferson
5. "Help Me Make It Through the Night" by Sammi Smith
6. "Sunday Morning Coming Down" by Kris Kristofferson
7. "Okie from Muskogee" by Merle Haggard and the Strangers
8. "Man in Black" by Johnny Cash
9. "Girl from the North Country" by Bob Dylan with Johnny Cash
10. "Grand Ole Opry Song" by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
11. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

'Country Music' recaps 

Episode one:  The cultural 'Rub' that sparked an American sound

Episode two:  Surviving 'Hard Times' with a little help from radio

Episode three:  The heartbreaking loss of Hank Williams that still hurts today

Episode four:  The rise of Cash and Elvis, and Patsy Cline's tragic death

Episode five: Cash meets Dylan, Dolly heads to Nashville and the Bakersfield sound arrives