Arena: The Big Bang

The first of four programmes exploring roots music in the US, beginning with the birth of country music and urban blues in the 1920s. As record sales rose in the early days of radio, companies began exploring rural areas in search of new artists. The programme features early recordings by Appalachian country music pioneers the Carter Family and Will Shade and The Memphis Jug Band, whose music prefigured modern rap and RnB. Narrated by Robert Redford