Documentary Watch- PBS: In Their Own Words- Chuck Berry

PBS recently did a Chuck Berry episode of their In Their Own Words show. I suspect it’s as a good of a telling of the Berry story as anything out there. Berry, of course the hero and villain of his story. His notorious problems got him in legal trouble. But he was the architect of rock n roll, one of America’s premier art forms and I suspect his life would have been different if he was white like Elvis. He was notoriously hard to work with and he valued making money over all other pursuits. One of the most interesting appearances is Keith Richards who ends up saving Berry from himself when he finally gets a proper tribute in the Hail Hail Rock N Roll film. Another revelation is that Berry’s classic song streak ends when he leaves Chess (and his production and studios) for the bigger label. I’m not familiar with this series, which implies that it is mainly from the artist’s mouth. Instead, some great interviews from Berry’s wife, Richards, Robert Cray and other important people in his life. This would not be a bad spot to start if you wanted a brief bio of Berry. It’s all here- prison, the difficult artist who expected every musician to know how to play his music, the ambitious performer who took over Johnnie Johnson’s band. The doc won’t change your mind on Berry, though it does seem to confirm that most of us can forgive the stereotypical difficult artist, and Berry is that on all accounts. But he’s also history- it’s hard to say there is a Beatles or Stones without Chuck. Before Berry, there was Country and Blues, but after Chuck, there’s Rock n Roll. Ironically, although I lived in the St Louis area for many years, I never saw Berry at his famous Blueberry Hill residence, but I did see eventually see him elsewhere at age 82. I won’t deny the criticism that came with live Berry- forgetful and a bit out of place, in unforgiving surroundings. That said, I suspect I will be that way at that age too, and Chuck had energy in abundance enough to still put on a worthwhile show.