Bluegrass film/movie news Archives - Page 3 of 23

James Reams: Like A Flowing River – A Bluegrass Passage coming to Amazon

The 2018 film, Like A Flowing River: A Bluegrass Passage, about the life and career of bluegrass troubadour James Reams, has been re-edited for wide release through MVD Entertainment Group.

The film by Joshua Smith and Rick Bowman covers the 25 years Reams has spent entertaining people, and all the ups and downs faced by an enduring professional. It was initially available only on Vimeo, but it is now being repackaged for an August 7 release on DVD. Pre-Orders are available now from Amazon.

When Like A Flowing River was first released, we spoke with Reams at some length about his life in music, starting with how it all began.

“As a child the love of the music just surrounded me. Bluegrass, country, Gospel and old-time music. My Dad loved music, and he played in the group called the Kentucky Ramblers out of Corbin, Kentucky. Also, my Aunts played and sang. Dad had an old windup phonograph and he had collected 78s. Salesmen would go from homestead to homestead and play 78s on a windup machine. I would listen to the radio, also television programmed bluegrass and old-time music. Cas Walker had a television show and a grocery store. Dad would give me a dollar to write a song and sing it for him. And many nights I would go to bed with a small red transistor radio and listen to it under the sheets with an earphone.

I played in a number of bands, and sang in church. Then in 1993, with a record deal under my belt with a bluegrass label called Copper Creek Records, I was playing and recording with Tom Paley in a group called The Mysterious Redbirds. I felt I could lead a band. Other musicians love the idea of being on a record. And I was able to form a band with a great group of guys.

So, we formed James Reams & The Barnstormers and started playing bars and festivals appearing on the radio and started recording albums of music.”

You can read the complete interview in that earlier article.

Here is the trailer for the re-edited film.

Pre-orders for the DVD can be placed now on Amazon. No word yet whether the film will be available on Prime Video.

Far Western film on Japanese bluegrass now available

Way back in 2014, we told you about a new documentary film then in production called Far West. The brainchild of director James Payne, the feature length project told the story of how audiences in Japan have become enthralled with American bluegrass and country music, through interviews with artists, fans, and venue operators, plus footage from clubs and outdoor festivals.

Released in 2017, Far Western picked up a number of awards in the US and Europe on the the film festival circuit, and very positive reviews.

Now the film is available to the general public on DVD, and for rental/purchase through Amazon Prime and Vimeo.

Payne first saw the Japanese passion for American music when he hired on to create a documentary for the 2007 Japanese tour by Kyle Dillingham & Horseshoe Road, a bluegrass/Americana act from Oklahoma City. During that trip, the reaction of fans to this lively music, along with their deep awareness and appreciation for its history, left a strong impression on him, which led to his desire to capture all that on film.

On the Far Western web site, they describe the film thusly…

Far Western is a feature documentary film that tells the phenomenal story of the transplant of American country music to post-World War II Japan. Nearly 70 years later, for a devoted group the music has become a lifelong obsession. Part music history and part character portrait, Far Western is told through the lives of musicians, fans, and live-music venue owners. Set both in modern Japan and the American South, the film explores the uncanny ability of a simple form of music to cross geographic and language barriers, forming a strange cultural bridge between the two countries. Now, these Japanese musicians have made their own pilgrimages back to America, to the birthplace of the music, playing in honky-tonks and festivals in America.

Here’s the trailer.

Payne was assisted on this project by cinematographer David McMurray and editor/producer Matt Leach.

The DVD is available for sale online for $18.99, along with other film merchandise like t-shirts, hats, and patches. Amazon Prime members can watch for free, and rental on Vimeo is only $1.99.

Bluegrass fans wherever they live owe it to themselves to watch Far Western, to see how a very different culture has embraced this music we love just as fully as if it had emerged there in Japan.

Harold Smith on Foggy Mountain Breakdown and Bonnie and Clyde

Editor’s note…This article is a contribution from Harold Smith, longtime mandolinist for East Virginia, a very popular bluegrass group from the Tidewater area of Virginia in the late 1970s and early ’80s. They recorded a number of solid albums for Rounder Records and toured extensively for several years, known primarily for their strong vocal arrangements and strict traditionalist credentials. East Virginia were the stars of bluegrass where I grew up, and all us young grassers studied them intently while learning the craft. For us they were the hometown boys who mad it big. Thanks to Harold – Butch to his friends – for sharing another piece of bluegrass history.

I found the June 24 Bluegrass Today post concerning comments by Bill Monroe relative to the Bonnie and Clyde movie interesting, and at the same time it reminded me of a phone conversation I shared with Bluegrass Hall Of Fame member Pete Kuykendall back many years ago.

I was doing some research on a segment of bluegrass history, and needed to contact Pete on several key segments of the subject at hand. I called Pete at his office at Bluegrass Unlimited, and we spoke at great length. It was during this phone conversation that Pete told me of a story that is relevant to the movie Bonnie and Clyde, and could possibly lead back to its origins as far as a soundtrack to the movie was concerned. I will attempt to relay the story as close to its origins as possible.

Pete told me that back when he was in high school in Arlington, VA, the school, or class he was in, held what he referred to as a “career day.” Pete said when he was in high school he had decided all he wanted to do was to become a bluegrass disc jockey. He was by that time, engrossed in the genre and had decided to make it his career choice.

When it was Pete’s time to present his career choice and various examples of the music he chose, he spoke of the vocation, the genre and played several selections of his favorite, at the time, bluegrass music. One of those selections was the Flatt and Scruggs’ original Foggy Mountain Breakdown recorded in the late 1940s. After Pete’s presentation was completed, and the class was dismissed, a classmate of Pete’s approached him, and was both intrigued and inquisitive about the Flatt and Scruggs’ instrumental. Pete told me at this time, he went into detail concerning his selection, and a bit of history on the genre itself.

Pete then told me the classmate was Warren Beatty. Beatty attended the same high school as Pete Kuykendall and was a popular high school athlete.

Pete told me then that he had hoped it made enough impression on Beatty to (possibly) influence the decision when it came to the soundtrack on the Bonnie And Clyde movie. Pete Kuykendall was one of most influential people all time in bluegrass music. The IBMA Hall Of Fame member was a successful musician, music publisher, magazine editor, and historian of the genre, just to mention a few of his accomplishments.

I was honored to be his friend. Pete Kuykendall is surely missed, and we will not see the likes of his kind ever again in bluegrass music.

Harold “Butch” Smith

The Mountain Minor to make broadcast debut next week

Warren Waldren, Judy Waldren, Hazel Pasley, Amy Clay, Jonathan Bradshaw, Asa Nelson, and Elizabeth LaPrelle

Great news for fans of traditional mountain music!

The Mountain Minor, a new film project from writer/director Dale Farmer, is set to make its television broadcast debut next weekend on the Heartland network. We’ve written about this film in the past, especially noting Farmer’s decision to go against the grain, and hire actual old time musicians to play the main characters. He figured it would be easier to train these performers to act than to try to fake actors playing the music.

Dale explained a bit about his project and its goals.

“We’re part of a grassroots movement encouraging Appalachians, both in Appalachia and in the places their families migrated, to embrace their amazing heritage. We’re doing it though the music that has had a resurgence of popularity in recent years. Musicians and fans of traditional Appalachian music of all ages will experience the substance and special meaning of the music as it was passed down over the generations to today’sstages, porches and media devices.

Our narrative feature film, The Mountain Minor, follows an old fiddle through five generations of the Abner Family from Eastern Kentucky in 1932 to a music stage in Cincinnati today. The journey of that old fiddle will give insights into the lives of many thousands of Appalachian families who either stayed or migrated to a land of many challenges to overcome. And, that they did!

Appalachians who migrated to urban centers for work in the 1930s-1960s became the heart of the working middle class. And they brought with them a most valuable resource: their music. Appalachians have long been misrepresented in film and popular culture; we hope our film will help shift this paradigm—revealing the great contributions Appalachians have made to society through their hard work and resourcefulness.”

Musicians who appear in the film include Elizabeth LaPrelle, The Tillers, Dan Gellert, Ma Crow, Trevor McKenzie, Lucas Pasley, Hazel Pasley, Asa Nelson, Warren Waldron, Judy Waldron, Aaron Wolfe, and Jean Dowell and Susan Pepper.

The Mountain Minor was produced by Susan Pepper, herself a singer-songwriter and old time musician, who has both practical and academic experience behind her. Her Master’s Degree in Appalachian Studies was received at Appalachian State University where she wrote a thesis on NC ballad singers. Pepper has done extensive field recording throughout western North Carolina, and produced a number of albums from what she captured there.

Farmer is a musician as well, raised in southern Ohio where he now lives after a sojourn in Nashville, and performs with a number of bands in the Cincinnati area.

He shot the project in somewhat drab and somber tones, reflecting the difficult life that mountain folk endured both at home in the Appalachians and once they moved into the cities.

The Heartland premiere of The Mountain Minor is set for June 6 at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT). Heartland is available on a great many cable and satellite networks in the US, and its signal is also streamed live online and through their ROKU app for smart TVs.

Should you miss the premiere, encore presentations are also scheduled for June 15, at 7:00 p.m., June 21, at 4:00 p.m., and June 27, at 10:00 p.m (ET/PT).

The Mountain Minor is also available for rent or purchase through Amazon Prime.

Station Inn documentary film airing online

True Life Bluegrass, a documentary about Nashville’s iconic Station Inn, is set to air on Saturday evening online.

The 2004 film by Pat Isbey runs to 75 minutes, giving the history of the storied live music venue which has been the home of bluegrass in Nashville since 1974. Launched by a group of local pickers as more of a jam spot, it grew to such popularity in town that they sold it in 1981 to its current owner, JT Gray, who moved it to 12th Avenue South, in a region known as The Gulch.

At the time, The Gulch was a pretty seedy part of town, lying between Music Row and the downtown area, and you didn’t want to be stuck there without a ride. But over the years, it has become one of the trendier neighborhoods in Nashville, with fashionable shops and restaurants filling vacant lots that once existed there.

In the film, Isbey traces the life of The Station Inn from 1974 to 2004, including discussions with Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, Alison Krauss, Del McCoury, Ricky Skaggs, Ralph Stanley, and Roland White.

It will air tomorrow night, April 18, at 8:00 p.m. (CDT) on Station Inn TV and the Station Inn Facebook page. There will no fee to watch this online, but a link for donations will be provided to help the venue function during the COVID 19 shutdown.

True Life Bluegrass will also be crossposted on the Bluegrass Today Facebook page, along with the link to the Station Inn Lockdown Club.

This film is only quite rarely screened, so don’t miss this opportunity to watch online Saturday night. It will only be available this once, and will be taken down after the screening tomorrow evening. No replays!

The Mountain Minor now available on streaming services

We have written before about The Mountain Minor, an independent film by Dale Farmer that offers an uplifting story of traditional music and experience.

It falls into the category of “Appalachian positivity,” conveying a fairly recent change in the way the mountain people of Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina are portrayed in the popular culture. Whereas once these solid, hard-working folks were downplayed as hillbillies and yokels, the growing academic field of Appalachian Studies has brought attention to the inspiring stories of overcoming hardship and simple folk wisdom possessed by these Americans once derided as “white trash.”

Farmer’s goal with his film was to highlight the strong families and sense of tradition that tied these folks to the mountain region, but instead of a documentary that weaved these stories together, he wrote a dramatization that followed the life of an individual fiddle shared down in a single family over more than 100 years. A serious old time music enthusiast himself, the director took an unusual tack in producing The Mountain Minor. Instead of trying to teach trained actors to mimic the playing of old time music on banjos and fiddles on a prerecorded soundtrack, he instead taught skilled traditional musicians to act in major roles.

He described his mission thusly:

This trailer gives a taste of the story arc, as the lives of several successive generations of Abners are connected by this particular fiddle.

Farmer was in the midst of a film screening tour, with live music and panel discussions, when COVID-19 hit the US like a box of rocks. The gathering restrictions have decimated the film industry just as it has music, and Dale had no choice but to cancel all the screenings.

So he has decided to distribute The Mountain Minor for home viewing, both through major streaming platforms, and on DVD. It is available now for rental on both Amazon Direct and Vimeo On Demand. Amazon Prime subscribers can watch it for no additional fee. DVD and Blu-Ray copies can be purchased from Amazon for delivery by mail.

If you love bluegrass and old time music, and have an interest in the culture that spawned it, be sure to add The Mountain Minor to your list of recommended viewing during your home segregation.

Lorraine Jordan on film in North Carolina

This article is a contribution from Janet Gibson, about the first night of live streaming at Lorraine’s Coffee House & Music, which we covered last month.

The cameras were rolling on January 31 at Lorraine’s Coffee House & Music in Garner, NC, as notable filmmakers captured footage for the music video of Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin, the new single by Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road.

But that wasn’t all.

The filmmakers, Todd Tinkham and Mickey Stroud, also were collecting additional footage for a documentary on Jordan due out later this year – and also for a series titled North Carolina Weekend. The program highlights unique places to visit in the state. The piece on Lorraine’s Coffee House & Music will air at 9:00 p.m. February 27 on UNC-TV.

First: The music video. Front and center during the filming was a Ricky Skaggs signature Gibson mandolin, “Number 3,” that Jordan uses as her personal instrument.

Tinkham and Stroud also focused on weaving in memorable shots of Jordan and Carolina Road with a portrait of Bill Monroe. Dressed in all-black, the band performed the song which recalls the 2018 night when Monroe’s mandolin was played by Ricky Skaggs at his induction ceremony in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Released by Pinecastle Records, the ballad was penned by David Stewart.

“I predict this song will touch the hearts of Monroe fans and traditional Bluegrass fans,” says Jordan.

Second: The documentary. According to Stroud, “It’s Bluegrass, Country Grass, Daughters of Bluegrass, and True Grass … a whole lot of grassing going on. It’s the Lorraine Jordan Story.” Stay tuned for details on channels, venues and air dates.

Third: The TV show. Rick Sullivan, the producer for UNC-TV, said, “I got the call to go see and talk with a living legend of North Carolina Bluegrass who has a little coffee shop right smack in small-town Garner. What I found when I got there was a community gathering place where fun and fellowship could be found morning, noon, and night. A place that UNC-TV viewers might like to visit, but surely must learn about. It’s nothing too fancy, but it serves good coffee, welcomes all comers, and is most definitely a North Carolina treasure.”

The evening of January 31 also was remarkable because the performance was live-streamed to a worldwide audience using recently installed high-tech cameras that bring the Lorraine’s experience to a whole new level.

To keep up with the latest news and tour dates for Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, visit carolinaroadband.com. Stay tuned for more updates on Bill Monroe’s Ol’ Mandolin on their new album, which is slated for release later this year.

Fiddlin’ film now on iTunes and Amazon

Fiddlin’, the feature-length documentary film about the Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax, VA, is now available on two major streaming services online. Both Amazon and iTunes have added the film to their catalog today, allowing viewers to either purchase or rent the film to watch in the comfort of their homes.

The project is a collaboration by two sisters from nearby Hillsville, VA, Julie Simone (Director and Writer) and Vicki Vlasic (Producer and Writer), who wanted to convey the special atmosphere that surrounds the festival each year. For 84 years, the Galax Moose Lodge has run the event, which includes competitions for all the instruments used in old time and bluegrass music, plus both old time and bluegrass bands. The list of contestants, who must pre-register several months in advance, often runs to well over a thousand people.

And many thousand more descend on the city of 6500 people during the first week of August, known locally as Fiddlers week. Hotel rooms are booked up many months before, and every restaurant puts on extra help to serve the friendly faces, many of whom return year after year. The action takes place at Felts Park, right on Main Street, a 28 acre facility set up for both rough and RV camping, with a covered grandstand for 3,000 music lovers, and lawn chair seating besides.

Of course the music is great all week, with a steady stream of competitors crossing the stage, but it’s the sense of community in the campsites that is the biggest draw. Galax veterans travel many hours to spend a week with friends, often folks they have met at previous conventions. The State Police keep the area safe and under control, and families and friends camp side-by-side with everyone from Granny down to the littlest baby in tow. Most folks cook their meals outdoors, and it smells like the world’s biggest barbecue all week long.

Almost every visitor is also a picker, and jams break out as soon as the tarps and campers are set up. You can spend hours just roaming these camp sites and hear every kind of acoustic folk music you might imagine. You’ll find old timers, preserving the traditional mountain music they learned from their elders, and irreverent youngsters pushing against the boundaries. Bluegrass and old time musicians congregate separately, but take part in the same Galax experience side-by-side, of every age, and at every hour.

All this is what Julie and Vicki set out to capture on film when they came with a crew in 2015 for the 80th annual convention. The story is conveyed in a mix of interviews with pickers and campers, plus scenes of music in the campground and on stage.

Since being released, Fiddlin’ has won 15 awards at film festivals, including 7 audience choice awards and 2 best cinematography prizes.

Now audiences everywhere can watch via online streaming on any device with either an Amazon or iTunes app, including smart TVs and those hooked up to an Apple TV or Roku unit. It can be purchased on either system for $9.99 to watch indefinitely, or as a 30 day rental for $4.99.

Here’s a look at the trailer.

Everyone who enjoys bluegrass, old time, or mountain music should watch this film. I expect to do so tonight.

Restored Bluegrass Country Soul premiere in Owensboro

We have written a number of times about the project to restore the sole existing 35mm print of the film, Bluegrass Country Soul, originally released for theatrical distribution in 1972.

The film, a project undertaken by producer/director Albert Ihde, captured hours of footage of the 7th annual Labor Day Weekend Bluegrass Music Festival, hosted and promoted by Carlton Haney in Camp Springs, NC in 1971. It was the first feature length film made about bluegrass, and was warmly received upon its release for the strength of the artists on stage, the cinema verite approach which presented the festival scene absent any voiceover or commentary, and for Ihde’s ability to present an honest look at the people who attend the festival to enjoy the music.

Full or partial performances are featured by Earl Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, Chubby Wise, The Osborne Brothers, Jimmy Martin, Mac Wiseman, J.D. Crowe, The Lilly Brothers, Tex Logan and Don Stover, The Country Gentlemen, Sam Bush, Ricky Skaggs, Del McCoury, Doyle Lawson, Tony Rice, and Bluegrass 45. Many of these bluegrass superstars are no longer with us, and Bluegrass Country Soul shows them in their prime.

In the past few years, Ihde and his wife, Executive Director, Ellen Pasternack, have been at work with Albert’s original partner, Robert Henninger, creating a digital restoration of that lone print so that this prized historical remnant can be seen by succeeding generations. This project is now complete, and the restored film will be premiered next month in a 4K, high definition Digital Cinema Package (DCP), in surround sound and the same wide-screen format in which in was displayed in ’72.

That DCP has also been used to create a reissue box set that includes both Blu-ray and standard DVD copies, plus audio CDs with additional music recorded at Camp Springs but not included in the film.

The Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum will host the premiere on November 2 in Owensboro, KY, and Ihde, Pasternack, and Henninger will present them with the restored DCP to be stored at the museum in perpetuity.

Albert explains how this donation was arranged…

“After the new bluegrass museum asked me for film photos and posters for an exhibit, Ellen and I decided to donate an archival copy of our film to their permanent collection. When one of my original partners on this film, Robert Henninger, examined our one remaining print, he saw that the color had deteriorated badly and offered to oversee a digital restoration in 4K high definition, Dolby sound, and in the widescreen (Academy) format in which it was first shown in theatres. If we hadn’t restored it now, the film might have been lost forever.”

Here are a couple of previews from the restored film.

Tickets to the November 2 premiere are free of charge, but reservations are required. More details can be found online, or by calling 270.926.7891.

Orders for the Golden Anniversary box set can be placed online.

Fiddlin’ film is taking Galax on the road

We’ve told you before about the documentary film, Fiddlin’, made by sisters Julie Simone and Vicki Vlasic, about the Old Fiddlers Convention in the town where they were raised, Galax, VA. The convention has been held there every year since 1935 when the local Moose Lodge was looking for a new fundraising project. The 84th annual event was hosted last weekend, with many thousands in attendance.

If you’ve ever been to Galax for fiddlers week, you’ll never forget it. The tiny town welcomes a doubling of its population in early August, when there’s not a hotel room to be found, nor a place to park from Sunday to Sunday. All the stores and restaurants stock up, and the streets are cleaned and sparkling. Everyone in town is proud to serve as hosts, and you find them on the streets waving and greeting visitors.

The pickers come from all over the known world to compete, jam, and hang out with friends in the campground. By the time the weekend rolls around, the park is literally bursting at the seams, with RVs and rough campsites crammed into every corner, and locals and visitors alike vying for decent seats in the stage area.

Julie and Vicki’s goal with this project was to capture that level of fun and excitement on film to share with other lovers of bluegrass and old time music, and to expose the culture and simplicity of life in this little Appalachian town.

Later this month, they will be taking the film on the road for six weeks of theater screenings, paired with special musical performances and Q&A sessions at several stops.

To celebrate the tour, the filmmakers have released this new trailer.

Fiddlin’ will be available on popular video-on-demand services starting in October, but if you would like to enjoy the theater experience, check the dates below.

8/27 – 8/31 Little Theater – Rochester, NY
9/3 – 9/4 Guild Cinema – Albuquerque, NM
9/5 Laemmle Royal – Los Angeles (Q&A and live performance)
9/8 Proctor’s – Schenectady, NY
9/13 The Lark – Larkspur, CA
9/13 – 9/15 Speed Museum – Louisville, KY (Q&A to be announced)
9/14 Gateway Film Center – Columbus, OH
9/18 – Murmrr Theater – Brooklyn, NY (Q&A and Live performance)
9/20 – 26 Twin County – Galax, VA
9/20 Foxy Loxy Cafe – Savannah, GA
9/21 Central Cinema – Knoxville, TN (Q&A and Live performance)
9/21 Kiggins Theatre – Vancouver, WA (Live performance)
9/24 SIFF Uptown Cinema – Seattle, WA
9/24 Maple Theater – Bloomfield TWP, MI
9/24 – 9/25 Guild Cinema – Albuquerque, NM
9/26 Alamo Drafthouse – Winchester, VA
9/29 Film Noir Cinema – Brooklyn, NY
10/4 – 10/10 Varsity Theater – Ashland, OR
10/10 Black Bear Americana Music Festival – Goshen, CT
11/9: Rowland Theater – Philipsburg, PA

More details on these showings, along with ticket information, can be found online.