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.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.