Bluegrass fans are not that much different from average people and most of us from time to time like to watch feature films.
If you asked a random bluegrass fan to name a popular film about bluegrass they would most likely mention Oh Brother Where Art Thou, a film by the Coen brothers featuring George Clooney in the lead role. The film is a must watch classic for any fan of traditional music. The plot is at times strange but the film features some great music by the likes of Dan Tyminski (Clooney’s singing voice over), Pat Enright, Harley Allen and others. Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch performed on the sound track for the CD but the movie sound track was different.
The album won a Grammy. How could it not with also the likes of Emmylou Harris, John Hartford, Norman Blake, Ralph Stanley, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, the Cox Family, the Whites, T Bone Burnett and Jerry Douglas?
Another film I like a lot is called Texas! Unbroken: The Pearl Bluegrass Circle. If you watch this hour and a half documentary you will feel the connection you felt from every bluegrass festival or campout you have ever been to.
High Lonesome is another bluegrass documentary worthy of mention. It features Ralph Stanley, Pat Enright and Curly Ray Cline.
In 1972 James Dickey’s novel Deliverance was made into a feature film starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty. Who can forget the scene where they played Dueling Banjos with a local who looked like he had crawled out from under a rock.
I hope I have given you a taste for bluegrass filmography with this brief introduction to the genre. Any of you film buffs out there who are anywhere near San Francisco on August 12 might want to check out this celebration of film event. There’s even an after party with Brandon Godman, one of the best bluegrass fiddlers out there.
Here are the details:
Fringegrass Film Fest – An evening of short documentary films showcasing untold stories from the edges of bluegrass.
Monday, August 12.
Doors at 5:00 with pizza. Movies 5:30 – 8:00 pm @ The Little Roxie, 3125 16th St.
Afterparty with Brandon Godman and friends live bluegrass 8:00 – 11:00 pm @ Blondies Bar, 540 Valencia St.
Never Make it Home, 2011, G.J. Echternkamp, Los Angeles, CA.
Kirk Rundstrom was given two months to live, so he booked a tour. Set across America’s heartland, this moving documentary captures the rowdy, heart-wrenching, and ultimately joyous performances of Kirk Rundstrom’s “Final Tour” where each show was played as it would be the last. “To stop playing is to begin dying.”
The Road Home, 2023, Bria Light, San Francisco, CA.
For a Kentucky farm boy, love at first sight came in the form of a violin. A quarter century later, that passion remains steadfast for San Francisco-based fiddler Brandon Godman, helping him weather storms of injustice and adversity.
Playing with Fire, 2023. Bria Light, San Francisco, CA.
Jasper Manning at Manning Music in Berkeley, CA.
