Reel Music Festival 2011

Sly Stone, innovative founder of the seminal funk band Sly and the Family Stone, is a living legend—one of the ’60s greats who created a brand new style of music, mixing soul, rock and roll, and psychedelia. Despite success and influence, a drugged-out Stone disappeared from the limelight in the ’80s and became virtually untraceable. In 2002, director, musician, and fan Alkema began the hunt. Part exploration of the band’s history and part search for its legendary frontman, COMING BACK FOR MORE is an intriguing look at the return of one of the most influential musicians of the last 50 years. (77 mins.)

Phil Ochs (1940-1976) rose to fame in the early 1960s during the height of the folk and protest song movement. His music, with lyrics ripped straight from daily headlines, spoke to those who hoped and fought for change. From protesting the Vietnam War to supporting striking miners, from his attacks on sitting presidents to mocking the politically disinterested, Ochs pierced the heart of the political establishment with fierce musical satire and righteous analysis. The arc of Ochs’ life paralleled that of the times, and the anger, satire, and righteous indignation that drove his music also drove him to dark despair. Bowser weaves interviews, photographs, and performance footage of Ochs with the ruminations of Joan Baez, Tom Hayden, Pete Seeger, Sean Penn, Peter Yarrow, Christopher Hitchens, Ed Sanders, and others to fashion a moving portrait of a spirit whose influence lives on in artists as diverse as Pearl Jam, Ani DiFranco, Billy Bragg, and They Might Be Giants. (96 mins.)

Set in eastern Kentucky, Cohen’s classic film documents the songs of churchgoers, miners, and farmers expressing the joys and sorrows of life while pausing to record the beauty of the surrounding mountains and the simplicity of their homes. Musical performances include The Shepherd Family, Roscoe Holcomb on guitar and banjo, and Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys performing “John Henry” for a mixed-race audience in the town square. (30 mins.)

Sponsored by KBOO.

FOLLOWED BY

THE END OF AN OLD SONG
DIRECTOR: JOHN COHEN
US, 1973

North Carolina’s Appalachia was once described as a place “in which singing was as common and almost as universal a practice as speaking.” Generations later, with jukeboxes invading the diners where neighbors once gathered in communal song, Dillard Chandler has become one of the last performers of a nearly lost tradition. Straddling the old and new, Chandler renders traditional English ballads as testimony of continued hardships and evocation of a world gone by. (27 mins.)

FOLLOWED BY

SARA AND MAYBELLE: THE CARTER FAMILY
DIRECTOR: JOHN COHEN
US, 1981

Recorded offstage at the Newport Folk Festival, Cohen captured the rarely filmed guitar picking and harmonies of cousins Sara and Maybelle Carter. (10 mins.)

FOLLOWED BY

ROSCOE HOLCOMB FROM DAISY, KENTUCKY
DIRECTOR: JOHN COHEN
US, 1962

Cohen’s ROSCOE reveals exceptional banjo playing infused with the soul and grit of a hardscrabble existence in Appalachia. (10 mins.)

Few music icons resonate with so many aspects of American culture more than Ray Charles, one of the greatest artists in American history, who also had one of the greatest stories. Over time, both his story and his work became two sides of the same coin. Few came from less—dirt poor, blind, and ultimately orphaned—to achieve more. RAY CHARLES AMERICA examines the social and political context of Charles’ work and how his unique approach to music and his ability to transcend racial barriers changed the cultural landscape as we know it. Through in-depth interviews, unreleased music, and never-before-seen footage, the film tells of Charles’ impact in broader stories of love, politics, art, and business. (90 mins.)