Heartworn Highways Revisited (2017)
Directed by Wayne
Price
MVD Visual, 86
minutes, Not rated.
★★★★
In 1981, documentarian James Szalapski (1945-2000) released
Heartworn Highways, which he made
in
1976. It gathered rave reviews for its fly-on-the-wall look at "outlaw"
country musicians, those who wanted nothing to do with industry formula and
sought to recover the unpretentious simplicity of earlier generations. His cast
of characters included Guy Clark, David Allan Coe, Steve Young, Steve Earle,
and Townes Van Zandt.
These days, country music is slicker than ever, making it
practically inevitable that a new generation of outlaws would emerge to
challenge booted poseurs. Wayne Price directed Heartworn Highways Revisited in 2015, and it didn't gain immediate
release, which is its own statement about industry control. The film follows a
new breed of musicians who chose to say no to industry clichés, generic
production, and safe messages. We toss around labels like
"Independent" and "Americana," but it's not easy to make a
living when you're outside the country music system. Today's crop of outlaws draws
inspiration from–—you guessed it—the folks Szalapski filmed forty years earlier.
Price's film could be subtitled "The More Things Change, the More They
Stay the Same," and it's all the more poignant in that that both Guy Clark
and Steve Young were in the last years of their lives, and David Allan Coe was
bankrupt, memory-challenged, and in poor health. (All three show up in moving
cameos and you wouldn't need a degree in medicine to diagnose that Clark was at
death's door.)
Heartworn Highways
Revisited isn't a shot-for-shot remake, but it's 100% faithful to
Szalapski's approach and structure. That is, it doesn't advocate, preach, or judge;
in fact, there is no external commentary at all. Price simply points the camera,
rolls the film, follows the musicians, and allows viewers to draw their own
conclusions.
Of those he films—including John McCauley III, Jonny Fritz,
Shelly Colvin, Langhorne Slim, Nikki Lane, Phil Hummer, Andrew Combs, and Bobby
Bare Jr.—most are not household names. Probably the only ones you might know
are Shovels and Rope, Justin Townes Earle, and McCauley's band Deer Tick. But
if you follow the musical links at the end of the article, you'll probably
wonder why these folks aren't
headliners.
One of the
conclusions you are likely to draw is that there are two Nashvilles: the one
that's a monument to the industry, and the scrape-by city of those who make
music because they must, not because they think they can make a lot of money. Many
of today's outlaws have contempt for folks like Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith.
Fritz jokes, "What's the difference between a country music concert and an
Americana music concert" Answer: "There are no Republicans at an
Americana concert!"
McCauley and Fritz play roles akin to that of Clark in the
original film in that they are often the pivots around which things happen in the
outlaw subculture. You can decide for yourself whether these folks are heroes
or fools, but let's return to the continuity theme. Price does as Szalapski and
allows images to speak for themselves. If you've seen the original, you will
recall Townes Van Zandt's ramshackle DIY homestead; in this film, you will see
several analogs: mold-covered houses, shabby interiors, urban farmyards, and tool-and-debris-strewn
properties. Price juxtaposes official Nashville—auditoriums, tourist traps,
glitzy lights, and posh clubs—with strip mall streets, roadhouses, sweaty bars,
fried food, grit, and life on the margins. Everyone in the film seems to be
overly tattooed, clouded in cigarette smoke, and working their asses off to
stay afloat. Shovels and Rope play more than 150 gigs a year, and you will see
that it buys them a very modest lifestyle. In fact, only Shelly Colvin and
Justin Townes Earle appear to sustain a standard of living that is remotely
middle-class.
Whether or not you approve of their choices—and who are we
to judge—outlaw musicians exude a raw honesty that is indeed lacking in
mainstream country music. I'm not even sure it is country music. Deer Tick is often a damn good alt.rock band, and the
balladry embraced by others could just as easily be called "folk"
music. The outlaws are absolutely correct to note that what you see on Country
Music Television is as processed as Cheese Whiz. In that spirit, let me offer a
listener's guide to this film. Check it out and then download the film. My
favorite songs are marked with an asterisk.
Rob Weir
2.
"Fever Dreams" by Jonny Fritz
3.
"Visit Me in Music City" by Bobby Bare, Jr.
4.
"Birmingham," by Shovels and Rope
5.
"Back to the Wild" * by Langhorne Slim and Kristin Weber
6.
"Am I That Lonely Tonight" * by Justin Townes Earle
7.
"Tour Song" * by Robert Ellis
8. "Gone, Gone, Gone " * by Nikki Lane
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