In 1971, Peter Guralnick published Feel Like Going Home, which told the story of the blues through a series of revelatory profiles of Muddy Waters, Skip James, Howlin’ Wolf, and more. He ended the book with a goodbye: “I consider this chapter a swan song,” wrote Guralnick, who was 27 at the time. “Not only to the book but to my whole brief critical career. Next time you see me I hope I will be my younger, less self-conscious and critical self. It would be nice to just sit back and listen...
- 12/19/2020
- by Peter Guralnick
- Rollingstone.com
Kurt Vile was sitting in the Butcher Shoppe studio in Nashville last December when he floated a pipe-dream idea to producer Dave Ferguson. Vile was slated to perform at the Grand Ole Opry with his hero John Prine two nights later and asked if Ferguson would call the songwriting legend and ask if he felt like dropping by the studio.
“Ferg was like, ‘What are you doing, Prine?’” Vile recalls. “Prine was like, ‘I’m watching the game!’”
Vile was astounded when, later that evening, after finishing his game, Prine...
“Ferg was like, ‘What are you doing, Prine?’” Vile recalls. “Prine was like, ‘I’m watching the game!’”
Vile was astounded when, later that evening, after finishing his game, Prine...
- 9/24/2020
- by Jonathan Bernstein
- Rollingstone.com
Jack White’s Nashville-based Third Man Records continues its quarterly series of unique, collectible recordings with the upcoming release of Vault Package 45, A Night to Remember, by Johnny Cash. Memorializing a previously unavailable 1973 concert at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, the vinyl package includes a double vintage-white LP and gold-foil LP jacket, a gold 7” single featuring an A-side with “Dark and Bloody Ground,” a previously unavailable track from Ruston Kelly, and a super-secret “mystery artist” featured on the single’s B-side. Both cuts were recorded for the Forever Words compilation,...
- 6/29/2020
- by Stephen L. Betts
- Rollingstone.com
The 2020 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees will be announced in just a few weeks. Which two country superstars will be selected this year for an induction ceremony slated for next October? Could this finally be the year for Tanya Tucker, who just won her first ever Grammy Awards after a career beginning back in the 1970s? Or will it be a more recent artist now eligible, such as Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw or Shania Twain?
SEEBiggest Grammy Winners of All Time: See The Most Awarded Artists
The criteria is pretty simple to get in but it’s an exclusive group since only 2-3 people are inducted each year. One person will be from the Modern Era category (an artist who came to prominence at least 20 years ago). Another will be from the Veterans Era (an artist who came to prominence at least 45 years ago). A third inductee would be a non-performer,...
SEEBiggest Grammy Winners of All Time: See The Most Awarded Artists
The criteria is pretty simple to get in but it’s an exclusive group since only 2-3 people are inducted each year. One person will be from the Modern Era category (an artist who came to prominence at least 20 years ago). Another will be from the Veterans Era (an artist who came to prominence at least 45 years ago). A third inductee would be a non-performer,...
- 2/18/2020
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
From the beginning of her career, many of Dolly Parton’s musical collaborations have been nothing if not unique, from a 1999 duet with Boy George and Culture Club to the Grammy-winning 2016 remake of “Jolene” with a cappella group Pentatonix. But with regard to the inspiration leading to Parton’s various collaborations, you’d be hard-pressed to find one more unusual that a TV commercial for LifeSavers featuring South African a cappella legends Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Formed in 1960 by singer and songwriter Joseph Shabalala, the prolific group would become well-known throughout...
Formed in 1960 by singer and songwriter Joseph Shabalala, the prolific group would become well-known throughout...
- 2/11/2020
- by Stephen L. Betts
- Rollingstone.com
British country-soul singer Yola caps an exceptional 2019 with the release of a deluxe edition of her shimmering Walk Through Fire album, adding a cover of enthusiastic fan Elton John’s 1973 classic “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” to the LP. Having already been performing the song on tour, Yola imbues the wistful but resolute lyrics with a glimmer of hope and defiance. Walk Through Fire producer Dan Auerbach punctuates the piano-driven tune with a melancholic light horn arrangement.
A sultry, homeward-glancing tale of the pursuit of a simpler life and time, the...
A sultry, homeward-glancing tale of the pursuit of a simpler life and time, the...
- 12/6/2019
- by Stephen L. Betts
- Rollingstone.com
When singer-songwriter Kendell Marvel went into the studio with Dan Auerbach and David Ferguson to start recording tracks for his second album, the producers offered him a key piece of advice: sing softer. The Illinois native, known to many as the songwriter behind cuts by Chris Stapleton and Gary Allan, had gotten used to playing rowdy live shows like his recurring Honky Tonk Experience, and having to practically shout to command the crowds. In the studio, however, singing at high volume was a limitation.
“That’s the way I used...
“That’s the way I used...
- 10/11/2019
- by Jon Freeman
- Rollingstone.com
Alabama musician, songwriter, and actor Donnie Fritts, an architect of Southern soul music whose songs were covered by dozens of artists from Waylon Jennings to Dusty Springfield, died Tuesday night. His publicist confirmed Fritts’ death at the age of 76.
Fritts’ friend and fellow songwriter Gary Nicholson posted a tribute to Fritts on Facebook early Wednesday morning, writing in part, “There aren’t words to describe what his loving friendship has meant to me through the years, so many songs and stories, it’s gonna take awhile to process this one.
Fritts’ friend and fellow songwriter Gary Nicholson posted a tribute to Fritts on Facebook early Wednesday morning, writing in part, “There aren’t words to describe what his loving friendship has meant to me through the years, so many songs and stories, it’s gonna take awhile to process this one.
- 8/28/2019
- by Stephen L. Betts
- Rollingstone.com
Country superstar duo Brooks and Dunn will be the latest inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The duo was announced on Monday morning in Nashville along with singer/songwriter Ray Stevens and producer/executive Jerry Bradley will be inducted at the 2019 ceremony in October. Watch the official video above.
Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn are two-time Grammy winners, sold over 30 million albums and charted 20 number one songs. Those tunes have included “Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” “My Maria,” “Brand New Man” and “Believe.” Stevens made his debut in 1962 and has had such hits as “Everything is Beautiful,” “Gitarzan” and “The Streak.” Bradley ran RCA Records from 1973 to 1982 and was a longtime member of the Country Music Association board. He follows both his father Owen Bradley and uncle Harold Bradley into Hall of Fame induction.
See Acm Awards host Reba McEntire was ‘disapointed’ by nominations: ‘I wanted to hear some women...
Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn are two-time Grammy winners, sold over 30 million albums and charted 20 number one songs. Those tunes have included “Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” “My Maria,” “Brand New Man” and “Believe.” Stevens made his debut in 1962 and has had such hits as “Everything is Beautiful,” “Gitarzan” and “The Streak.” Bradley ran RCA Records from 1973 to 1982 and was a longtime member of the Country Music Association board. He follows both his father Owen Bradley and uncle Harold Bradley into Hall of Fame induction.
See Acm Awards host Reba McEntire was ‘disapointed’ by nominations: ‘I wanted to hear some women...
- 3/18/2019
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Reba McEntire will announce the 2019 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees on Monday, March 18. Which two country superstars will be selected this year for an induction ceremony slated for next October?
The criteria is pretty simple to get in but it’s an exclusive group since only 2-3 people are inducted each year. One person will be from the Modern Era category (an artist who came to prominence at least 20 years ago). Another will be from the Veterans Era (an artist who came to prominence at least 45 years ago). A third inductee would be a non-performer, songwriter or musician. The artists chosen last year were Ricky Skaggs (modern), Dottie West (veterans) and Johnny Gimble (musician).
Seeacm Awards host Reba McEntire was ‘disapointed’ by nominations: ‘I wanted to hear some women in there’ [Watch]
McEntire herself was already inducted in 2011. Other recent inductees have included Garth Brooks, Roy Clark, Charlie Daniels, Alan Jackson,...
The criteria is pretty simple to get in but it’s an exclusive group since only 2-3 people are inducted each year. One person will be from the Modern Era category (an artist who came to prominence at least 20 years ago). Another will be from the Veterans Era (an artist who came to prominence at least 45 years ago). A third inductee would be a non-performer, songwriter or musician. The artists chosen last year were Ricky Skaggs (modern), Dottie West (veterans) and Johnny Gimble (musician).
Seeacm Awards host Reba McEntire was ‘disapointed’ by nominations: ‘I wanted to hear some women in there’ [Watch]
McEntire herself was already inducted in 2011. Other recent inductees have included Garth Brooks, Roy Clark, Charlie Daniels, Alan Jackson,...
- 3/15/2019
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
A mainstream songwriter and recording artist since the Fifties, Freddie Hart’s career had gotten so stagnant by the July 1971 release of “Easy Loving” that initial slow sales might have cost him his contract with Capitol Records. But it turned out that Hart, who died October 26th at the age of 91, played a winning hand right as the game was changing from the squeaky clean Nashville Sound to the sexually charged material of Charlie Rich and Conway Twitty.
The steamy tale of a man’s still-burning passion for his wife,...
The steamy tale of a man’s still-burning passion for his wife,...
- 10/29/2018
- by Bobby Moore
- Rollingstone.com
Mellow-voiced singer and prolific songwriter Freddie Hart, whose self-penned single “Easy Loving” was one of the biggest crossover hits of the early Seventies, died Saturday in Burbank, California. He was 91.
In addition to winning the Acm award for Song of the Year in 1971, “Easy Loving” was a Top 20 hit on the pop chart, a million-seller and earned Hart two Grammy nominations and the first of two consecutive Cma Song of the Year honors in 1971. Over the next two years, he would reach Number One on the country chart five additional times,...
In addition to winning the Acm award for Song of the Year in 1971, “Easy Loving” was a Top 20 hit on the pop chart, a million-seller and earned Hart two Grammy nominations and the first of two consecutive Cma Song of the Year honors in 1971. Over the next two years, he would reach Number One on the country chart five additional times,...
- 10/29/2018
- by Stephen L. Betts
- Rollingstone.com
Kurt Vile will release a new solo album, Bottle It In, on October 12th via Matador Records. He previewed the 13-track LP with “Bassackwards,” a nearly 10-minute exploration of meditative acoustic fingerpicking, reversed psychedelic guitars and existential lyrics.
“I was on the beach, but I was thinking about the bay,” the indie-rocker sings over a simple folk riff and steady rhythm section. “Got to the bay, but by then I was far away/ I was on the ground but looking straight into the sun/ But the sun went down and...
“I was on the beach, but I was thinking about the bay,” the indie-rocker sings over a simple folk riff and steady rhythm section. “Got to the bay, but by then I was far away/ I was on the ground but looking straight into the sun/ But the sun went down and...
- 9/10/2018
- by Ryan Reed
- Rollingstone.com
It will likely come as no surprise that, 40 years after the release of his classic album of standards “Stardust,” Willie Nelson will be releasing another standards-filled new collection, this one devoted to the repertoire of Frank Sinatra.
“Sinatra and I were very good friends,” Nelson says by way of explanation. “He was my favorite singer, and he had written one time in an article that I was his favorite singer, so we kinda kicked it off good together, and we worked a few shows together, did a couple of albums together, and a video. He was just a buddy.”
Nelson expects that the Sinatra project, titled “My Way,” will be released on the heels of “Last Man Standing,” his new Legacy Recordings album, out today (April 27), just ahead of his 85th birthday. Buddy Cannon, who has produced most of the singer-songwriter’s recent records, recorded the horn- and string-laden backing...
“Sinatra and I were very good friends,” Nelson says by way of explanation. “He was my favorite singer, and he had written one time in an article that I was his favorite singer, so we kinda kicked it off good together, and we worked a few shows together, did a couple of albums together, and a video. He was just a buddy.”
Nelson expects that the Sinatra project, titled “My Way,” will be released on the heels of “Last Man Standing,” his new Legacy Recordings album, out today (April 27), just ahead of his 85th birthday. Buddy Cannon, who has produced most of the singer-songwriter’s recent records, recorded the horn- and string-laden backing...
- 4/27/2018
- by Chris Morris
- Variety Film + TV
There are men and then there are myths. Jerry Lee Lewis is the latter. The rock pioneer first set the charts ablaze in 1957 with twin dynamos “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On,” and 60 years on he’s still pounding the keys before packed houses across the country. With the death of Chuck Berry in March—and Little Richard and Fats Domino largely retired—Lewis is the last of the great rock ‘n’ rollers still conjuring the sounds of long nights in long gone Delta juke joints. His colleagues at the seminal Memphis label Sun Records, including Elvis Presley,...
- 8/21/2017
- by Jordan Runtagh
- PEOPLE.com
Ron Sunshine: Bring It Home (Rondette)
Ron Sunshine's mix of jazz, soul, and blues is always a little different from album to album. This time out the vibe is classy late-'50s/early '60s R&B with a small horn section and lots of blues shuffles. The horns and the pianist will sometimes play jazz harmonies, but in general the feeling is more down-home than his more swing-oriented efforts were -- though we're talking fine distinctions here; he's not changing styles, just shifting leanings by degrees.
Sunshine's broad tastes show in his cover of Charlie Rich's "Who Will the Next Fool Be," and his vocal is every bit as effective in his own style as Rich's or Bobby Bland's versions -- Sunshine can do covers without fearing comparisons to either the originals or to other covers; he pulls off "I'm Shakin'" (made famous by Little Willie John...
Ron Sunshine's mix of jazz, soul, and blues is always a little different from album to album. This time out the vibe is classy late-'50s/early '60s R&B with a small horn section and lots of blues shuffles. The horns and the pianist will sometimes play jazz harmonies, but in general the feeling is more down-home than his more swing-oriented efforts were -- though we're talking fine distinctions here; he's not changing styles, just shifting leanings by degrees.
Sunshine's broad tastes show in his cover of Charlie Rich's "Who Will the Next Fool Be," and his vocal is every bit as effective in his own style as Rich's or Bobby Bland's versions -- Sunshine can do covers without fearing comparisons to either the originals or to other covers; he pulls off "I'm Shakin'" (made famous by Little Willie John...
- 11/20/2015
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
In an episode titled "I Can't Get Over You to Save My Life," it's not surprising to find our friends in Music City nursing old wounds and stumbling over their various insecurities.
Luke and Rayna are both trying to adjust to the whole "Ruke" phenomenon, going so far as to suggest that their respective teams push "Layna" as the preferred portmanteau for the supercouple instead. (Ok, so it's not ideal, but at least it doesn't rhyme with "puke.") But when Rayna sits down with Team Wheeler to go over both artists' respective tour schedules,...
Luke and Rayna are both trying to adjust to the whole "Ruke" phenomenon, going so far as to suggest that their respective teams push "Layna" as the preferred portmanteau for the supercouple instead. (Ok, so it's not ideal, but at least it doesn't rhyme with "puke.") But when Rayna sits down with Team Wheeler to go over both artists' respective tour schedules,...
- 10/9/2014
- Rollingstone.com
Reviewed by Kevin Scott, More Horror.com
Don’t Look Now (1973)
Directed by: Nicolas Roeg
Written by: Daphne Du Maurier (Short Story), Allen Scott (Screenplay)
Cast: Donald Sutherland (John Baxter), Julie Christie (Laura Baxter), Hilary Mason (Heather), Clelia Matania (Wendy), Nicholas Salter (Johnny Baxter), Sharon Williams (Christine Baxter), Renato Scarpi (Inspector Longhi), Massimo Serato (Bishop Barbarrigo)
There’s a term for a spinoff hybrid of country music that I really can appreciate. “Countrypolitan” is the label used for country music with lush arrangements, maybe some horns and unconventional stringed instruments thrown in. A refined version of an elemental thing that was good on its own, but elevated while retaining the same beloved and established characteristics of its genre. The thing that is so great about “Countrypolitan” is that it gave some culture to the masses in a palatable way so that they almost didn’t know it. My Dad would...
Don’t Look Now (1973)
Directed by: Nicolas Roeg
Written by: Daphne Du Maurier (Short Story), Allen Scott (Screenplay)
Cast: Donald Sutherland (John Baxter), Julie Christie (Laura Baxter), Hilary Mason (Heather), Clelia Matania (Wendy), Nicholas Salter (Johnny Baxter), Sharon Williams (Christine Baxter), Renato Scarpi (Inspector Longhi), Massimo Serato (Bishop Barbarrigo)
There’s a term for a spinoff hybrid of country music that I really can appreciate. “Countrypolitan” is the label used for country music with lush arrangements, maybe some horns and unconventional stringed instruments thrown in. A refined version of an elemental thing that was good on its own, but elevated while retaining the same beloved and established characteristics of its genre. The thing that is so great about “Countrypolitan” is that it gave some culture to the masses in a palatable way so that they almost didn’t know it. My Dad would...
- 9/9/2014
- by admin
- MoreHorror
Little Milton (born Milton James Campbell on September 7, 1934 in Inverness, Mississippi; his father was Big Milton) came up singing the blues and by the '70s had moved into hardcore soul. He was a master of both styles.
In 1953 Ike Turner recruited Milton for the legendary Sun Records. His Sun singles didn't achieve success, and he spent subsequent years hopping from label to label until he started a label, Bobbin, with a St. Louis DJ. When they had a falling out, Little Milton moved to the Chess subsidiary Checker (which had been distributing Bobbin), even bringing at least one track recorded for Bobbin. Soon Milton branched out from performing to producing and managing other performers, and also gained his first hit (on the R&B chart) in 1962, "Mean to Me."
This period of Little Milton's career is well covered on the 16-song Chess CD Greatest Hits in the label's 50th Anniversary Collection series.
In 1953 Ike Turner recruited Milton for the legendary Sun Records. His Sun singles didn't achieve success, and he spent subsequent years hopping from label to label until he started a label, Bobbin, with a St. Louis DJ. When they had a falling out, Little Milton moved to the Chess subsidiary Checker (which had been distributing Bobbin), even bringing at least one track recorded for Bobbin. Soon Milton branched out from performing to producing and managing other performers, and also gained his first hit (on the R&B chart) in 1962, "Mean to Me."
This period of Little Milton's career is well covered on the 16-song Chess CD Greatest Hits in the label's 50th Anniversary Collection series.
- 9/7/2014
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
New documentary puts as many survivors of the southern country-soul studio scene on screen as possible
A long line of ghosts, some famous, others unfairly forgotten, haunts Greg "Freddy" Camalier's splendid music documentary Muscle Shoals. Duane Allman, Arthur Alexander, Wilson Pickett, half of Lynyrd Skynyrd… a full accounting of the dead is too sad to contemplate, but Muscle Shoals does us the great favour of putting on camera almost all of the survivors of a defining era in American popular music and of two feuding studios – Fame and its spin-off Muscle Shoals Sound – both located in a single tiny town on the Tennessee river.
If you've read Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music you'll know much of the story, but Camalier puts ageing faces to names often only seen in liner notes. The central figure is legendary producer Rick Hall, a dyed-in-the-wool Alabama good ol' boy who, in a place...
A long line of ghosts, some famous, others unfairly forgotten, haunts Greg "Freddy" Camalier's splendid music documentary Muscle Shoals. Duane Allman, Arthur Alexander, Wilson Pickett, half of Lynyrd Skynyrd… a full accounting of the dead is too sad to contemplate, but Muscle Shoals does us the great favour of putting on camera almost all of the survivors of a defining era in American popular music and of two feuding studios – Fame and its spin-off Muscle Shoals Sound – both located in a single tiny town on the Tennessee river.
If you've read Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music you'll know much of the story, but Camalier puts ageing faces to names often only seen in liner notes. The central figure is legendary producer Rick Hall, a dyed-in-the-wool Alabama good ol' boy who, in a place...
- 10/21/2013
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
Our first post-Catherine episode of CSI, "Tressed to Kill," may have also been the most eerie offering so far this season. I can safely say that I didn’t see the murderer being a mama’s boy, with a hair fetish, fulfilling a desire to make women over in her image and then kill them.
This episode officially creeped me out, and I don’t think I will ever be able to listen to Charlie Rich’s “The Most Beautiful Girl” again without the images of the first victim popping into my head.
I also have to give full props to Charlie Brewster.... I mean William Ragsdale. Although he played a schmuck recently on Justified, I didn’t see him being the culprit; my money was on the son Adam Kemp (David Gallagher) from the moment he and his vapid mother came on screen.
I knew going into this episode...
This episode officially creeped me out, and I don’t think I will ever be able to listen to Charlie Rich’s “The Most Beautiful Girl” again without the images of the first victim popping into my head.
I also have to give full props to Charlie Brewster.... I mean William Ragsdale. Although he played a schmuck recently on Justified, I didn’t see him being the culprit; my money was on the son Adam Kemp (David Gallagher) from the moment he and his vapid mother came on screen.
I knew going into this episode...
- 2/9/2012
- by jim@tvfanatic.com (Jim G.)
- TVfanatic
Trust the Australians to make a winsome, witty comedy about the road to Nashville.
A crowd-pleaser at the recent Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival and a major award-winner Down Under, "Doing Time for Patsy Cline" boasts oodles of dusty charm, bright, quirky performances and an intriguing construction to warrant a U.S. domestic distribution deal.
Aussie heartthrob Matt Day ("Kiss or Kill", "Muriel's Wedding") plays the wide-eyed time-doer in question -- an aspiring country singer-songwriter who leaves his Outback life behind and hitches his hopes and dreams to a shot at the Grand Ole Opry.
Alas, young Ralph's have-guitar-will-travel game plan hits a bit of a detour when destiny arrives in the form of a stolen green Jaguar driven by a slick, somewhat manic drug-runner named Boyd (Richard Roxburgh), who's accompanied by his good-natured, red-haired, green-eyed girlfriend, Patsy (Miranda Otto). Not only was Patsy named after Patsy Cline, but she has a darn nice singing voice to boot.
But just as the dynamics of an inevitable triangle among the three passengers begin to take hold, the police catch up with the car. Patsy manages to escape, but Boyd and the unwitting Ralph are thrown in jail.
Along the way, writer-director Chris Kennedy intersperses the action with scenes in Nashville in which the trio apparently meet again. This time, Ralph gets the girl, and they become a famous duo. Or do they? Kennedy's unusual screenplay construction keeps us uncertain until the last scene.
While the path may be a familiar one, Kennedy has thrown in enough unexpected potholes and sudden turns to keep it all fresh. There's a lot of quirk in the twang. That goes double for the performances of Day, Otto and particularly the conniving but lovable Roxburgh.
Wrapping it all up in a vivid package are Andrew Lesnie's vibrant camerawork and Roger Ford's dual production design (both worked on "Babe"). Meanwhile, the original song compositions by Pete Best (not the ex-Beatle) strike a convincing, vaguely familiar country chord. His "Dead Red Roses" (the picture's unofficial theme song) sounds like something that could have been an early '70s hit for Charlie Rich and Marie Osmond.
And in Kennedy's carefully crafted "Is it live or is it Memorex?" universe, maybe it was.
DOING TIME FOR PATSY CLINE
Southern Star Film Sales
Oilrag Prods.
with the assistance of the Australian Film Finance Corp.,
the NSW Film & Television Office and Southern Star Film Sales
Credits: Director-screenwriter: Chris Kennedy; Producer: Chris Kennedy; Director of photography: Andrew Lesnie; Production designer: Roger Ford; Editor: Ken Sallows; Costume designer: Louise Wakefield; Music: Pete Best. Cast: Boyd: Richard Roxburgh; Patsy: Miranda Otto; Ralph: Matt Day; Dwayne: Tony Barry; Ken: Kiri Paramore; Alfie: Laurence Coy; Mum: Annie Byron; Dad: Roy Billing. No MPAA rating. Running time -- 95 minutes. Color/stereo.
A crowd-pleaser at the recent Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival and a major award-winner Down Under, "Doing Time for Patsy Cline" boasts oodles of dusty charm, bright, quirky performances and an intriguing construction to warrant a U.S. domestic distribution deal.
Aussie heartthrob Matt Day ("Kiss or Kill", "Muriel's Wedding") plays the wide-eyed time-doer in question -- an aspiring country singer-songwriter who leaves his Outback life behind and hitches his hopes and dreams to a shot at the Grand Ole Opry.
Alas, young Ralph's have-guitar-will-travel game plan hits a bit of a detour when destiny arrives in the form of a stolen green Jaguar driven by a slick, somewhat manic drug-runner named Boyd (Richard Roxburgh), who's accompanied by his good-natured, red-haired, green-eyed girlfriend, Patsy (Miranda Otto). Not only was Patsy named after Patsy Cline, but she has a darn nice singing voice to boot.
But just as the dynamics of an inevitable triangle among the three passengers begin to take hold, the police catch up with the car. Patsy manages to escape, but Boyd and the unwitting Ralph are thrown in jail.
Along the way, writer-director Chris Kennedy intersperses the action with scenes in Nashville in which the trio apparently meet again. This time, Ralph gets the girl, and they become a famous duo. Or do they? Kennedy's unusual screenplay construction keeps us uncertain until the last scene.
While the path may be a familiar one, Kennedy has thrown in enough unexpected potholes and sudden turns to keep it all fresh. There's a lot of quirk in the twang. That goes double for the performances of Day, Otto and particularly the conniving but lovable Roxburgh.
Wrapping it all up in a vivid package are Andrew Lesnie's vibrant camerawork and Roger Ford's dual production design (both worked on "Babe"). Meanwhile, the original song compositions by Pete Best (not the ex-Beatle) strike a convincing, vaguely familiar country chord. His "Dead Red Roses" (the picture's unofficial theme song) sounds like something that could have been an early '70s hit for Charlie Rich and Marie Osmond.
And in Kennedy's carefully crafted "Is it live or is it Memorex?" universe, maybe it was.
DOING TIME FOR PATSY CLINE
Southern Star Film Sales
Oilrag Prods.
with the assistance of the Australian Film Finance Corp.,
the NSW Film & Television Office and Southern Star Film Sales
Credits: Director-screenwriter: Chris Kennedy; Producer: Chris Kennedy; Director of photography: Andrew Lesnie; Production designer: Roger Ford; Editor: Ken Sallows; Costume designer: Louise Wakefield; Music: Pete Best. Cast: Boyd: Richard Roxburgh; Patsy: Miranda Otto; Ralph: Matt Day; Dwayne: Tony Barry; Ken: Kiri Paramore; Alfie: Laurence Coy; Mum: Annie Byron; Dad: Roy Billing. No MPAA rating. Running time -- 95 minutes. Color/stereo.
- 2/17/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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