Music documentaries

I’ll never turn off a music documentary. Whether it’s an obvious classic like The Last Waltz or The Kids Are Alright or a more recent production like Wilco’s I Am Trying To Break Your Heart documentaries focusing on musicians and their unique stories always seem to get heavy rotation in our DVD player.

And there’s been no shortage of quality music documentaries the past few years. Ones I’ve been able to catch include Tom Petty’s Runnin’ Down a Dream, The Clash’s Westway to the World, Joe Strummer’s The Future is Unwritten, Billy Bragg & Wilco’s Man in the Sand, Bruce Springsteen’s Wings For Wheels: The Making of Born to Run, The Who’s Amazing Journey,  Bob Dylan’s No Direction Home and Ronnie Lane’s The Passing Show. 

A few days ago my wife Valerie and I viewed the 2004 Gandulf Hennig documentary, Fallen Angel, detailing the life of Gram Parsons. As with the Ronnie Lane film this was especially refreshing. Though I’ve always been a big Parsons fan I wasn’t familiar with much of the documentary’s content/footage. There’s something special about a film which brings re-newed interest in the life and music of an artist who hasn’t been documented all that well before. And that was definitely the case with both the Ronnie Lane and Gram Parsons films.

Music has influenced my filmmaking as much as film has. And it goes without saying that there many artists, both local & national, that definitely fall into the awesome documentary waiting to happen category. So many musicians are deserving of an in-depth documentary so their unique story can be told. Maybe one of these days, once I complete some of my pending projects, I’ll try my luck with a music documentary. After all, I live in Fremont, New Hampshire - home to the legendary Shaggs…

Tagged with: Add new tag • Arts • Born to Run • Bruce Springsteen • Counties • Future is Unwritten • Gram Parsons • Joe Strummer • Kids Are Alright • Music • Ronnie Lane • Tom Petty • United States • Who

Filed under: Filmmaking

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