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First ever color film footage of Mississippi John Hurt by K. Swerilas,
here performing Louis Collins
Image from collection of Lo-Max Films Ltd. Used with permission
AMERICAN EPIC
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE MUSIC THAT TRANSFORMED AMERICA
Three-Part Historical Documentary and The American Epic Sessions, a Feature-
Length Recording Studio Film Will Air this Fall on PBS and BBC Arena
Executive Producers T Bone Burnett, Robert Redford and Jack White
Directed by Bernard MacMahon
Written and Produced by Allison McGourty, Duke Erikson
and Bernard MacMahon
Companion Soundtrack and Music Box Sets to be Released by Sony Music's
Legacy and Columbia Records and Third Man Records
April 8, 2015 PBS and the BBC Arena today announced AMERICAN EPIC, the extraordinary story of the trailblazing era when country-wide, the music of ordinary Americans was recorded for the very first time.
The three-part historical documentary and feature-length film, showcasing contemporary artists in recording sessions, will air in the U.S. and U.K. this fall.
Executive Produced by T Bone Burnett, Robert Redford and Jack White, AMERICAN EPIC takes us on a journey across time to the birth of modern music, when the musical strands of a diverse nation first combined, sparking a cultural renaissance that forever transformed the future of music and the world.
In addition to the broadcast, AMERICAN EPIC will include companion music releases. Columbia Records will release contemporary performances from The American Epic Series. Sony Music's Legacy Recordings will release a companion series of archival recordings, featuring groundbreaking audio restoration of 1920s and 1930s recordings by Lo-Max Films, Nick Bergh and Peter Henderson. Third Man Records will release a deluxe box of vinyl records.
Two British filmmakers, Bernard MacMahon and Allison McGourty, have pieced together this extraordinary story set in the late 1920s when record company talent scouts toured America with a recording machine and for the first time captured the raw expression of an emerging culture. It democratized music and gave a voice to the poorest in the nation.
The filmmakers follow the recording machine's trail across the United States to rediscover the families whose recordings would lead to the development of blues, country, gospel, Hawaiian, Cajun and folk music without which there would be no rock, pop, R&B or hip hop today. Over three episodes the remarkable lives of these seminal musicians are revealed through previously unseen film footage, unpublished photographs, and exclusive interviews with some of the last living witnesses to that era, when the musical strands of a diverse nation first emerged, sparking a cultural revolution whose reverberations are felt to this day.
For THE AMERICAN EPIC SESSIONS the filmmakers have re-assembled the recording machine that allowed America to first hear itself. They have replicated the atmosphere of America's seminal 1920s field recordings down to the smallest detail, with top American artists recording straight to wax, using all the original microphones, amplifiers, and other equipment from that era. This is the first time that any performer has been able to use this machinery for over 80 years. Led by producers Jack White and T Bone Burnett, todays legends are given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to relive the experience of the founding mothers and fathers, their idols, and remake the music that changed America and changed the world.
THE AMERICAN EPIC SESSIONS features performances by Alabama Shakes, The Americans, The Avett Brothers, Beck, Frank Fairfield, Ana Gabriel, Rhiannon Giddens, Merle Haggard, Bobby Ingano, Elton John, Auntie Geri Kuhia, Pokey LaFarge, Bettye LaVette, Los Lobos, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Taj Mahal, Steve Martin & Edie Brickell, Fred Martin and The Levite Camp, Ashley Monroe, Nas, Willie Nelson, Charlie Kaleo Oyama, Blind Boy Paxton, Raphael Saadiq, and Jack White.
Director Bernard MacMahon explained, AMERICAN EPIC is the story of one of the great moments in American history when the voices of working people, minorities, and rural people throughout the country were first heard, and how the discovery of these artists forever changed the sound of American popular music and introduced new genres such as R&B, rock and country. It celebrates American technological innovation, diversity and freedom of speech.
Producer and co-creator Allison McGourty said, We traveled the length and breadth of America, from Cleveland, Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico, and from New York to Hawaii, in our quest to discover the identities and stories of America's earliest recorded musicians. We captured testimonials from the last living witnesses and direct descendants of America's musical pioneers. This is the last time their story can be told before everyone who was there is gone.
This is America's greatest untold story, said Robert Redford, an Executive Producer. It's an account of the cultural revolution that ultimately united a nation.
These musicians we profile are the real American heroes, said T Bone Burnett, an Executive Producer. They set out from the darkness with nothing but a guitar on their backs, put out their thumbs and conquered the world.
In AMERICAN EPIC we can examine how important the fact is that when phonograph records were invented, for the first time ever, women, minorities, poor rural men and even children were given the opportunity to say whatever they wanted in song, for the whole world to hear, shockingly without much censorship, said Jack White, an Executive Producer. What they were allowed to say on phonograph recordings, they were not allowed to speak in public or in person. That is an astounding thought.
Duke Erikson, producer and co-creator, said, The more we found out about these recordings, the more we re
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