Heartworn Highway Revisited (Wayne Price, 2015): USA

Reviewed by Raven Arce. Viewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival.

Heartworn Highway Revisited (Wayne Price, 2015) was a delightful documentary filled with lots of joy and music. Learning about these talented musicians growing their music out of Nashville, Tennessee we follow them as they show us what they play and how they feel on this kind of music and lifestyle. This year being the year that marked the 38th anniversary of Heartworn Highway (James Szalapaki,1976) a musical documentary that explored Outlaw country music in the mid- seventies.

The film shoots many different musicians, not only shooting their performances on stage but also capturing their family and home life. In the beginning we learn that one musician is looking to buy property and rent it out as it is only $4,ooo dollars. All though in interview we were told that the price of housing in Nashville is going up, though he did get that house fortunately.

We also get a taste of all the different types of music that there are coming out of this area. Some turned Rock, some turned country, some a little bit of something else. This movie captures the sense of community that comes out of a movement like this and like the director said, it was mostly by people recommending their friends that he got the cast for this, almost having to start turning people down.

What I find pretty interesting is that while a lot of these musicians were rovers, quite a few of them had a stable place to call their own. The juxtaposition of all the different kinds of music, even within a groups own band, helped to emphasis the fact that things are always changing.

I really enjoyed watching this documentary because of its many uses of close ups to give a deeper emotional connection with some of the characters in the film. Over all it was interesting to learn about the music that is out there and how there are some unknown films that are super popular among specific groups. You will get lost in the music as Heartworn Highway Revisited takes you on a smooth ride.